Fred’s Verse
I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I have a story to inspire.
Some years ago, back in the year 2000, I was in Australia serving as a chaplain to the disabled athletes in the Paralympic Games in Sydney. Fred Sorrell, our host, was in charge of organizing our schedule. For two weeks, we were going nonstop! From morning to night, we were either connecting with athletes in the Olympic village, or we were visiting hospitals and churches; I was speaking to groups, large and small, passing out Gospel tracts, and witnessing one-on-one to everyone from taxi drivers to wheelchair athletes who were in town to see the Paralympics. I couldn’t believe how busy our schedule was, but I was having a great time. And so was Fred. Still, we were getting tired.
One night on our way back to our hotel after a late-night meeting, we were bumping along in the van, and I was with Fred in the back, feeling exhausted but happy. I could see his tired face in the light of oncoming cars. His eyes were at half-mast, and once or twice he almost nodded off. I said to him with a smile, “I bet you are going to be glad to see the back of us when we leave, Then you’ll be able to get some rest,” I told him. To which Fred replied with a grin, “I may be weary, Joni, but I’m a Proverbs 10:5 kind of guy—you have to look it up when you get back to your room.” Later, in the room we collapsed in bed without giving Fred’s verse a thought. The next morning we were up and out the door. Proverbs 10:5 got scribbled on a card and it was forgotten. When I returned to California and was unpacking, I found the card with the verse! I opened my Bible and to see what it said and this is what it said: “He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” Wow!
I smiled to read it, and pictured Fred back in Australia. Fred with his passion for lost souls. I was back home in California, but he was still at it, following up on all the contacts we made, plugging people into churches, and discipling those who came to Christ. Even now, so many years later, I know he is still praying, singing, fasting, working on his computer and mobile phone, traveling, witnessing, calling sinners to come home, and shaking the world for Christ. Fred is determined to remain a wise son, all the way through a summer of sowing seeds and well into harvest time. He’s not about to disgrace the Holy Spirit and say that he’s too tired, too old, too used up, or too busy to still be out there, sowing seeds of the Good News. Fred is working (I mean that man is working) the fields of harvest.
Jesus says in John Chapter 4, verse 35, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” Now is not the time to sleep; it’s the time to gather a crop for the kingdom. And then, John Chapter 9, verse 4 says, “As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” Those verses are so energizing, and I feel like Fred. I want to squeeze every ounce of ministry out of my quadriplegic body that I possibly can before the night falls and the harvest is over. And if you look around, the fields around you are white for harvest as well. So, as it says in Galatians Chapter 6, “Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Friend, those words are meant to inspire, encourage and refresh your heart, so share them with your friends on Facebook. Now is not the time to slack off. It is the time to gather a crop for the Kingdom of Christ.
© Joni and Friends
