Sunday, October 24, 2010

Harvest Time

We reached a mile stone at Fountainview last week. We finished harvesting the carrots! I was on the harvester at the time, and I was filled with mixed emotions. We were done!! No more harvester! But we were also done. No more good times with friends on the harvester. No more monkeying around on the support bars. No more throwing carrots at the tractor drivers.
One thing that I was thinking about the last day, when we were processing the last carrots was about the harvest of people here on earth. Jesus talked about a harvest once. Matthew 9:37-38 says "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'" There is a whole world to be saved, and only a few people who are willing to do the job. We had 20 acres of carrots this year (I think...) and there were never more than 7 people working the harvester at one time. But it was the endless working, the long and sometimes overtime hours that got it all done in time. Some of the carrots refused to go into the harvester. They weren't ready! But those who did had all of the leafy greens cut off from them so that they would be ready. The people that chose Jesus must be willing. We can't force them to come to heaven: it's a personal choice. But those who do chose God must allow their sins to be cut off and thrown away. It can be a painful process, but it is a necessary one.
There is a lot to be done in the harvest fields of this world. But there is no way we can do it on our own! We must rely on Jesus, and the hope and knowledge of His second coming. May we all be ready when he comes!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

just before it gets better

A few weeks ago, it was rainy. It rained. And rained... I was really sick of being cold, in that wet kind of way. I didn't like having to walk to school in the rain.
Just when I was about to give up on ever seeing the sun again, there was a break. The air was cool, and crisp, and no humid any more. I was SO happy! But I was even happier when I looked at the mountains. On the very tops, there was a fresh, white layer of snow! It was a sight for sore eyes.
Sometimes things in our lives don't go the way we want them to. It may seem like God isn't paying attention. We wonder why he lets things get so horrible. But one thing I've learned from this experience with the snow is that God often lets things get worse, just before he makes them better. That snow on top of the mountains wouldn’t have even been possible with out the clouds, and the rain that came with them. We have to learn that "all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purposes." (Rom 8:28)We need to remember that things will be better someday.

Friday, October 1, 2010

Third Angel's Carrot?

Sometimes I have really random thoughts while I'm mindlessly sorting carrots. One of them that I had the other day was actually very interesting. When we sort carrots, they start out in a big drum. It's called the washing drum. It goes round and round, with water being sprayed into it. This washes the carrots. There are little ridges inside this drum, which spiral around. When the drum is rolling, the spiraled ridges push the carrots out of the drum, and onto a conveyor belt. They got through a few other conveyor belts, and finally onto the bagging belt. There we collect the carrots that we are supposed to. Most often, we collect what are called "number ones". These are the carrots that are as perfect as possible. They are no shorter than 5 inches, no wider than 1 1/2 inches, and no skinnier than 1/2 inch. These are the carrots that you buy in the store.
There are also "number two" carrots. These ones were no shorter than 4 inches. They could be broken, but couldn't be less than 1/2 inch wide and no more than 1 1/2 inches wide. These were the juicing carrots. I've sorted those too, but we normally don't sort them until after the #1's have been sorted out.
Then, there are the #3's. These are all of the carrots that are larger than the #1's and smaller than the #2's.
A person who is sorting #1'a will only look for those. The others are not a concern. When we start sorting out #2's, we will be looking for both #1's and #2's. We want to get all the #2's possible, but we also want to be sure to get the #1's as well. Although I have never done it before, when we start sorting #3's, we will be looking for any #1's, but we will also be looking for the #2's.
This reminds me of a discussion we were having in Bible the other day. I don't remember exactly where this discussion came up from, or why we were talking about it, but the Three Angel's Message is kind of like that. William Miller taught the first angel's message. Later, the second angel's message was taught, and the first was taught along with it. Now, in our day, the Third angel's message is being proclaimed. It is our duty to proclaim it, and the first two. They are a three fold message that must go out to the world now. Christ is coming soon! We must be sure that the whole world knows!