6-18-2006

Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God. So your experience of God may become your experience of life. It is wonderful what God can do!

“A John Deere Father”

June 18, 2006

We have gathered today to Worship the God of our fathers and mothers. We also come together to give thanks to God for being our heavenly Father, and to offer our love and appreciation to the many fathers both present with us this morning in body and those present in spirit.

We are grateful to the many loving fathers that provided for the families in so many generous ways. We pause, also, to remember those homes where mother, grandparent, or guardian had to provide for the fatherly qualities, and to express our appreciation for the extra mile effort that they made.

We also would be remiss if we did not acknowledge those who were not fortunate enough to have a loving, kind, and generous father, but rather had to endure harsh, unkind, and possibly illegal and abusive treatment at the hands of their father. We pray for their continued emotional and physical healing.

As I have been thinking about fatherhood and preparing for today, I heard an advertisement playing on the television in the next room. I heard the announcer say things like strong, dependable, well respected, and innovative. Since the advertisement was using language that I had been thinking about on the subject of fatherhood, I quickly went in to the other room to see what they were talking about.

I discovered it was a commercial for John Deere lawn tractors. I thought perhaps I had something that I could learn from John Deere and went to their website. On the website, I found still more interesting language. They were using words and phrases like “most trusted,” “has a positive and stable outlook,” “sustained change, growth and diversification.”

As I continued to read, they said that they “provide an environment of inclusion, respect and opportunity.” These were all qualities that I knew that I had wanted to provide as a father. But the most amazing description that they gave of themselves was that of having “strong ties to the land, and core values of quality, integrity, innovation, and commitment.”

This so fascinated me, that I decided to hit the “history” button, and I immediately found out that John Deere was a real person who had espoused these qualities and values back at the beginning of his endeavors as a blacksmith beginning in 1825. John Deere was born in Rutland, Vermont, February 7, 1804. Not long after becoming a journeyman, he gained considerable fame for his careful workmanship and ingenuity.

Business conditions in Vermont, however, became depressed in the mid-1830s, and the future looked gloomy for the ambitious young blacksmith. He left his wife and family, who were to join him later, and set out with a bundle of tools and a small amount of cash. After traveling many weeks by canal boat, lake boat, and stagecoach, he reached the village of Grand Detour, Illinois, The need for a blacksmith was so great that two days after his arrival in 1836 he had built a forge and was busy serving the community.

He soon learned of the serious problem encountered in trying to farm the fertile soil of the Midwest. The cast-iron plows they had brought with them from the East were designed for the light, sandy New England soil. The rich Midwestern soil clung to the plow bottoms and every few steps it was necessary to scrape the soil from the plow. Plowing was a slow and laborious task. In 1837, John Deere developed a highly polished and properly shaped moldboard and share which scoured itself as it turned the furrow slice. Deere's steel plow proved to be the answer pioneer farmers needed for successful farming in what was then "the West."

John Deere was not only the father of a very successful tractor company, but imbued these same qualities and values in his son, Charles, grandson William, and great grandson, Charles Deere Wiman. These qualities and values continue to the current generation.

Very few of us have famous fathers worthy of a spot in history, but that is not the important thing. A father needs only to be an enduring and proper influence on those special children whom God has entrusted to him.

Fathers may be known for their strength of body and strength of character, but they are known most in their families for their compassionate and generous love; for their openness to change and understanding as their children grow up in a changing world; for their commitment to dependability and the enrichment of family life. Most importantly, whether fathers want it or not, they are known for their faith in God and their perspective on life.

Other factors may grow dim in the memories of children, but when it comes time to make the transition from life on this earth to life in God’s heaven, the faith of our father (and mother) and the perspective they have lived out in front of us, will long endure. If our parents are insecure with what they believe and where they are headed, the legacy is easily passed to the children.

Happy is the home, however, where the parents espouse great faith in God. Happy is the home where the things of the spiritual are actually more important than the things on this earth. Happy is the home where the perspective is heard and lived out that physical life is but a preparation and a stepping stone for the real life that God intends for us in eternity.

And so today we thank God for our fathers and our mothers, for our sisters and our brothers, for our good friends and our best friends. We thank God that this is not the end, but rather the beginning and we thank God for caring so much that he made it in this order so that the best will be last and the best will be everlasting.