THE LAW OF HARVEST

2007 was the year of the harvest for the church in Santiago de Chile. The law of the harvest teaches us that whatever we sow, we will harvest. It’s a law that cannot be broken, like the law of gravity.

During the year, I made several comments concerning the harvest. One of them was that you will always harvest in its kind. As an example: if you sow oranges, you will harvest oranges and not tomatoes. Likewise, if you sow love, you will harvest love. I added that if you sow time, you will harvest time.

I did not think too much about that last statement until some days later when I received an email from someone who heard it and with much sarcasm he was questioning my words. One of the things that he questioned was about sowing time and harvesting of its kind. “Will I get days of more than 24 hours?” was his question, mocking me. He ended his email accusing me by saying I would do whatever I could to get a larger offering. I did not dignify his comments with an answer.

Some days ago, going thru some old pictures, I found one of Manuel Rodriguez (see picture). So many years have gone by, but I cannot forget his story.

One day he showed up in the church in Las Palmas, Grand Canary, Spain. I do not remember how he found us but soon he received the Lord as his personal savior and became one of the faithful members, never missing a service. He never spoke about his past, but he sure was enjoying his present. He was up in years and not well when he arrived to the church.

I was not surprised when now and then he had to spend a few days in a hospital. We all knew that sooner or later it was going to happen: his health took a turn for the worst and he was rushed back to the hospital. We all knew that this was not going to be like other times. This was going to be his last visit. I visited him several times a week, as not only was I his pastor: I was also his friend. Every time I went to visit him, he was alone. I asked him about his family and he told me he had two sons, one lived in the mainland and the other lived close by the hospital but never visited him. I went searching for him to speak to him about his father’s health. When I spoke to him, he got very upset.

With bitterness he told me his story. He told me how Manuel one day walked away from the family. How he abandoned his wife and two sons and had no TIME for them. His words followed me until today.

“He had no TIME for us. Now, he wants us to be near him, but we have no TIME to be with him.” I tried several times to explain that his father was a different man, but it was too late.

Early one morning I received a call from the hospital. Manuel had died and they wanted to know if I would take care of the body as no one in the family wanted to do it. I remember his funeral as the saddest I have ever ministered. No more than 5 were present when we laid his body to rest, and no one from his family was present.

Yes, my dear sarcastic friend, if you sow time, you will harvest time. Manuel did not sow time with his family and when harvest came, he had nothing to show.