With the dry season and the end of harvest for some of the corn and rice plantings, it is common to see plumes of smoke coming from the fields. As dry season goes on, the air just gets more and more smoky.
As I was looking bicycling past some of the fields this pas week, I noticed that there were people out in the blackened paddies. And as I looked more closely, I saw that they were out planting in the fields. In fact, some of the other paddies were flooded as if irrigating a new crop.
As I watched the workers in the black fields the words of Jesus came to mind: “the fields are white unto harvest.” And I thought, “these fields are anything but white.” But then, they were not harvesting, they were planting.
And I thought this is a good picture of one aspect of missionary life. Before a field is “white unto harvest”, it must first be planted an cultivated. And when we first plant the gospel, sometimes things seem very dark.
Today, one of the young women who comes to our English club had to rush off afterwards to join her family for some ritual involving ancestor worship. She is a young believer but still under the authority of her non-believing father.
Darkness.
This afternoon, a long, slow parade of vehicles was following a car with a loudspeaker announcing a special opportunity to make merit—trying to increase the chances that one’s next life will be better than this one (but no guarantees).
Darkness.
But the good news is that darkness ≠ hopeless.
Indeed it is in these blackened fields that we can plant seeds of hope and light.
Sowing.
There is the young man who went to school to become a teacher, and then, when he had opportunity, he moved back to his home village to bring the good news of Jesus to that place. Still, few adults in this community want to risk getting the spirits angry by following Christ. Yet this teacher perseveres in his faith.
Cultivating.
There is another young man who has been holding youth meetings in another village every week. For the longest time there was no interest on the part of the adults in following Jesus. But now there is talk about some of the village leaders even setting aside a piece of land for a church.
Harvest.
A group of people come from across the river to declare their faith by dipping in the Mekong River.
We are grateful for the opportunity to help plant seeds of light in the darkened fields. And we till the fields in hope of a great harvest.
