All harvest season long the farmers have been fighting the weather, steadily trying to bring in the corn and beans. And all season long they've met delay after delay, whether from rain or snow or pulling grain carts and combines out of thigh-deep mud.
Even now as I've driven the South Dakota and Minnesota counrtysides to and from work, I see a handful of fields with corn and beans remaining.
I was driving home last Wednesday night, the jet-black sky further hindering the visibility of the road in the snow that was falling thick.
This was the start of the biggest snowstorm to hit the Midwest in decades.
As I came around a curve, big lights shone bright in a field off the highway. A combine and a grain cart were hard at work to bring in the corn before it became impossible to operate. The combine was quickly repositioning itself to resume its place after dumping a load of grain, its massive headlights only magnifying the appearance of the blanket of blowing snow hanging in the air.
These farmers knew that within hours, it would be impossible to finish the harvest. This may even be their last shot altogether, because once snow falls in these parts, it's there to stay until spring arrives.
We, too, have a harvest to bring in. Not of grain and produce, but one of souls.
The harvest is plentiful.
There are a few in this world that make up the faithful elect who labor endlessly and spend every ounce of themselves to point people to Him and help usher in the Kingdom.
But many others remain. Others who see the fields white and ready, but do little to bring in the harvest.
We know a time is coming when we will no longer be able to finish this work. Each day that passes brings us one day closer to that time. Like the farmers laboring to bring in the harvest even as the storm begins, so we must labor to bring in the eternal harvest.
When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?
(Italicized verses from Matthew 9:37 and Luke 18:8.)
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