The temperature is falling and cooler weather makes the tractor a hard start. Honestly I don’t know if it has glow plugs (there’s no light on the dash) but the dealer has a part number for them. The wife mentioned how she likes the look of the fields when they’re mowed so I thought I’d oblige.

Grinding and coughing, the exhaust chuffs out white smoke. Building heat from compressing the air fuel mixture in the cylinders finally reaches appropriate levels and the old girl sputters to life. I raise the bucket, the mowing deck, and engage the power take off. RPMs dip as the gear box for the mower speeds to match the engine.

Driving across the yard, brightly colored leaves fall around me, the breeze cool against my face. This is my favorite time of year. Finding a love of hunting has only increased the joy in this season and given me more ways to spend time with my boys.

We should feel blessed. Turn off the TV, put down your phone, and use the newspaper to light the kindling in your fireplace. Yes, you should be counting your blessings in 2020. You should count them daily.

I thank God I lived through my time in the war, that I’m still happily married to Misty after 17 years, that I have three children who I love and can spend time with. I’m blessed beyond measure, my soul redeemed by the saving grace of Christ Jesus’s redemptive work on the cross.

I’m thankful for friends. One gave me this fine cigar I’m smoking as I operate my John Deere. I need to get out and trim the trees in the field, their low branches slow the mowing. I’m thankful it’s been a dry couple weeks, our property has numerous natural springs. They can make mowing certain areas problematic.

I’m grateful to have faced mortality early in my life. I’ve stood at the graveside in Arlington many times watching widows receive the folded flag. Each time I imagined my wife with the flag in her arms, weeping over my casket and wondered if I would get to see my children grow up.

Each day can be a miracle if you let it.

I had let the fields go, so the tall grass took time but gave opportunity to think. Your mind can wander from life to death, joy to despair as you pass row after row. The colorful leaves fell as the cigar smoke rose and the breeze drifted in from the north.

A few days later I found myself with just enough time to sneak in a couple mile bike ride on the property. Ritter enjoyed running with me despite knowing the territory. The chill and drizzle never concern him.

I circled the field and rode through it, past the dead fawn that I mowed around, the tall grass marking it’s passing as a memorial. Crisscrossing through the woods I steered onto the deer trail parallel to the Hay Creek. I’ve been meaning to build a bridge at the end of the trail to span a ditch that allows our pond to overflow into the creek.

Approaching the obstacle, I decide that it would be good training to ride in and out of it. It might have been better if the gap was wider or perhaps I could have made it if I carried more speed. As with most things in life, getting in isn’t the problem. The front tire reached the other side but suddenly there was no momentum.

I grabbed the front brake to keep me from sliding backward but the mud laughed as I succumbed to gravity and ended up with a beautiful view of the sky through trees. With some difficulty I climbed out of that hole and continued my ride.

Coming back in the other direction I carried the bike through the ditch having learned my lesson. At the other end of the path there’s log, a ten inch tree that had long ago died and fallen in a previous storm. Determined to learn another lesson, I decided to ride over it. I’ve done it before on other trails so it should’ve be fine…

The log had no bark so when I popped the wheel up to get over, the slick, wet wood amplified the slight pitch of my tire and the front end washed out. Again I found myself on the ground, this time laughing. I love fall.

In this temporal existence we will constantly fall, whether it is something small like crashing a bike or something big like a small business getting crushed by a pandemic. Have you lost someone? Are you battling cancer? Are the memories of the trauma you suffered the mud that keeps you in a pit?

There is a time for mourning, a time for comforting, a time for licking our wounds. (But that can’t last forever) Sometimes it seems as though the bad doesn’t stop coming. Your spouse left with the kids because you lost your job because the car stopped working.

No advice I give, no story I tell, no verse I quote will fix what’s wrong. This life is a personal journey. You HAVE to keep going! Learn from each and every fall. Don’t internalize the incident- It’s not who you are, it’s just what happened to you. Don’t allow others to label you either.

I’ve fallen a lot in my short life: out of trees, off of a roof, into tons of ditches and holes, off a motorcycle & dirt bike & road bike & mountain bike… this list is longer but I’ll spare you. How you fall and with what intensity can determine the required length of time to get back up- BUT YOU CAN CHANGE IT.

People that have been told they’ll never walk again push through intense pain- choosing not to have their legs amputated, they teach themselves to walk again at a pace said impossible by medical professionals. You must be TENACIOUS– persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired.

I’ve stopped taking any medication for pain and have replaced it with better diet and exercise. It hurts but it’s a different kind of pain. Going into this cold season it could become a cycle- the pain slows me down so I do less, which stiffens my body and increases the pain. I am making the decision now to follow TCC- Time, Consistency, and Commitment. I want that mental grit! Lord give me strength to Struggle Well!

Without healing for our soul we can never be whole.

We cannot heal ourselves. Ultimately we are eternal spiritual beings in a temporary, physical body. Pushing through physical maladies tenaciously doesn’t fix our fallen soul. A right relationship with Christ will give our spirit the tenacity to overcome ALL obstacles. Click HERE to listen to Billy Graham lay it out plainly. A life lived for Christ won’t be free of pain or difficulty, it will be energized by God to help you up when you fall.

OVER.

Do not gloat over me, my enemies!
    For though I fall, I will rise again.
Though I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be my light.
Micah 7:8 (NLT)

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 American Standard Version

-Drew OUT!