Your Life & Mine   

Page 9

   Thanks to our resourceful daughter and sons, we trampled around an Ohio farm I had never seen. It was the last of several farms in that area owned by our German-American ancestors.  

   Dad's cousin worked this farm in the early 1900s, followed by his son. The vacant house and barns are padlocked, but some equipment remains in the yard. It looks like a farmer might return in the Spring to plow once more. 

   We grew up in a small town, but we know this much about farming: Before they planted seeds, they plowed - cultivate is too gentle a word. The plow disrupted and unsettled the soil. 

   Seeds that landed in softened soil produced. Matthew 13. 

   Author Alan Noble describes our world as an ocean of preferences. With thousands of options, many people are shielded (buffered) from thoughts beyond the natural.

   The good news falls on buffered ears and distracted hearts. New technology only adds to the problem, as we prioritize the sovereign individual, he writes. 

   This series you've been reading is an attempt to break through.

   The Holy Spirit works his will. We are hired hands, able to plow soil, allowing his seeds to take root. 

   As Jesus taught, some won't understand, some will abandon the faith when suffering comes, and some will cling to the cares of this world.

   We can't guarantee outcomes, but we can do something. Alan Noble urges believers to plow the ground. 

Monday: conviction