Keep Your Focus Luke 24:21

We harvested our first wheat crop last weekend.  It was 1:00 in the afternoon and about 100 degrees.  The air was dry and the wheat was ready.  The metal on our little Massey 35 combine was getting too hot to touch.  We had purchased the Massey in Montana last summer and had it shipped to California.  It had not been used in 20 years. It is an antique.  Few parts are available.  None of us had ever operated a combine before.  We were full of questions and concerns wondering if the field of wheat would end up in the combine's storage bin or not.  Finally after all our efforts the job was done and we engaged the auger that shot the grain out of the combine and into a waiting bin.  A stream of golden kernels flowed like water from the discharge chute.  There was a shout of joy as we finally saw the realization of our hopes flowing from the machine.  The worry and struggle to harvest did not compare with the enthusiasm we felt when we saw the grain flowing.

My spiritual life is like my combining life.  If I don't focus on the grain flowing I focus on the the worry and sweat that I had to endure up to that point. 


(On the right I am sitting in the drivers seat watching the grain get sucked into the header.  The ride is noisy, dusty and hot!  Below the "liquid" grain!)

Three days after Jesus was declared dead we know that two of the disciples decided to return to the town of Emmaus about 7 miles from Jerusalem.  On the way Jesus joined them on the walk but some how they did not recognize him.  The events of the past few days had overwhelmed them.  They are described as being sad.  They had also lost hope and their focus because they were talking and debating about the things that had just occurred.  They had hoped Jesus would be someone that he turned out not to be.  It was getting late so they asked the disguised Jesus to stay for dinner.  During dinner they recognized him!  But he left in an instant.  But they were ecstatic, Jesus was alive! After they regained their focus on Jesus during dinner four things happened.  One, they were energized.  After an emotionally exhausting weekend and long walk they were ready to walk back to Jerusalem.  Two, They were no longer sad. Three, They became bold enough to walk back to Jerusalem, in the dark, that very evening. and Fourth, they told others about their experience of renewed focus. 

When their focus was once again on Jesus the sad, hopeless, confused walk to Emmaus became a walk of joy, excitement, and hope back to Jerusalem.  I must remember to focus on Jesus in my spiritual walk day to day and focus on the joy of harvest when farming when the preparation is long, worrisome, and difficult. 

Luke 24:31 Ahah!

Because farming does not bring in lots of money I have felt fortunate to know how to do a lot of mechanical things. I was replacing the engine on our 2000 Saturn Sedan about two weeks ago.  The replacement engine was ready to return to the engine compartment and it would not fit.  I was getting frustrated because I just had removed the same size and model of engine just days before and it had fit just fine.  Every attempt to lower the engine failed.  I discovered that the engine was actually 5/8 of an inch too long to get past the frame on the passenger side of the car.  I struggled for a couple of hours pulling it out and trying another angle of decent to put it back in.  Nothing was working.  Then I noticed it.  There were two alignment pins on the engine that matched two holes in the transmission.  I was trying to put these two pins in the holes as I lowered the engine.  If the pins were in the holes the engine would be about 5/8" shorter, just what I needed.  I had to rotate the engine to a point that the pins were clear of the transmission housing, then lower the engine.  After the engine was in position I had to rotate the engine back to upright and slide the pins into the transmission.  Voila!

On the third day after Jesus had been killed some disciples were walking down the road toward home.  Jesus who had risen from the dead that morning joined them in their walk but for some reason they did not recognize him.  No I don't know why they did not know it was him.  They walked and talked for quite a long way and Jesus was invited to stay for dinner when they reached their home.  Something amazing happened as they sat down to eat. Here is what Luke wrote about it: ^"Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight."  One of those spiritual "Aha" moments.  I am sure that there are some times when our wonderful brains can digest a massive amount of information and then all at once spit out a brilliant solution.  But I also think that some times the "bright idea" that we think we had is merely a nudge from the spiritual realm.  The disciples probably had help from an outside source to  recognize Jesus.  They got a spiritual nudge.  A moment of awakening that came from outside themselves. 

That aha moment has happened to all of us I think.  It has happened in my farming and it has happened during my spiritual journey.  I have not written articles for this blog for quite some time for a reason.  During my morning shower a few months ago I suddenly had a burst of insight about some things I had been struggling with for a very long time.  I jumped out of the shower, dried off and ran to the computer to start writing them down before I forgot them.  The result has become a book project about my spiritual journey and what I think are the bare essentials necessary to take the spiritual path of following Jesus of Nazareth.    I hope to get everything finished in a few weeks and anyone that is interested is welcomed to read it.