After over a century in the family, the family farm is no longer owned by a Simons. That’s a pretty big deal. After all, my great-grandfather William, my grandfather Emerson, my dad Cliff, I , my daughters, and my grandsons all walked those fields. As I thought about that the other day I got a bit of a lump in my throat. For some reason, I have always had a sense of place that connected me to that farm, though I only worked it in the years I was growing up at home. For my Dad, that farm is the only land he has ever owned and connection to the land was especially strong. I think for me, however, it’s a bit different than for my dad. God led me in a different path than farming, so I’ve had a life and a body of work off the farm that spans all of my adult working years. Dad was born on that farm. He worked that farm. It could not have been an easy decision to sell that farm. The pull of heritage and family history must have been enormous. The thought of living in a different house must have been strange – even alien. But he did it.
I’ve never really asked him why, but I think I have a pretty good sense. Mom & Dad are up in years and the old farmhouse is not particularly elder-friendly. Keeping up with an aging house and a big yard would be more than Dad wanted Mom to have to deal with, so I kind of think he wanted to be sure she was in a good, manageable situation when the Lord calls him home. And then, of course, there is the reality that none of us kids were drawn to farming. Better to put that farm in the hands of someone who would keep it tasked for what that land has been very good at for over a hundred years. I can’t prove all of that was part of Dad’s calculation, but it’s what I think because that’s the kind of man Dad is. Practical. Good decision maker. Quietly doing what’s in his family’s best interest. Respecter of the land. So while it seems like a big deal that the family home is no longer in the family after more than a century, in another respect it’s really no big deal at all. Compared to the eternal home in heaven that Jesus purchased with this life, death and resurrection and then ascended to prepare for us, a century is nothing. It’s a tick of the clock. We are very blessed to have a Father who loved (and loves) us enough to have made the extraordinary choice to spend his own Son to purchase that eternal home in heaven that will always be ours. How blessed to have a Savior who willingly labored all his life carrying the burden of perfect obedience so that we would be qualified to be granted entrance into that home of the righteous. How blessed to have a Savior who died on the cross to wash away all that would have disqualified us for that home. None of that was easy. Listening in on his prayer in Gethsemane and watching at the foot of the cross makes that clear. And yet he did it. Willingly and gladly and for us all, he did it. And he did all of that to leave us in a really good place for eternity. Our eternal home is still ours: “...our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ...” (Philippians 3:20)
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11/19/2017 10:07:13 am
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AuthorPastor Simons shares some thoughts about faith, life, and ministry. © 2015 Ascension Lutheran Church - Macomb. All Rights Reserved.
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