Well Fall is here and that means leaf cleanup at the McKnight Family Homestead. I am grateful to have some tools that help with this chore, because I have a virtual forest-load of dead leaves to remove each year. So, on Monday I hooked my leaf vacuum trailer to my tractor to begin my yearly leaf penance. The system works well for me even if it is a bit cumbersome, since the tractor and vacuum are about 20 feet long altogether.
I always begin mulching and vacuuming the leaves along the roadside first, so turning out of my driveway I drove up the hill of my road to the furthest point of the property to start. As I swung the tractor around to begin, I glanced behind me to make sure the vacuum trailer was tracking right behind me and… uh-oh… the trailer was missing!
Whipping my head further around I saw the vacuum trailer sitting in the middle of the road all by itself… actually, it wasn’t sitting… it was beginning to pick up speed rolling back down the hill of my road. O man! I turned the tractor around and zipped back to the vac; jumped off the tractor, and stuck a rock behind the wheel to stop it. Somehow the pin had come out of the trailer hitch.
I felt a bit foolish with this disconnected leaf eater system spread out all over the road, but hey, no one was around to see my foolhardy mistake. That is… until my neighbor appeared over the hill.
As he drove by me… creeping slowly… he had this puzzled look on his face like — “What is this guy up to now?” Just another day on the Red Green McKnight Show.
Well, I got it all hooked up and finished the job for the day with no further adventures… thankfully, but it reminded me of an important Christian-life lesson. You know, my leaf vac system doesn’t work at all if it’s not connected to the mower deck of my tractor, but connected to it — well, it works great.
Jesus said, “Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.” John 15:4-6 CEV
For the Christian — staying connected (joined) to Jesus is absolutely essential. It is in Jesus that we live and move and have our being (Acts17:28). Jesus is the source of all spiritual nutrition and life for the believer. Without Christ, we are as dead as a branch fallen from the vine, but when we are connected to Christ… joined with him… we can produce “lots of fruit”.
This spiritual reality is why it is absolutely essential for the Christian to stay immersed in God’s word, prioritize a healthy prayer life, experience biblical fellowship with other believers and seek the filling and leading of the Holy Spirit
Leave a Reply