Life is such fun here at the edge of civilization. Even garbage brings us laughter at times. Sometimes, though, getting rid of garbage can be a challenge. Someone from the church family gave us a very old reconditioned lawn mower several summers ago. Richard would use it to cut around all our trees and bushes, making it easier for the folks to mow with their giant lawn tractors. It was good outdoor exercise for him, too. But this past summer, we couldn't get the machine to start at all. Our lawn mower "expert" pronounced it a lost cause and we moved it out by the pole at roadside. Often folks will stop by and pick up such items. We got rid of our old washing machine, gas grill and wheelbarrow that way. I had visions of them parked in someone's front yard filled with flowers – but, alas, no one stopped to salvage our rusty old mower.
The heavy snows of winter buried the "body" out front until the town front loader came along to push the snow back in our parking area. The mower got caught in the bucket, twisted, crushed and tossed ten feet up to the top of the pile. It was a pretty depressing lawn ornament, to my way of thinking! Once the snow melted, the mower slid back to the ground in a crumpled heap.
One morning hope appeared as a pickup truck stopped out front. A man came to the door and asked if he could have the mower! He needed some parts from it, so...off it went in his truck! Richard and I laughed a long time after he'd left with his "find". The saying is truer here than anywhere else, "One man's trash is another man's treasure!"
I was reminded of what Paul wrote about his ministry in I Cor. 4:13:
"Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world."
From a worldly standpoint, he and the apostles who preached the Gospel were useless. But God had quite a different view of them, didn't He? The Hebrew writer lists God's faithful witnesses throughout Bible history in Hebrews 11. In his summary, he writes:
"They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—THE WORLD WAS NOT WORTHY OF THEM." (vs. 37,38)
God considered these outcasts in the eyes of the world to be too good for the world! Earlier in vs. 11 of the same chapter of Hebrews it is written of these same faithful;
"Instead, they were longing for a better country— a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them."
I long to be so faithful to God that He is "not ashamed to be called" my God! This "great cloud of witnesses" that surrounds us urges us on to greater service. Through their encouragement we can disregard the disdain of the world and look ahead to that better country - a heavenly one - which they traveled towards. Our labor here is not worthless or vain if it is in service to the King of Kings!
Love as always, Elaine
