Ron Farmer

LOOK AT THE CRY-BABY!!!

Ron Farmer — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 21:26:00 +0000

“Look at the cry-baby!!” Very embarassing. Twenty years old and yes, crying-like-a-baby! The story makes it easier: I was in an Army replacement station at Ft. Leonardwood, Missouri. The assignment was three weeks of Kitchen Police before beginning Basic Combat Training. Thanksgiving was over and there wasn’t much to be thankful for, but then I hadn’t been thankful for much for a couple of years. On this day I found myself to be homesick. The breakfast had been served, dishes washed, and now I was washing windows (to keep busy). The guy on the other side of the window that found great humor in my situation was run off by the Master Sargent who was the cook. In a Grandfatherly voice he asked, “You homesick son?” Yea, he had me pegged. Never thought I would be but I was. I told my folks, ”I will never miss being a part of this family” before I left. Guess I got that wrong. Why do we have to go through the sad parts of life to understand what is really of importance? Did’nt learn the answer of that one till later. Found it in Romans 8:28-29 …We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love the LORD and are called according to His purposes; for whom He foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son…Jesus, the Christ… Life itself wears on us we know, but when the wear and tear are accompanied by trusting in Jesus, fixing our eyes upon Him, and following Him, we wear a remarkable resemblance to Him. There have been lots of opportunities for tears in my almost 72 years, but I have found this principle always holds true when we follow Him. It doesn’t make much difference what one is called as long as one is called according to His purposes.

THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE

Ron Farmer — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:35:41 +0000

My Dad’s Saturdays on our farm were work days for him, but for me they were more than enjoyable. We lived in a small town but the farm was an adventure in the outdoors. A memorable adventure that would seem out of place today perhaps. A trip to the pasture. The milk cows had worn the path down so well that it was not difficult to follow. A long trough that was one to two feet wide and six inches deep. Watch your step. Certain things need to be skipped over. From the barn to the fenced path, to the pasture, to the creek with all it’s gulleys and ponds (but mostly just a trickle). Wade the creek if you want but be careful of the leaches that live there, they’re blood suckers. Jump across the creek a couple of times as it meandered through the meadow. Scale the sand bluff and then throw rocks into the creek from the top. All the while generally following the path the cows had laid out for us to follow. Every Saturday you could be guaranteed that the cows would not change the path. They had worn that path so often that there was no change possible.

It took a few years of growing up to recognize that this same principle was true for all of us. I learned that I wore my own paths in life, some of the path was good and some you had to watch your step. It’s easy to follow the path of least resistance. We look for things that are good and comfortable and forget all about the need to “watch your step”. Change become difficult, if not impossible without help (or better yet, a whole new birth kind of life that we can not generate. In the long run, I found that the good paths I really wanted, I found described in Proverbs 3:5-6 …Trust in the LORD with all you heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight… I learned to trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-6); to walk with His Son Jesus, the Christ(Luke 9:23-24); and to fix my eyes on Jesus to make my path straight (Hebrews 12:2). That’s not the path of least resistance, but I’ll tell you what it really is: It’s not my old crooked and messed up path that has been given new life, but me that has received new life by trusting in God, by walking with Jesus, and by following the Christ.

UNCONSCIOUS IN THE STRAWBERRY PATCH

Ron Farmer — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:12:04 +0000

Strawberries all over the place. I was 17 and just graduated from High School. Taking some time off from any work to enjoy myself. Dad said, “Ronnie Lee, pick those strawberries before Mom and I come home.” I muttered under my breath, “Thats not enjoying myself.” I stalled as long as I could and then went to the patch(s). I should mention that Dad always believed that if you were going to grow strawberries it took three patches. Start a new patch every year and always keep a new one in the plan. Spade one up each year and replant. So that meant I had two to pick and each were about 12feet by 12 feet. I gritted my teeth and started picking, muttering all the time about how stupid all of this was and how nobody treated me right and how I would never force any of my family to do this kind of work. I suppose it was the standing on my head to pick the berries or maybe it was the anger that I was eaten up with, but after about 20 minutes of picking, my back began to ache and my ears were pounding so I stood up rather quickly. TOO QUICKLY!!! Next thing I knew I was laying on my back in the strawberries, Dad was honking the horn at me and shouting, “If you’re tired, lay down somewhere else.” I never did tell the folks what happened. I enjoyed being angry more. I just wanted to get out of the house. I’d live life a lot differently. Of course, the folks saw this as rebellion and I saw it as the exercise of individual rights. My mind was set; “I never liked gardening. I’ll never have one of my own.” Then, I got out of my rebellion. Now gardening is a pleasure. I learned about my experience in the berry patch in the teaching of Jesus in Luke 5:31 …I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance…. I had talked myself into a position of total innocence but when I found God’s view of the situation, discovered that I was unconscious in my beliefs, and turned to follow Jesus, I could benefit with not only grace, mercy and peace, but also a deep enjoyment in helping things to grow. In an old saying from that time, which means that one was in deeper than they had ever planned. “That’s unconscious.”

