End of the Harvest

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It has been a full to the brim fall with lots of work to do. And now with Halloween over we are heading downhill into the new year and Christmas.
Well this year I did not make it to the Great Minnesota Get Together.  

Painting of Sky Ride at MN State Fair by my MFS
Instead my mostly Finnish spouse and I (and the Boe) went to a reunion- the West Central Minnesota Steam Thresher's reunion in Rollag, MN. Though neither of us were steam threshers, we were allowed to go if we paid the admission price (I think it was $12 but it might have been $10). Anyways this event is incredible in that it helps us revisit an older age- the age when hard work and the brawn of steam engines ruled the land.

Steam shovel at Rollag
We saw lots of steam powered agricultural equipment in operation. But that is not all. There were 2 steam powered sawmills, a parade of tractors, lots of small motors, and an authentic steam locomotive that circled the entire grounds of this event. 

Besides being a agriculture spectator this year, I planted a garden. It it was a real good harvest. Plenty of tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, beans, squash, beets, cucumbers, lettuce and squash. Nothing beats eating food that you grew yourself. We also procured a lot of crab apples from our tree for apple butter. A lot of apples also came our way from the 2 apple trees at Lehigh.

Gardening provides many a great analogies for a life following Christ. Jesus used many agricultural examples in his teaching- recall the parable of the sower or Jesus' teaching from his "I am the vine" statement. Planting a seed requires an amount of trust that something will come of it. I know from reading and hearing from others that seeds grow and produce fruit. But it is not until I plant the seed myself that I can ever reap any of the fruit. 
Jesus said in the book of John (15:5) - I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
That sums up how we are to depend upon the Lord; how we can do nothing without that relationship intact. In my own strength I cannot make a seed grow- only the strength of one greater than I can do that.
    
a portion of the harvest

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