“He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.”
Proverbs 10:5
Some years ago I was in Australia serving as a chaplain to the disabled athletes in the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. Fred, our host, was in charge of organizing our schedule. For two weeks, we were going nonstop! From morning to night, we visited hospitals and churches; I was speaking to groups, large and small, passing out Gospel tracts, and witnessing one-on-one to everyone from taxi drivers to wheelchair athletes in the Olympic village.
On our way to the hotel after a late-night meeting, we were bumping along in the van with Fred, feeling exhausted but happy. I could see his face in the light of oncoming cars. His eyes were at half-mast. “I bet you are going to be glad to see the back of us when we leave,” I said, “then you’ll be able to get some rest.” To which Fred replied with a grin, “I may be weary, but I’m a Proverbs 10:5 kind of guy…look it up when you get back to your room.” Later, we collapsed in bed without giving Fred’s verse a thought. The next morning we were up and out the door. Proverbs 10:5 got scribbled on a card and forgotten. When I returned to California and was unpacking, I found the card with the verse! I smiled when I read it, and pictured Fred with his passion for lost souls. Even now, I know he is praying, singing, fasting, working on his computer and cell phone, traveling, witnessing, calling sinners to come home, and shaking the world for Christ.
Jesus says in John 4:35, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” Now is not the time to sleep; it’s the time to gather a crop for the kingdom. John 9:4 says, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.”
Lord of the Harvest, strengthen me as today I head into the fields white for harvest.
