Ready Or Not

There are days in life when you can see down the road a long ways. As you look forward you can see possibilities and opportunities to get things done. I have always believed a person needs to be ready to take advantage of those opportunities.

Sometimes we wait or are not ready to do a job, start a project, take a trip, make a decision, or visit someone. We tell ourselves we have plenty of time. Then on down the road we run into an obstacle we did not expect.

A mild winter turned into an early spring in Iowa and gave us an opportunity to get a crop in. There were and still are risks of course. It could have froze off. The bugs could eat the early crops. It's maturity could hit a summer drought at the wrong time.

However there are also risk when we wait or are not ready. First it was too wet. Then the weeds grew and it was too green. Now we have had two weeks of no rain and it is too dry.

We also need to be ready to take the time to get together as family and friends. This is my dad and two of my brothers.

This is Atali showing Grandpa where Grandma fixed her leg up after her cousin Anton accidentally road over her with the 4-wheeler.

This is John telling Grandpa to be quiet because he and his cousins are looking for fish. I never thought picture taking was all that noisy to start with.

Here are some family and friends fishing, visiting, and just enjoying a beautiful Sunday. Oh Oh. I remember as kids we were not allowed to fish on Sunday. At least not for fish.

We need to be ready to stand for a purpose while we are living down here on earth. Last Sunday evening in Sully, Jared made "profession of faith" as we call it. Simply put that's when you tell the church you are willing to live for your Lord. The family and friends around him are praying and affirming that they are ready to support him and each other.

A final reason to be ready to take advantage of opportunities is we really don't know how long God has planned for us and those close to us to be around. God has some grow old. But others He takes in middle age and even as children sometimes.

I have a quote written on the front of my cell phone. "Ora et labora". In English it means "pray and work". My application of this quote is not very doctrinal because I believe I'm totally helpless without God's blessing however sometimes I think we need to be ready to pray as if every thing depends on God and work as if everything depends on us.