WIND & WAVES, Part I

Ron Farmer — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:36:29 +0000

October 1960, on-board the troop ship USS Breckenridge and somewhere along the AleutianIsland chain. We had just finished a twelve month assignment at an Army post in Seoul, South Korea and I was on the way home for Christmas. However, there was a problem with the trip. We were following the tail-end of a typhoon and the going was rough. I never did get a ‘right reading’ on the height of the waves, but I remember that if you hung onto the hand rail to keep one’s balance and went up to the deck at mid-ship you could come to a hatch that had the upper half open to let fresh air into the lower decks. What I remembered was that it looked like a wall of water out that door with no horizon. The ship had a tendancy to repeat the same routine over and over again. Slowly climb up the side of a wave; teeter on the top for a few seconds; then slide to the bottom; only to pop like a cork out of the trough of water with a shudder. (I forgot, on the teeter part, the props would spin and the ship would shake like it would fall apart.) I thought it was just me that was highly concerned, however even the sailors were sea sick and not many of them were cheerful. (moans were more appropriate communication for the day. To say that I was not confident was saying the least but I can look back on the incident now with a newer outlook. In Luke 8:22-25, Jesus was asleep in a little boat, seemingly unconcerned. In fact, in the Gospel of Mark the disciples woke Jesus by saying, “Don’t you care that we are perishing?” (A heavy duty statement that I have proclaimed more than once in my life.) The answer given by Jesus in the form of a question was not only memorable but also instructive to those of us who are blown away by the problems of life. “WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?” I have learned through my experiences with the master a few things that are important to remember: First, trials are normal in one’s life; Second, faith is built on truth and not one’s emotions; Third, faith is expected to be used or exercised (this is accomplished when history and facts are assembled and applied resulting in faith); Fourth, one’s faith doesn’t have to be large, just alive and growing (God will take care of the size we need). Many times in the lives of Sharon and myself we have experienced the steps of faith above and been blessed by Him. Like the disciples we found ourselves in awe and amazement of the Savior. But then we always have a choice to make: be in awe and amazement of the Savior or be blown away.

GET OFF & GO HOME, Part 2

Ron Farmer — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:38:10 +0000

October 16, 1960 on U.S. Rt 6 between the rail road station in Ottawa, Illinois and my home town of Seneca, Illinois. I wanted to get home fast and I thought someone I knew would pick me up in a short distance of travel. After a one year tour in Korea but I couldn’t resist. It was only 15 miles and I could walk that down old Rt 6 without battin’ an eye. I was about two miles into the trip when a car with three little old ladies pulled up and asked if they could give me a ride to where I was going. They said that they saw my Army uniform (greens) and wanted to hear my story, find out who I was related to in Seneca; find out where I had been in the military, and a thousand other things. I thanked them for the ride when we entered the north end of town but was thankful to be able to walk the final mile through the town to my parents home. Definitely a time when getting off and going home was a pleasure rather than a temptation. Now let me be clear; I didn’t see the car load of ladies as being something to avoid; but there was something better in mind. That has been a hard lesson to learn in my life: The important choice between two good things. Which do you choose? Both are good. Which one is better than the other? There is one choice that I have learned is always better than all others. It is recorded in John 14:1-7. Jesus told all of his disciples that He was going into the heavenlies to prepare lodging in heaven for us all. When questioned about which way to choose to arrive at the correct choice He gave us positive direction to remember about where to get off & go home. The home town hadn’t changed at all in a year (and even now after 51 years); I had many blessings to remember as I walked through town; and my eyes were fixed on the memory of the home place that I longed to see. ‘GET OFF with Christ Jesus because He is the way, fixing our eyes upon Him, & GO HOME’ to be with Jesus. This is the greatest of all blessings.

