FARMING WESTERN STYLE

I have been in Lloydminster Alberta for just over a week and I am starting to get into a routine. Tonight I want to show you what it is like to farm out West at least in this neck of the fields.

Farmers here have huge farms and hugomongous equipment. Fertilizing and seeding is underway. Today I saw a large and powerful John Deere tractor with 8 goliath size tires, pulling a piece of equipment about 50 feet wide which tilled, seeded, fertilized and covered the seed, all in one process. Wow

I want you to notice something in the picture below.

Typical farm in these parts

Here are beautiful fields of rich dirt ready to bring forth an abundant crop, but there is oil under that dirt and most farms in these parts have multiple oil wells on their property. Each of these self contained oil wells is called a lease. Around here many of these leases are run by Husky Oil. The farmer owns the land and the government of Alberta has most rights to the oil and leases those rights to an oil producer such as Husky Oil. In turn Husky Oil needs to rent the lease area where they will drill and any land to build an access road to the lease from the farmer. So the farmer gets paid for the leases on his land by Husky and also earns money from the crops he grows. My present work is building and refreshing leases. I am driving an 815 packer to compact the lease area for oil tanker access to retrieve the oil from the black tanks (in the picture above) and for proper drainage on the lease.

815 Packer- Never a flat tire

Both believers and unbelievers are created in the image of God and have various skills and gifts they can use for fruitfulness in their life. But the Christian has something special, which is hidden from the world but can be evident through peace, joy, patience, love, fruitfulness, and the sense of God's presence when they are near others. That something special is the indwelling Holy Spirit received at the new birth and renewed through submission and obedience to God. Like the oil hidden under the farmer's field, the Holy Spirit within is the source of the fullness of God to the believer. I think we believers need to be wowed a lot more by God's great gift to us. We need to learn to live more and minister more by the power of the Holy Spirit which works actively within us. Wow. Have a blessed time of worship on Sunday.