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Hey, all you happy farmers out there!
I'm proud to announce that I'm finally free of those “cookie-cutter”
pre-packaged barns that most people have on their farms. It took me years,
but I finally came around to see that convenience is not the only factor
in farming.
Oh sure, it's great to just sign up and get your barn delivered in the
mail, and to have those barn-techs set it up for you. But all you get that
way is the same red barn that everyone else has. The only thing unique is
your little nameplate over the main doors.
And with those barns come the payments that never end. You never really
own your own barn, you just get to use someone else's design and skill,
and you pay handsomely for it.
All those neatly placed red barns on all those farms, like great red
blocks on a rolling green carpet. Pretty enough, I suppose. But only if
you want to be like everyone else.
So anyway, now I'm building my own barn. And, yeah, I'm scared a little. I
mean, I want to make sure that my barn doesn't end up red, like all the
mail-order kits. And I want to the doors to be on the north side, and not
on the west end like the pre-packaged jobs. I don't know how to guarantee
these things, except to think about it all the time, and talk about it.
I'll still stack my hay in the loft, like every one else. And I'll keep my
mules and our 3 milk cows on the ground floor.
But it will still be very different. It will be different because my
feelings about it are all different. And my barn will belong to me. That's
different.
I'm already getting pressure from the other farmers. They see me building
my own barn, and they want to know how I can call it a barn if it isn't
red and facing in the right direction. They’re also really proud of the
regular payments they all have to make. Especially the guys with the
biggest barns. So they ridicule my idea of owning a barn without payments.
Some even joke that my livestock won't stay inside, or that my hay will
all get wet. And one neighbor said something about how bad it would be if
my barn just suddenly burned down some dark night. He had a strange look
on his face when he said that. And now I sometimes stay awake all night
worrying about it, jumping at every little noise.
One thing for sure, building your own barn is hard work. It's taking
longer to build this barn that I thought it might. And my carpentry is not
as precision in execution or appearance as the work cranked out by the
factory. But the barn is going up. I'm getting along.
There's this guy, a Master Carpenter, who lives not far from here. He offered to
build a barn for me that would more than supply all the needs we have. But
He insisted that He would do it for free, and that just doesn't sound right.
Then,
when I tried to show Him my plans, to see if He could do what I wanted, He
just smiled. He said that He had His own perfect plans.
Nothing is really free these days. So I just couldn't bring myself to trust Him.
Something funny there. Something not quite right. Especially when I
mentioned the possibility of fire. He told me that no flood and no fire
would ever bring His barn down.
I don't think the guy is from the same planet that all the rest of us live
on, if you know what I mean. I mean, some things just sound too good to be
true.
Call me stubborn, but I think I’ll just stick to my own barn-raising.
I know that I can trust myself.
Note: The religious
nature of man always seems to fall short of God's grace in Jesus Christ.
Even when we're wise enough to reject the many false religions of this
world, we still often miss the righteousness of God. Eternal life is a
free gift of God. (Want
more info?)
©2004 Jim Sutton
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