Farmer John

 

Back in the early 1970's I joined a band, the East Ridge Middle School band that is. Our mother was musically inclined, playing the piano by ear and also through reading music. Along with our mother, my sister also picked up the piano and sings like a nightingale. Yet, when I joined the ERMS middle school band to play the trumpet, my only claim to fame was in the nickname the band director donned on me. Bib overalls probably weren't the most stylish fashion statement in the 70's, but with the hippie culture procuring a great deal of attention in the media and in society, I felt pretty stylish in my denim blue jean galluses. The band director at East Ridge relegated me a new title when I wore my bibs to school for the first time, "Farmer John". Not sure where the "John" part came from, I guess it just sounded good together to Mr. Mayes, but the "Farmer" prefix gave me a sense of pride, coming from a family that loved the land that provided our sustenance and livelihood to a certain extent. Who would have guessed that some forty years later I would be going back to my roots of planting seeds and harvesting the produce in the lives of so many through my teaching and my coaching. I guess Farmer John isn't too far off the mark after all!

The Bible is filled with references to sowing seeds, nurturing the seeds and plants, and then harvesting the gain that they produce. A very popular parable that Jesus shared in Matthew 13 tells of the different outcomes for seeds that happened upon different types of terrain and settings. Some got gobbled up by the birds, others were choked out by the sun, and some found good soil and produced a bountiful return. Well a couple of weeks ago, during my morning devotional I wrote a prayer that almost took on the form of a parable about being a farmer and the seeds that I plant. I'd like to share my parable prayer with you today and pray this same prayer for your own garden that you plant each day. 

Dear God, don’t let me be like a man who is given a fruit producing plant, but places it on a shelf in a dark closet, never allowing the plant to have a chance to grow or produce. Lord don't let me be like a gardener that plants the seeds, but then allows the weeds to overtake the seedlings because I don’t tend to my garden. Dear God, don't let me be the man that is given the seeds, yet never plants them in the ground keeping him from seeing what the seeds might produce. Father, I want to take the seeds you have planted in me and nurture them with the food of your word, showers of worship, and abundant praise. I want to harvest the fruits of that labor and I want to gather the seeds from that produce, and plant them into the lives of others. Use this humble gardener Heavenly Father I pray! Amen. 

We all are sowing and we all will reap. The unknown variable will be what our labor produces. We will sow to the Spirit that leads us and others to Christ, or we will sow to this world and our efforts will never produce the quality or quantity of harvest that you and I were placed on this earth to achieve. My Farmer John nickname may not have stuck with me as I moved on to high school and into adulthood, but I place my hope in the fact that as long as I continue sowing the seeds that God has given me to sow, the end result will be a humble Farmer John that provides a bountiful harvest for His Kingdom!

"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." Galatians 6:9

Coach Carter