It must have been around 1960 because we were still living on the farm. I was 10 or 11 years of age. My Dad was strict on getting work done. We always got up at 6 AM and usually quit around 6 PM. He had a plan and knew about how much could be done in a day. When the work was done, we could have some fun or do what we wanted. This story is about what happened one Saturday. Dad was working another field away from home and he had left me in charge of taking care of irrigating the alfalfa field. It was a fairly large field and was flat. We irrigated out of ditches, which is called flood irrigation. The water would come from the underground pump and flow through the ditch to the field. We would set canvasses in the ditch to stop the water and irrigate the field. When that part of the field had enough water, we would set another canvass further down the ditch and pull the one that we had been using.
Saturday afternoon there was a bus leaving from our small town to a larger town with a swimming pool. Dad had told me I could go, but, the water had to be set before I left and had to be reset when I got home. Well, everything was going fine through the morning. About 1:00 now and time to set a canvass and go swimming. I pulled the canvass that I was using and sent the water to the canvass down the ditch that I had set. To set a canvass, you had to take a shovel and poke the edges in the ground and then pack dirt all around the edges so it would hold when the water hit it. I was just hoping the canvass would hold because sometimes they didn’t and would have to be reset while the water was running down the ditch. Yeah–you guessed it–it DID NOT hold. Remember I’m only about 10 years old and now I have to fight the moving water and try to reset the canvass and get done quick enough to go swimming. The harder I worked the worse it got. FINALLY I got it reset and all was good, except, it was now too late to go swimming–the bus had already left. Disappointment set in. Then as I thought about what had happened, I knew Dad would be proud of me because the work was getting done. We’ll go swimming another day!!
God is strict about getting His work done also. He has so much planned for each one of us before we can go home. 12 years ago I had a heart attack and if it weren’t for God and the Doctors, I would not be here today. My conclusion was that I still had more of God’s work to do before I could be called Home. Today I do some preaching, teach adult Bible class 1 quarter per year, take care of this web site and individual teaching and consulting as needed. At 68 years of age I do what I can so when God says I have done enough, He will say, “Well done good and faithful servant you have earned the crown of life”, and he will call me Home with Him. Are you doing your share? And, is God be happy with what you are doing?
God’s work first and then it’s time to play!!
