Who taught this farmer how to grow crops? Doesn’t he know not to waste seed? What kind of farmer allows seed to fall on a walking path, or on rocks? Has this farmer never done this before? Does he go out to farm with such enthusiasm and reckless exuberance that he doesn’t sow the seeds carefully in plowed ground that has been prepared for the seed?

            Maybe the more experienced farmers chuckle at him. They give each other knowing looks because they know what will happen to the seed tossed about willy-nilly. Maybe the veterans just hope the rookie farmer will learn his lesson by next season. No one allows seed to fall where it will do no good, where nothing will come of the effort. He will soon know the difference between real farming and just feeding the birds.

            Does the world see the church the way the weary old farmers see this first-timer who rushes out every day to see if his crops have pushed past the thorn bushes? Does the world consider us naïve and idealistic when we think the seed we throw around has any chance against war, greed and the damage life does to once-tender souls?

            Certainly, we in the church hang our heads at our own failures. We feed pizza and Bible to youth who still end up throwing their lives away on drugs. We march against injustice only to see injustice c

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