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Thursday, June 25, 2020 - Join Pastor John for a Daily Devotional

June 25, 2020 by Rev. John Hartman

“Telehandler Encouragement”

A couple of weeks ago I was working at the church, when Chestnut Level’s own Tom Henry called me. He said he needed to see me right away. So, I went there quickly, thinking it was a pastoral emergency. Instead, Tom beamed with pride as showed me his JCB Telehandler (aka teleloader) that he has had for about a year. I watched as Tom deftly grabbed hay bales with the telehandler, then brought them into the barn and stacked them neatly one on top of the other, as all the bales fit, like one giant jenga puzzle. And then Tom Henry said, “I want to bring you out into the field, so you can try it.” I figured, “Sure, why not?” I drove the telehandler and followed behind Tom’s tractor and trailer, and we went way out onto the farm to grab some hay bales and stack them on the trailer.

Let me just say for Tom to put me behind the wheel of that expensive piece of machinery, with only about a 3 minute tutorial, -- well, it was very brave of him, if not insane! Let me also say that I have immense appreciation for how hard farming is, whether you have a telehandler or not. It is tough work, and I struggled mightily to pick up those hay bales and get them stacked neatly on the trailer. Now I could say that it was challenging because of all the flies buzzing around inside. I could also blame it on it being so dark. Did I mention that this was 9:00 at night? Well I worked on this for a while, picking up bales, driving them over, and then lowering onto the trailer. I never quite did get it down pat, and certainly not nearly as fast as Tom could do it. Don’t worry, there is no danger of this Jersey guy ever being called the “King of Farming.” I learned a lot of things that night. One is to stay in my lane and stick to the things that I am good at. The other thing I learned is that Tom Henry is encouragement personified. He had no qualms with me driving late at night in this mass of metal, and he was quick to tell me, “You are doing great!” “You got this!” “I can’t believe how quickly you’re picking it up.”

When I think about Tom’s encouragement, I can’t help but think about the person in the Bible named Barnabas. Barnabas’s very name means, “son of encouragement.” He encouraged the church with his giving as it was just getting out of the gate in the book of Acts. He encouraged the Apostle Paul after his dramatic conversion experience on the Damascus Road. The next time we see Barnabas is in Acts 11, where the church is exploding in Antioch. They are looking for someone to come and do ministry with these new Christians. What do new Christians need most more than anything else? They need encouragement. It says, Barnabas “encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion” Acts 11:23. Very often, a Barnabas may operate more comfortably in the shadows than the spotlight, but they usually possess some kind of x-ray vision to see the possibilities in other people, often believing them, before the person even believes in themselves. The Church of Jesus Christ should be a place of encouragement. Will you be a Barnabas? Will you be someone who is generous in your living, loving and your giving? Try it sometime, because you might even get a few hay bales stacked for you.