Wednesday, February 21, 2007

TO THE WORK, TO THE WORK

Kingdom business is work....it is very difficult work. This is almost a strange term as work today could mean something different than in my earlier years. In the housing market one of the questions is one..or two...or three baths. In my early childhood the question was indoor or out?

Work for me today is not the same as once entailed. In the early years of my ministry I spent a lot of labor pulling stumps. I read recently a blog response saying we may need men who preach messages which will put their jobs at risk. I did....repeatedly...and cried before and after each threatening moment. On several occasions I gathered my kids in the living room on Saturday night and apologized to them as I felt what I preached the next day would mean we would be moving immediately. Fortunately, I had elders like Jerry and Harriel and Bob and Darrel who didn't leave me out there alone.

But, I don't have to do the same kind of work today. The field is cleared and the Word is sown upon fertile soil. Moving the rocks and pulling the stumps was tedious and equally important. Today's field, the accepting-of-seed field, is a glory to work. Some of you are hard at work pulling stumps and clearing rocks. God bless as you cry and sweat and walk through great loneliness. Others of you are finding life easy as those before you did the tough stuff....and maybe lost there lives over it. But, please don't think because someone hurts your feelings or things don't go your way that this is "work". There's great likelihood it could be oh-so-much more difficult.

Enjoy your work. It's a privilege......and it could be rougher.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Terry. After the first half of this week I really needed to hear this . . .

Stoogelover said...

Great analogy! I have finally cleared the field and am enjoying that accepting-the-seed field ... only to be leaving it soon for a very different field of ministry. Hopefully someone else will be mature enough to appreciate what will be left for him.

Stoogelover said...

Terry, thank you so much for the phone call. You've been one of the more encouraging people in my life and I value the few moments we spent visiting this morning! Love to you and your family.