Epilogue: This little story illustrates a spiritual lesson or parable, if you wish.  The cat is like people, beloved by the farmer and his family.  The farmer and his family represent God, the Father and God, the Son.

Velvet, the cat, was doing her own thing, trespassing on the farmer’s territory.  It was natural for her look after her needs, but she was not aware that doing it on the farmer’s field was placing herself in danger. It is true that man is like this cat.  He lives life on his own not aware of God’s authority and rule over his life or of His wishes for man’s welfare.  Man does not recognize that in taking charge of his own life, he is trespassing in God’s territory. Man may even be ignoring God.

The farmer’s wife cared about the cat, a fact of which the cat was unaware.  The wife expressed her concern for the cat’s welfare in words to her daughter. Similarly, when God sees that man is in danger of destruction, He says so.  He provided His Word to communicate that to us.  In John 1:1, it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The gospel continues in John 1:14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Just like farmer’s daughter coming to the cat to rescue it from danger in the hay field, Jesus came from His home in heaven to rescue mankind from the danger that he was in.

Real life situations can illustrate things about God, like it did in Velvet’s case. Though these are imperfect reflections of God Himself and His deeds, there is a perfect place to learn about Him.  God’s Word, the Holy Bible, provides the information and the power to change our lives.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper that any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (NKJV) I hope you were encouraged by Velvet’s story. Let God’s Word be your biggest encouragement.

We have a card that may bring you pleasure.  It is called “Family Bible”.  Find it in our store.

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Unbeknownst to me, eyes had spotted me.  The Farmer’s wife seated on the tractor saw me in flight as I pounced on my lunch. She also saw me disappear from sight.

The time to bale the hay in the field where I hunted had come. This field was next on her list.  The tractor began to move along the rows of fluffed hay, pulling the baler that picked it up and packed the hay into small bales. Farmer’s daughter removed the bales from the baler and loaded and stacked them on the trailing hay wagon. This didn’t bother me, I stuck to my job of hunting.

Farmer’s wife and daughter both knew I was in the field, but since I had already dove beneath the hay, they could not figure out in which row I was hiding.  Farmer’s wife temporarily parked the tractor. “I sure would hate to bale that cat!”

“Me, too,” her daughter agreed.

They began their job once again and baled more hay. The workers and machinery circled the hayfield several times. Still I remained cool and hid in my fluffy cover. All at once, another field creature happened my way. Farmer’s daughter spied my reaction. She lit off of the hay wagon running toward me.

She startled me so that I missed my target and ran for dear life.  I left the field for my shed and my little ones. The tractor and baler kept moving ahead and cleaned up all the hay on that field.  I am glad I did not stay there after all. I will try again there tomorrow, but with all of that hay gone, there is no place to hide.  Hunting will be different, I might need to find a new place to work.

For a good look at tractor, see our antique tractor card in our store.

If old tractors are your interest, you might like to visit this website: http://marvinbaumann.com/index.php

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photo credit:Wenda Grabau

Many things can be learned from the world we live in.  During His life on Earth, Jesus advised, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:28b-30 NKJV) If, as He stated, we can learn things from things that grow in the field, it will benefit us to consider the fields.

As we worked bringing in the hay harvest, I particularly enjoyed the view. Elevated in the tractor seat, I get a wider view of the the landscape.  On this particular day, we baled a hilly field.  From the tractor seat, mounted on the rise of a hill, I saw acres of cut, dried hay neatly raked into rows awaiting the harvest.  Between each row, stubble, alive and growing, remained. Fence lines sported colors from goldenrod and other wildflowers in bloom. Beyond the hayfield, acres of corn waved in the breeze.  Still further in the distance rose hardwood forests.

Before this day came, rain loomed in the forecast. Steady sunshine was a must for the hay crop. Without the sun’s drying influence, the hay could mold in the storage shed or be unfit for storage altogether.  With winter sure to come, feed for our cattle is a necessity.  Waiting for the good crop and abundant sunshine came along with much tension and concern.  How grateful we were that though rain was coming, the Lord parted the clouds for the morning and afternoon to bless us with the sun’s warming presence.

The cut, raked hay dried and baled well due the sun. The short stubble hay needed the sun for growth, as did the corn as it matured in the neighboring fields. Trees, off in the distance, craved sunshine for photosynthesis and the production of sugar to support their very lives.

I pondered this question.  “In 3-square feet of the field, how many plants might be rooted and dependent on the sun.”  Of course,  I had no time to measure this exactly.  But this question illustrated to me how massive an influence the sun has on the land.  Not every plant which depends on the sun is the same or even similar.  Their needs and growth differ. But this one sun affects each small plant or seed that embeds itself in the earth.

God is like that.  So many individuals on Earth are similar in that they need Him.  They are not all the same, but God supplies them with life itself. People have a vast amount of needs and yet, only this one God supplies all for everyone. He cares about each one of them.

I hope that this time of “considering the…fields” of hay helps you to picture what grows in the field and to understand more deeply how God reaches out everywhere and knows each of His creations.

photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau

For a fun look at another hay field try  http://artbyannaayres.com/works/1270914/hay-field-triptych .

photo credit:Wenda Grabau
photo credit:Wenda Grabau

Yesterday we baled again.  We are still doing first crop hay.  This is the latest we have had to work on first crop.  We still have another spot of hay to bale.

In our eagerness to bale hay, we suffered a broken baler. My daughter hopped in the farm truck and drove out of the field back to the farm to fetch her dad.  He is the mechanic we depend on to keep the machinery working. The sun’s heat bore down in the midday. I turned the tractor off and had some alone time out there in the field. I did not want to have a “do nothing” time, so I resorted to reviewing my memory verses from the Holy Bible.   I recited several verses in tip-top shape, but sadly some were rusty.

Out of nowhere I heard a rustling sound.  It sounded like a brisk wind coming through the drying leaves in the fall.  My gaze followed the sound.  A whirlwind touched down on our neatly raked hay and lifted some of it up 20-30 feet up in the air. Finally the swirling hay started dropping down back to the earth.  Our neatly cleared hayfield had hay strewn over a large area.

“I saw that and I know you are here,” I told the Lord.  What a treat to see the Lord demonstrate His power in my everyday life.

Visibly experiencing the Lord’s power and presence is special.  But we don’t have to see it to believe it.  In the Holy Bible, the apostle Paul says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Romans 1:16 (NKJV). The power of God is not only a visible thing or action, it is the gospel of Christ. Believing that He has suffered death to pay for our sins and has risen showing His power over death to enables us to live eternally. This power never loses its power.  That is real power. God uses the visible to show His power and He uses the invisible to demonstrate His power.  You my not get to see a whirlwind, but you can read about the gospel and place your trust in the eternal gospel of Christ. You will see Him in the gospel and know that God is here.

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