Sacrifice brings joy

9/18/10 Saturday
Cherie and I are getting ready to attend the Kairos prison ministry training today. There are many other things we both have to do but when it’s all weighed in the balances us working together for God is most important. Doing this means sacrifice. Personal sacrifice is one of the cornerstones of Christianity, one that isn’t presented very often in this world of “Let’s make it all fun and easy” Christianity. Does that mean there is no fun in living for God? Oh no, it doesn’t. There is a pure kind of joy that comes with serving others that far surpasses the fleeting moments of frivolous laughter found in other moments. America is consumed with searches for entertainment, things to fill every moment of our lives with. In doing so we then avoid having to think about the hard facts of the world we live in and life around us. So we laugh and sing while the boat is sinking, our entertainment blinding our eyes and helping us deny any cold hard reality that is unpleasant to consider. Jesus spoke of this in Mathew 24:37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.

The training runs from nine to three. I didn’t go get my tractor yesterday because Linda told me her place was flooded to the point that even getting into her driveway was difficult. In order for me to get the tractor I would have to drive across the yard and that would certainly tear it up. The thought is that it should dry up enough by today to get it so we will see. Regardless, when we get back from the training I have to hit the road running. Pulled seven and eight foot tall weeds yesterday while the ground was soft from the rain. Did that till I hurt too much to pull any more so called it quits. Yesterday was a three shirt day. With the rain and resulting high humidity I sweated buckets. Had to take my shirt off and towel dry in order to lay down and let the pain ease and putting a soaking wet shirt back on an hour later just wasn’t something I was willing to do. I have to hang the shirts up to dry before they are put in the dirty clothes basket for if I don’t they get pretty nasty as they sit there over a few days.

With the rain came more sink holes from our deteriorating cesspool. Cesspools are what they had before septic tanks were developed or widely used I guess. The one we have was built by my grandfather way back when the house was built so is perhaps forty years old. I had learned about it when some of the steel roofing he used to cover the top was exposed after a storm. Digging around to figure out what was there I discovered we had a cesspool, all part of learning what was on this farm. It is made with railroad ties for the walls and some of those walls are now collapsing. Hence it's an adventure and potential disaster to walk across that part of the back yard for you never know when you might fall through into the...you know, sewage.