Today my husband and I traveled many miles across our state to attend a
memorial service for a member of our extended family. It was a beautiful
August day as our car glided around the curves and up and down the hills
before we reached our destination.

Farmers could be seen baling freshly cut hay into many round bales. There
were fields of rice and soy beans almost in their fruition stage. Planting
had been done much earlier, cultivation was mostly completed and the farmers
were waiting for the bountiful harvests sure to come in a few weeks.

It was evident from the lush fields we were viewing that the farmers had
known what to do as they worked the fields so diligently. Yet, there was a
sense in my spirit that only God could bring about such a marvelous thing.
He had been a wonderful teacher to those farmers as they planted, watered
and cultivated, but our extraordinary God had given them great wisdom as
they worked day after day dreaming of harvest days.

I thought about the many mission teams that have gone out this summer from
the local church my family attends. One team ministered to an orphanage in
Mexico, teaching them praise songs and sharing the love of Jesus with them.
Another group went to Russia singing and playing their instruments in a
strange land. Yet they were bound together because God's great love is the
same in any language.

In Poland a team prayer walked the streets making way for the preaching and
teaching to come. Much planting, watering, and cultivating could be found
in those foreign lands our teams visited. In Africa a great harvest was
gathered as hundreds prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and
Lord.

The farmers use special tools to plant, cultivate and eventually harvest
their crops. God also gives different gifts to His people to plant seeds
about His amazing gift of salvation. To others he allows the watering and
drawing near to Him through the sharing of His Holy Word. And then you may
be given the Hallelujah assignment of bringing in the fruit by actually
witnessing many souls being saved.

Whatever glorious opportunity God presents to you - grab it with all your
strength. Go forth and offer the life saving gift of salvation to a lost
and dying world. Be available wherever and whenever God calls you. Follow
His teachings and gain the wisdom He can give you.

Be a planter. Be a waterer, a cultivator, or a harvester. All are precious
in God's sight.