Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Have You Made an Important Phone Call Lately?


“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and wonderful things, which you do not know” (Jer. 33:3).  In the NASB, Psalm 91 is subtitled “Security of the One Who Trusts in the Lord” and verse 15 gives us the fabulous promise: “He will call on Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in times of trouble; I will rescue him and honor him

Hey Gang:  Is that not an awesome promise in this day when it seems the sky is falling! :Notice the last verse of that Psalm: “I will bless him with long life and let him see My great salvation”.

In past blogs I mentioned I was having problems with my D14 Allis Chalmers tractor that is older than dirt.  I just could not keep it running and, being a total-mechanical illiterate, my recourse was to throw up my hands in despair and yell, “HELP”.  It never dawned on me that perhaps God was trying to teach me a lesson.

After several months of utter frustration, I bit the bullet, buried my pride (you see I didn’t want to admit I was a pure dummy when it comes to anything mechanical or electrical) and casually mentioned my problem to a farmer friend who, without hesitation said, “Been there, done that”.  Older tractors, that do a lot of setting, tend to build up rust and block the lines.  He said I have rust in my gas tank-- that leads to corroding the carburetor-- which leads to shutting the engine down-- which leads to putting too much pressure on the battery and starter-- which leads to my frustration!

Excited, no, I was more informed of the problem but still had no solution.  Butttttt – he went on to say, “The foot bone is connected to the ankle bone and the ankle bone is connected to the leg bone and etc. etc,  Disconnect each one and blow them out and the problem will go by the boards. 

 Now I must make a confession to you – I have had the name of this guy on my desk for several months and chose to handle the problem myself rather than seek help.  Does that sound like anyone you know?   I obeyed and did indeed disconnect all the lines and blew them out and the tractor is running like a smooth oiled machine.

Ya know folks, there is a principle in that little story.  Paul said, “We are going to reap what we sow”.   I recall a story of a chaplain who was walking through prison yard and came across an inmate who was binding the tarp holding the bedding in preparation for pick up. The Chaplain said to the inmate, “Sewing heh?” to which the prisoner replied, “No, reaping!”

We do have the unique power within us to turn minor problems- that we face on a daily basis- into major incidents when the answer is just a phone call away.  Jeremiah 33:3 tells us, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Even how to fix a tractor!    We tend to forget that God wants us to turn our every need, our every thought, and our every problem over to Him and use our talents to be seed planters.

When I cranked up the old D14 this year, you guessed it, lack of power but I had learned my lesson and with trusty air house in hand, the problem, was quickly solved and I did not even blow by cork when it would not start.  Now folks, that is a miracle!

Blessings,

Gramps






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