Chaplains' Corner

Judy Pressler
State Chaplain
3011 Halfmoon Valley Road
Port Matilda, PA 16870
(814) 692-5217
jxp2@psu.edu
 

 

Chaplain’s Day Out

I usually try to use my own experiences as a spring board to get to the point in the articles. I know in my heart what God wants me to talk about, but I gotta pull it together from the fragments that keep popping up along the way. He always finds a way to get to me...in the car, in a doctor’s office or when I give Him a chance in the still of the night!

Think about this and try to figure out where it is going!

Last Saturday I went solo to a farm auction...(well, not quite solo...Melissa and Bill and Lee’s friend Sam were there for moral support). Now wait a minute, I bet some of you are way ahead of my story.

It was a sunny, windy, almost spring day. A long-time farmer was retiring from farming and had kept his farm machinery under roof all the time....prime equipment for auction followers. Two pieces were of particular interest to someone who has an antique farm machinery museum: an antique corn binder and an old dusty, rusty Farmall F-20 tractor that “doesn’t run” according to the auctioneer.

We had previewed the sale items a couple of weeks prior to the sale, so I knew exactly what each one looked like. However, I had no idea that there would be approximately 500 (I was number 348 at 11 a.m.) farmers, retired farmers, or wanna-be farmers all dressed in Carhart coveralls or camouflage jackets & pants, big boots and ball caps. There might have been a dozen other women besides Melissa and me and a few kids stomping in the mud for fun.

We just shuffled along with the crowd as it shifted from one site to the next. Finally, the auctioneer was working the row with the corn binder. I boldly excused myself and inched to where I could be seen for the bidding. I put two bids on it and realized the man next to me was bidding against me and he worked for the Pasto Agricultural Museum at the Ag Progress Days site...I figured they had a lot more money than I did so I quit. Lost the corn binder to someone with more “pull” or “pool.”

Then the waiting began. Row after row the groups moved along with their hot sausage sandwiches and sodas but not wanting to miss a thing.

Finally, around 2:30, they started down the tractor row. And, of course, the F-20 was the last one to sell. The big one went for $16,000, another one went for $3,900, etc. Now he threw in a few odd things just to keep everyone interested. He announced they would be moving to the F-20 after a set of old wheels and he bet there were a 100 people here who were looking at that F-20. My heart began to pound faster because that meant there was going to be a lot of competition and I had to get that tractor.

Is everyone ready? We were ready. I had my card in my hand, eyes fixed on the auctioneer, Bill was taping the auctioneer on his phone (yes they can record sounds but he didn’t photograph me because he thought it might make me nervous!), Sam was standing by and Melissa was on her phone!!

You see, Lee was in a big white box truck on his way home from a Church mission trip in Mississippi. He called at least 8 times to see if I was bidding yet. But now we were all in place. I stayed pretty focused until Lee kept asking if I was in and I kept saying yeah, yeah both at the same time. Only once did I try to bid against myself and the friendly auctioneer said “you’re already on”!!

But now, here is the rest of my story: I really didn’t go solo to the auction.

I had been taught what to look for, when to bid, what to watch out for, to stay focused, to realize I needed support from my family & friends, to enjoy the surroundings, and to secure the
prize at the end.

Isn’t that like our Christian walk? We don’t go solo on that walk either.

We may have to learn to crawl first before we can even walk. Some of us have been taught about God’s love since we were little children. Some have just come to know about His love as adults.

We are taught to look for the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There are many opportunities for us to speak out in a loving way to bring about these wonderful feelings. We may have to try and try again.

We definitely have to be on our toes and watch everyone and everything around us. Our world is fraught with temptations to look the other way, go along with the crowd so we will fit in, smooth talk that will sound reasonable when we know in our hearts “it can’t be true.”

We must stay focused onJesus.

He must be the center of our lives. He is what we are here for. We are here to glorify Him, praise Him, thank Him, serve Him and spread His Word to everyone we know.

We have to remember we need support from other Christians. So many times, we get going and think we can do everything ourselves. However, when we get exhausted or have a bitter disappointment, it is so reassuring to know we have friends who will pray with and for us and be there to hold us up.

We need to take time to look at our beautiful surroundings that God has created. This is particularly true at this time of the year, even on a sunny, windy, almost spring day!! The sky is bright blue, clouds are snowy white, the sun is brilliant yellow and all of the outdoors is coming to life and turning green.

Most of all, we need to secure the prize we are all going for....a one-way ticket to Heaven. The price has been paid. We just need to bring Jesus home...into our hearts and lives!

So, you see, life can be like an auction....moving from one new experience to another. Keep your eye on the One in Control and keep your phone line open in case you need to send up an urgent prayer.

Happy Spring Time!

Judy Pressler