So far I have spent quite a bit of time telling you about my Dad and Mother and the Campbells. As time has gone by I have come to see they were the perfect team.

Dad was teaching me about farming, work, and things that were important to him. Many times I didn't know what was driving him until later. I thought maybe it was just to give us more work. HA!

One of those things was his desire to sow clean seed. He became a registered seed grower and won prizes for his registered seed. He had taken agriculture in university and was interested in good farming practices. Farmers had come to know that many of the weed seeds that they had in their fields came from getting seed sometimes from many miles away. This might be a better variety than what they had. Unfortunately, in the bag of seed that they purchased were other bad seeds. If this was so, you could be sowing them as well as the good crop. A few bad seeds in the bag could become many seeds in the field if allowed to go to seed for a few years.

As a result my brothers and I spent many days cleaning seed and selling this registered seed on the market. It also was a better way to get a good price for our grain.

Dad didn't want his boys to go to university, and when asking him why, he told us there were things that went on there that he didn't want us to get involved in. I guess there were some bad seeds there too. Dad had picked up a bad habit while at university and it took him a number of years to shake it.

You know when I became a born-again Christian, I didn't think Dad was a Christian because he never talked about it and also had this bad habit. It wasn't until just recently I was handed a book given to him by his godly grandmother. In the cover was a note from her which said,

Dad's mother and grandmother were active in the Salvation Army. Wow! Now I knew why he said "that is good!" when I told him I had become a Christian. Dad later showed evidence of being a Christian and became the chairman of the Christian Business Men's Committee in our town and shared his faith with others.

I said earlier that my parents and the Campbells were the perfect team for me. While Dad was working on clean seed, Campbells were working on clean hearts.

Mr. Campbell knew his Bible well and would teach us the Scripture. A set of verses often quoted were:

"Do not be deceived; God is not mocked [or fooled]: for whatever a man sows that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." (Galatians 6:7-8)

Sowing and reaping in the Bible was just like farming. The "flesh"—what is that? Take the "h" off and turn the rest around: SELF. If we live for self and sow wild oats we will reap a bad reward. But if we sow God's Word into our lives and follow it we will receive a good reward.

My Dad was determined he was not going to sow bad seeds in his fields and Campbells were determined that we shouldn't sow bad habits into our lives. At times it seemed that it took work to have good seed and also took work to have a clean heart. Just wanting to do and have what was right went a long ways to accomplishing the goal.

Was it worth it? One thousand times yes! The right way sometimes requires short term pain, but gives a long term gain. The other way may seem easier at first, but oh the long term pain that can be brought upon ourselves.

If you have been doing the wrong things, then admit it, repent and tell God you are sorry and start doing what is right. God will bless you for it.

^top

---