The Farm Hand

Years ago, a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received A steady stream of refusals. Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farm hand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him.

The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work. Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows." Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away. The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the middle of storms.

[source: http://little-christ.blogspot.com/2006/10/o-level-is-just-around-corner.html]

I loved this story and hoped I’d remember it long enough to share it, but knowing myself better than that, I decided to put it here for memory's sake. I would like to clarify, if you are prepared for ALL things, then you have NOTHING to fear. And apart from that, we recently discussed in group about fear and how, if we truly trust in God, then fear has no place in our lives at all. So then I am forced to ask myself the question, "if there is nothing to fear because God is in control, then why would there be any need to prepare?" Well, this is a two part answer...

(1) We are not to fear because we should know that God is in control. This requires that we have faith in God that He is in control. Our faith is built by reading scripture, hearing sound scriptural teaching, sharing faith testimony with other faithful believers, etc. The more we do these things, the stronger our faith in God grows. The stronger our faith, the less we fear life and life's storms. So we can effectively prepare for the storm by growing our faith

(2) Life still has its storms and they affect us all in various ways. We can be attacked financially, socially, spiritually, ethically, etc. We can overcome obstacles by being knowledgeable of how. Knowledge is gained by reading, listening, sharing, testing, etc. The more sound knowledge we have the more prepared we are to deal with the things that come up in our everyday lives.

The first has to do with attitude; the second is more about practical application. When something comes along to knock of us down, we don’t want to get bent out of shape or run screaming into the darkness. We do want to keep our head on straight and maintain our hope and faith in God. We also don’t want to (nor does God want us to) just sit there. If a problem comes your way - fix it. If it’s bigger than you are, call on the big guy!

So be like the good farm hand. Prepare you self and you will rest easy in the storm!