The Harvest That Didn’t Happen

“The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few.” (Matthew 9:37).

Everything was perfect! Except it wasn’t!

School was out, and it was a beautiful day! My first year in high school had been full of many new, enjoyable experiences and new friends. On this bright, sunshiny day at the end of May, at our small family farm, I was working on a cleanup chore near the barn.

We lived on a hilly farm with six and one-half acres just outside a small town of about 3,500 in North Wisconsin. It had been home to me since the time of my birth. As I worked, I could see our house to my right, and the barn was nearby on the left. The wind was rustling the leaves of the oak trees near me, and the pine trees around our house stood straight and proud. Everything about the day spoke peace and tranquility. I was content.

But I was about to experience an event that would influence me for the rest of my life. Suddenly, the sound of the town siren at the fire station, a mile and a half away, broke the silence. It continued its mournful tune for several minutes. Something was wrong, but I had no way of knowing what it was. So, I kept working.

A couple of hours later, inside the house, I received a phone call. “Did I know what had happened?” the caller asked. “No,” I answered. “Chris (not his real name) drowned this afternoon.” Silence. I didn’t know how to respond. Surely, this must be a mistake. Not Chris. I had seen him at school the day before. Because I was on the Student Council, they asked me to help with the student response to his death.

Chris’s mother had passed away a few years before this. His dad operated a bar on Main Street.

He was about a year older than me. We had been swimming buddies the prior summer at the city beach a few miles north of town. We rode the bus to the beach, swam, talked, and had a good time together. At the end of the summer vacation, we went to school and saw each other almost daily.

Now, he was gone. This was my first experience of losing a friend who was near my age. I did not know how to cope with this. Although we were not close friends, we had a good relationship. But his death was not the only thing that bothered me.

I had trusted Christ as my Savior about two years earlier. Although I had witnessed to several friends and students and had won at least one to the Lord, I had not talked to Chris about the Lord. He knew I lived differently than him and that I went to church often. But I had never told him what the Lord had done for me, and I had never presented the plan of salvation to him. I had missed the potential harvest of one soul. Now, my failure weighed heavily on my heart and mind. I would never again have an opportunity to tell him about my Savior.

As I write this over 68 years later, it brings sorrow to my heart. Fear and procrastination led to my failure. I wish I could say that this failure never happened again. But it did.

Over the years, the Lord has given me many opportunities to witness and many joyous experiences of leading someone to a personal acceptance of Christ as Savior. I’m thankful the Lord didn’t give up on me because of my failures.

How very much I, and every Christian, need to be soul-conscious. Every human being has a soul that is going to live somewhere forever. It will be either in heaven – or hell.

When we talk to someone, we never know whether this will be the last time we speak to that person. Is he or she ready to meet the Lord?

The Great Commission (“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15) speaks to every Christian.

The need is urgent. “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.” (Acts 26:18).

The time is short. “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11).

There is no time for procrastination. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Take seriously Jesus’ commands in John 4:35, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”  Don’t procrastinate by saying, “It’s not the right time now.” Get your vision focused in the right place. Believe. Jesus said there is a harvest waiting now. (People are hurting everywhere and need help.)  Ask God to show you who, when, and where. Then trust Him to enable and empower you.