Crop Dusting

We live in a new subdivision nestled between soybean fields and pecan groves. We're not far out in a rural area at all, but there is a lot of farm land around us. There's a horse farm across from our entrance and we get to see beautiful quarter horses every day when we drive out so we keep up with them and talk to them like we own them, noticing when they have new foles. Donna laughs at me when I say, "Oh, look at the little pony!"

Occasionally we see the most daring of pilots, those cowboys of the air, cropdusters, buzzing very near our house. I was out for a run this morning, actually, and saw one doing its daredevil tricks over a soybean field just a block or so from our house. They amaze me as they dip down low over the crops to release their fertilizers or insecticides and then pull straight up into a sideways kind of turn to come back around for another run. I think I would toss my cookies real quick if I were in the plane with them.

In 1st Corinthians 3:7-9 Paul said, "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." Those of us who lead worship, teach, or serve in our local churches have no room to boast when it comes to the spiritual process. God is the one who gives the growth. But that doesn't mean that we don't have a place in the process or are not important to it. God, in His sovereignty, uses us to do His work.

Sometimes I think it takes as much guts to be a worship leader, teacher, or servant in the church as it does to be a crop duster. Just as the daredevil pilot takes chances flying so low and fast over the fields (I actually knew a guy who crashed doing this very thing) we take chances trying to fertilize the field of God's people. We're not always received well. I heard just this morning of a large church embroiled in a worship war. Sometimes we're misunderstood on a musical, doctrinal, or emotional level. Sometimes we would rather take the less dangerous and easier route of never dipping too low into the lives of the people around us for fear of crashing.

I want to encourage you today to take some chances. I want to call out of you that daring spirit of leadership that isn't afraid of the rejection of others but is ready and willing to follow the Spirit of Christ into some harrowing maneuvers as He directs. We don't need to do foolish things fueled by our own neediness or desire to be recognized, but we do need to be ready to follow the flight patterns of the Spirit. Got your helmet on?

Be encouraged. Live. Love. Lead.