GET OFF & GO HOME!!!; Part 1

Ron Farmer — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 21:37:13 +0000

It was November 17, 1958. I was standing in a small room; perhaps 14 feet by 14 feet with almost 70 other men. We were shoulder to shoulder and you could hear a pin drop. It was the swearing in ceremony for men going into military service. Army, Navy, and Marines; with the majority of the men being inducted into the Army. I felt close to these fellas and after reviewing mentally this Monday experience I could see why. The day began with me being near to the middle of a long line of men: stripped to our undershorts with everything rolled up neatly and tucked under our left arm. (Everyone was expected to be right handed in the Army. I learned later that the shell eject out of an M-1 rifle on the right side which could cause great difficulty to a lefty. Not to mention the problem of a crushed left thumb when trying to load the rifle). Our forward march in mass was not too bad to begin with because the furnace in the old Chicago Armory only knew one temperature (super hot). The only uncomfortable portion of our march was during the physical exam when we were commanded, “Now hear this, shorts off”. But that too passed into history.

The swearing in ceremony was short and solemn. After a taste of some nasty stuff they called “Evening Mess” most of us were taken to the railroad station and put on board a train bound for Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. I was already homesick when I looked out the window of the passenger car and spotted the name of the town we were making a stop in which was Pontiac, Illinois. Only 35 miles from home. That’s when the thought came for the first time. “I could GET OFF & GO HOME!!!” Instead I chose to continue on in my new adventure. That thought has come back many times in the history of my life. Get off and go home. Get off of my responsibilities and go to somewhere sheltered and hidden from all obligations. ‘Don’t take that, quit your job;’ ‘I’ve struggled with other people’s problems all day long and don’t think I’m going to handle family problems when I get home;’ This church has more problems than I am capable of handling and I think I hear the LORD calling me to another ministry;’ ‘This job doesn’t pay me what I’m worth, I’m going to look for another job;’ ad infinitum. And lately the temptation has been, ‘You are 71 years old, don’t you think it’s time for you to retire and go home;’ to which I have learned an important response to my inner self of the fleshly nature = ‘I am retired and I am at home with Jesus, Sharon, and me.’ There is a scripture that speaks to retirees as well as to other needs and circumstances. …..I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes….. This scripture still speaks to me regularly when the temptation is to turn away from responsibilities with the intent to “get off and go home”. This makes sense when one realizes that the Gospel of Jesus Christ saves us not only from when we each believe in Christ but for all of one’s life and on into eternity.

THANK YOU; THANK ME; or THANK GOD

Ron Farmer — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:36:18 +0000

November 17, 1958. Good byes at the Rock Island Rail Road station in Ottawa, Illinois. I had just turned nineteen and was laid off from a couple of jobs. Things were getting hard to handle around the home place. (I was the one who was hard to handle.) All the rebellion of youth getting older without purpose in life. Still, leaving was sad. I had volunteered for the draft and was going to Chicago to take my physical exam and to be shipped out to a Basic Training post. Mom and Dad were there; a few other people seeing people off; and a bunch of men were standing a few feet away and they seemed to be watching me, for some reason. I gave both Mom and Dad a kiss (yes, nineteen years old but it was an old world custom Mom brought to the family from Norway). Then I started for the train. Two of the men came over to cut me off at the stairway into the passenger car and held out a hand to shake and said ‘thank you’. ‘What for…’, I asked. The answer was simple, but profound. ‘We all are married and have one child. That puts us up to the top of the draft list for the Army induction. Only if someone volunteers do we get to stay at home with our families. So thank you.’ That impressed me then as later. Of course, I had no idea I was helping those guys out and just wanted to get out on my own. (selfish but true). The main problem that I found out in my young life was that I was a ‘Thank you” collector. I did good things usually to get a Thank you to wear as a merit badge for myself. And I never misplaced a one. If I lost one it would subtract from my character as well as my pride. Later in life when Christ became real to me I found out that good deeds or love was shown out of gratitude for what Christ Jesus had given of himself for us all. I was to give love to God and others (Matthew 22:36-40) in appreciation for all that I have received. I also found out that I am encouraged to give thanks at any occasion. I Thessalonians 5:18…in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus… It took a little while to put it together but I finally came to an understanding of what God’s will is in this little incident in my life. The guys at the station appreciated what I had done to benefit them; I appreciated what I had done until I was sworn into the military (more on that later); and God wants us to be thankful in all things whether good, bad or indifferent. A Christian can do that because we are just giving away what we have been blessed with in the love of Christ Jesus. Thank God.

IS ANYBODY THERE???????

rfarmer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:08:22 +0000

Once upon a time (thirty years ago), in a far away place (Worthington, IN), there lived a family in a parsonage. Yes, it was us, how did you guess. Our son Keith was a Sophomore in High School and had a room downstairs next to the stairwell. One night we heard shouting that came up the stairs in kind of a hollow, spooky voice. It was Keith: “Is anybody there?????” again and again. I went down and woke the dreamer up to stop the calling. The incident, though a common, everyday event became somewhat of a ‘catch-phrase’ in our family. Whenever we pictured someone out in dream land, it always brought the call “Is anybody there???” Even today, it echoes on occasion. Keith never could remember what was going on in his dreams except he felt like he was being left behind.

