Scripture
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.”
~Luke 10:2, NET
Quote
We must train ourselves to deal personally with the unconverted. We must not excuse ourselves, but force ourselves to the irksome task until it becomes easy.
~Charles Spurgeon
Our greatest enemy lies within; it is the spirit of pride and self-righteous that persuades us that we are better than others and in no real need of a Savior. This is a thought from Spurgeon but not my actual topic for today. When I read Ray Comfort’s devotion this morning; he quoted Jesus…“The harvest is plentiful but the laborer’s are few.” It sparked a chain of thoughts; Some things change and some do not. Modern technology makes harvesting a crop fun. I could set in the cab of a combine all day long or one of the huge cabs on the new cotton pickers. I grew up in the 60’s when picking cotton was work. On the other hand, some things have not changed at all: laborers are still hard to find. Chloe is not big into sports because it makes her sweat and she doesn’t like to sweat but there is something rewarding about a hard days work and a lot of sweat.
Right now, as I write, restaurants are closing or cutting their hours because they can’t find anyone who will work. The dimwits have bought them off; literally paying them not to work. I retired in 2017 but I had another job lined up. It did not work out as I had planned because the man needed me 40 hours a week plus. He and several others I know will hire you today if you are willing to work. Fortunately for me, something else opened up and I went part time, part time with him. Currently, I have three employers and I try hard to please all three. The work is out there–work is not the problem. The problem is finding folks who want to work and the dimwits {demos} are not helping.
BUT let us take it a step further; this lazy attitude has effected our churches. Try finding VBS workers these days. Guess who is the Bible teacher for DBC preschoolers this year. You’ll never guess unless you have inside information. Finding children and pre-school workers these days is like finding hens teeth. Finding workers is difficult. Everyone has a ton of ideas but no one wants to do anything. I learned years ago how to deal with these passive pundits who think up endless ways to keep someone else busy; when they came to me telling me what the church should do, I would say, “Are you willing to head up this ministry?” I always got the same answer: “Oh no, I don’t have the time or the resources; I just thought it would be a good idea for you.” My response: “You come back and talk to me when you are ready to make a commitment to to lead this ministry.” I’ve never had one to come back.
We had one man who constantly carped about the CLICK. Finally, I asks him what he wanted to do about it. He agreed to put his name on the TRUSTEE ballot and was elected. He resigned within six months. This was back when the trustees took turns cutting the grass. When it came his time, he quit. When I arrive on the scene, the first thing I do is locate the workers. Every church has them. These are the folks you can count on. Most Baptist are not committed to sweat: they only want to serve in a advisory capacity. If it involves work, you don’t have to worry about them showing up. Jesus is right: there is a lot to be done and not enough folks to do it.
Took off yesterday to haul grand kids to the regional softball tournament in Florence. Impressed with the facilities and especially the bathrooms but not impressed with the concession stands: no ice. I hate a Luke warm coke. Danville lost a heartbreaker. We got beat on two unearned runs. Other than does errors, we played great and DHS is very young. Four of the starters are 8th graders.
I was so close to Cherokee that I drove out and visited in between games. The Sportsplex is located on Country Road 2 and it goes to the Natchez Trace. We use to drive it a lot but that was 40 years ago. Got to make four visits and see some old friends. It was a good day.
Meanwhile in Birmingham, Larry was not having a good day. We need to double up on our prayers for Larry and Rhonda.