How God Made a Farmer

DaimlerChrysler ran a commercial during the Super Bowl that created a lot of buzz.  In the ad, Paul Harvey’s poem “So God Made A Farmer” narrated a slide show of striking images depicting American farmers and the landscapes they work.  I was moved by the commercial and it left me thinking that the American farmer is a never failing, always honest, caretaker of God’s creation.

Now, I grew up in a rural agricultural community filled with farmers.  My experience was a bit different than Paul Harvey’s poem.  The farmers I knew were ordinary people.  They had ups and downs and goods and bads just like the rest of us.  With those experiences in mind, I questioned the feelings evoked by the commercial.  I decided the ad was overly nostalgic and a bit dishonest.

Later, I learned that the commercial left out one line of Harvey’s poem.  Ad makers deleted a line that says farmers “finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church.”  I don’t know or care why they chose to exclude that line.  But, for me, it made all the difference in the world. 

That line made a big difference because driving to church every week is a way people seek God.  Regular trips to meet God are a way ordinary people are transformed into the noble characters Paul Harvey celebrates.  When people seek God in Bible studies, worship services, prayer groups, and prayer closets, God graciously develops our character.  God makes us more patient, more kind, more faithful, more joyous, and more self controlled.  In terms of the commercial, God makes us a farmer.

As you go through the coming week, take regular trips to meet God.  Pray, study the Bible, go to church, invest in your Growth Group, and be changed.  You will find that it makes you a different type of person.  You will learn the process by which God makes you a farmer.