Loneliness is a hard emotion to handle, irregardless of age or circumstance. Knowing that Christ Jesus has said …I am with you always, even unto the end of the age… (Matthew 28:20) sometimes seems hollow and for good reason. You see, until we experience the loneliness we can not experience the comfort and assurance that is only in Christ. As the old country song states; “You caint have a testimony until you have a test”. YOU KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT??????? Leave me a note and let me know!!!!!!!!

BARNYARD HUMOR, Part II

rfarmer — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:59:54 +0000

Another Saturday out at ‘the farm’ and the question was what to do? Dad was happy to get rid of grumbly, gripey boys so we didn’t have to do soil erosion control (another story). I was laying in the hay and wishing I was somewhere else as any 3rd grader would do when I spied this hen hanging around the steps up to the hay mow (for you city slickers, that is a heap or pile of hay). She was hiding something and sure enough I found a nest by the stairs WITH LOTS OF EGGS IN IT. Twenty three to be exact. I still remember! I filled up my cap with a lot of them. The shirt I had on held six or eight more which rested just above the waist band. Lucky me, I was wearing my big brother Ed’s hand-me-down blue jeans that were over-sized enough to hold four eggs in each front pocket. Like Frankenstein in the movies I began to walk for the house. Didn’t do too bad until I came to the stairs and then everything fell apart. One of the eggs in the cap started to fall and I bent over to catch it; an egg in my pant pocket broke with a sickening crunch and my pocket filled with something wet and slimy and stinky!!! I pulled the pants away from the mess in my front pocket and an egg in my hip pocket broke too. Things were way out of hand by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs. The worst part of the whole episode was that when I got to the house I was told that all the eggs were too old and needed to be thrown away. This time it was me to the hose and the embarrassment of standing all the way home. What did I learn out of that? Not much until later. Immediately, I learned that I too can be a stinker who can get embarassed easily. Later I learned a bit more from the incident: Something about greed in my character; something about wanting to produce something good but too often bringing forth something rotten. And probably the best thing I learned was that I could be loved and accepted by my family in spite of what I was at that moment in time. It became easily recognized when learned many years later that …For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly….But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinner, Christ died for us… Romans 5:6, 8.

BARNYARD HUMOR, Part I

rfarmer — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:51:03 +0000

I was running at top speed when I made the corner of the barn. Big brother Ed was hot on my tail and looking for blood. (As much as he could let without getting into too much trouble). Just a digression to explain. Throughout elementary school days you could find Dad and at least two of us boys on a poor land farm that Mom inherited. To say that brother Ed and I grew up with sibling rivialry would be a minimal statement of relationship. Ed was bigger than me but I was faster; except this day. As I turned the corner of the barn I had two choices: to run around the tractor (and get caught by brother Ed) or cut across the flat space, jump over the mud puddle in the middle and I will win out. The puddle I cleared very well but the rest of the flat spot (about 15 feet across) was ‘mushy’ to the step. But I made it! Brother Ed did not. In a loud voice he called, “Help, Help, I’m sinking”. Sure enough, up to his waist. He hadn’t even got over the mud puddle. Too heavy! (small has some advantages). The flat spot was really spongy, but I got a long pole and helpedEd out. OHHH, did he make it out!!! The tractor had been hitched up to the manure loader and the flat spot was the ’soupy part’ of the manure pile. And OHH, did brother Ed stink!!! Now the good part, we hosed him down, clothes and all, he had to stand in the back seat of the car on the way home. He was embarassed and I was overjoyed. I never forgot the incident and Ed has no memory of the event. It took a few years and some maturing to remember what I really needed to recognize. First, when it came to a ‘King on the Mountain’ type game or stance, I always had to be first. Second, I could never see me as the ’stinker’, but only brother Ed, or whoever else was involved in what I was doing. A lifetime of learning to get along in life has taught me a couple of lessons. First, ’stink is as stink does’. This was brought home in my mid-sixties when I began to loose my sense of smell. Today, there are very few odors that I can recognize and the odors that ‘get through’ to me have a tendancy to remain for a few HOURS. Quite a reminder to someone wanting to be ‘right’ on a constant basis. Last I learned that an odor does not have to ’stink’ but can have a pleasant aroma if travelled in a better way. …walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma… (Ephesians 5:2). Life is not about winning to keep the game alive, but it is about a life of sacrifice that gives, to please the king.