This past week I was “struck” with the thought that ACTIONS
HAVE CONSEQUENCES! This revelation
seemingly fell onto my head from the sky.
As I was completing my daily chore of putting out hay, I pulled my tractor
up to the gate. I lifted my hayfork up so
that I might get closer to the gate and not let cows get from one side to the
other as I opened the gate and pulled through.
I opened the gate and hurriedly pulled my tractor through. I then hopped off to shut the gate and was
thinking about how much longer my dwindling hay supply would last. I stepped back onto my tractor and started
toward the barn to park it. Comparing
the number of days left until the grass starts growing against how much hay I
have left was occupying the conscience part of my mind. My mental mathematics was interrupted by the
sound of wood cracking. I quickly
realized that I had left my hayfork elevated and was passing under a large oak
tree. My next big mistake was stopping when
I realized my first big mistake. I had
barely come to a stop when I felt a heavy strike to the left side of my head
that almost knocked me off of my tractor and definitely knocked the breath out
of me. I grunted and groaned and thought
bad words. I eventually got myself
together enough to pull my tractor into the barn and then stagger into the
house. Jill got me an icepack for my
head and a heating pad for my shoulder.
I loaded up on aleve and Tylenol and laid on the couch thinking about my
actions and my painful consequence.
The bible tells us about actions and consequences. Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in
Jesus Christ our Lord”. So our action is sin, and our consequence is
death. The only thing that saves us from
this death is a gift offered to us through Jesus.
Another biblical example is Galations 6:9. “Let us
not grow weary while doing good, for in DUE SEASON we shall reap if we don’t
lose heart”. So in this instance our
action is doing good and the consequence is that we will reap a harvest.
I feel that God has laid Galations 6:9 on my heart as a
theme for our Due Unto Others mission trip for 2014. Our theme will be “I’m preparing for DUE
SEASON”! The Due Unto Others team will
continue to press forward doing the most good that we can for the people of Uganda. All the while, we know that God will produce
a harvest of changed lives, at some point.
My physical wounds are starting to heal. I still have a little pain in my neck, but I
am actually lucky that I did not break my neck.
My boys like to give me a hard time.
They say that I should not be so wimpy because what hit me in the head
was a “twig”. To prove my manliness, I
went out with a luggage scale and weighed this monster that hit me on the
head. It weighed 55.4 lbs with one part
of the branch still touching the ground.
I think we as parents must pay attention to our
actions. We are leading our
families. We can do this purposefully or
unwittingly. I encourage you to make
your consequences a “harvest” because you have done good and not “death”
because of sinful actions.
Please pray for our Due Unto Others team as we prepare to
head for Uganda May 24th. We
still have a couple of spots left for a few people to go the first 2 weeks that
we are there. This would be May 24th-June
6th. Please email me at dueunto@gmail.com and I can give you more
information about logistics and expenses.
We also have some specific needs for this trip that you can see in my
previous blog.
Preparing for DUE
SEASON!
Jay
