ONLINE CHURCH BULLETIN

THE YOUNG FARMER

The young farmer sat happily on the wagon seat as his spirited team trotted into town. He hitched the team to a rack near a corner of the main business block and walked down the street to the general store to buy the weeks groceries and supplies.

Hardly had he entered the store when some boys strolled past the horses. With a flick of his wrist one of the youths tossed a firecracker under the wagon. At the burst of the fire-cracker the team reared backward and lunged against the lines that held them to the post. The lines snapped like string and in some way the frightened animals pushed the wagon back-ward and out into the street. Then, with ears laid back and manes flying, they headed out of town. 

It was at this instant that the young farmer stepped out of the store onto the sidewalk. Taking in the fearful scene at a glance, he threw himself into the street just as the maddened horses swept by. With a flying leap he reached for the bridle nearest him and ... miracle of miracles... he caught it. The running horses Jerked his feet out from under him and dragged him along the side. But he held on, as if his hands were welded to the bridle, he held on. In fifty yards the team slowed and the poor man managed to get around in front of them. But the horses were not going to give in so easily. The great beasts heaved against the wagon tongue and stood on their hind legs, their forefeet high in the air. Then down they came and flying hoof struck the young farmer full in the face. Slowly the iron hands relaxed on the bridle and the figure slumped silently into the dust. Other men reached the team and brought them under control.

They carried the dead man to the plank sidewalk and gently laid him down. Bitterly one of the men spoke, " The fool! The crazy fool! Why didn't he let them go.',' they would have run themselves down on the prairie. He didn't have to die like this. The crazy fool!

It was then that they heard the sound from the wagon and every eye turned in that direction. Above the sideboards appeared the head, the blond head of a little boy crying for his daddy.

Each one of us were on a runaway wagon destined to hell with no help in sight when Jesus Christ threw himself in the way. He sacrificed His life in order that we might live. We could not control the situation ourselves. We needed someone else who could step in and do for us what we were unable to do. Many people in the world would refer to Jesus as a fool for doing what He did. But Paul says that what the world considers foolishness of the cross is the power of God to save us from sin (I Cor. 1: 18).

For His Cause,
Tim Woodward