stuff i think

Keeping Straight....

Growing up on a wheat farm, my childhood was peppered with opportunities to run large equipment, wreck things, and generally cause chaos at a level that a normal childhood would not have allowed for.

In my early teens, I remember being sent out to cultivate a large field near our house. It was a half mile from one end to the other and had a slight hill in the center; enough that you couldn't see one end from the other. I was told to circumnavigate the field once, then chart a course kitty corner, splitting it into two huge chunks the shape of resturant cut grilled cheese sandwhiches (at least that's how I thought about it...).

I completed the lap fine...just me, a huge four wheel drive tractor, a big cultivator churning up dirt clods, and 58 CKY* on the radio. Then, I took off from one corner to the other. Driving. Driving. Steering. Driving more. Making corrections. When I finally got to the other end, my dad was there waiting. He looked mortified. I couldn't hear him over the motor noise, but he pointed behind me, where my course that was supposed to be arrow straight looked as if it had been plotted by a drunk. I had zig zagged 20 feet either side of the imaginary grilled cheese sandwhich cut line.

It was then he taught me to ignore what was immediately before me and set my eyes on a silo some 2 miles away. Keeping that distant goal in perspective, I could keep straight and true....so when I ran across this verse this morning, it hit home.

Prov 17:24
A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool's eyes wander to the ends of the earth.

Wisdom may be distant from you today, but it's the best guide you'll have. Keep your eyes on it. Focus on the Giver of wisdom. Ignore the perils of shortsightedness.

May your 90 acre grilled cheese sandwhiches all be plowed true.

*Holy cow - I tried to find a url for this Canadian radio station and they're nowhere to be found. Did the mighty 58 CKY fold up? Freeze up? Canuk readers - clue us in!