What is the oldest profession on earth? There is some disagreement about this one, but it's farming. People need to eat before they can do anything else.

The Bible introduces the first farmers as Adam and Eve-they were to take good care of the garden.

We see right away the difficulties associated with farming. Adam and Eve were to be work the garden and enjoy the fruit that it grew.

But tragedy struck when they ate fruit from the one tree in the whole garden that God said, "Hands off." Everything was good until then but their defiance to God and introduction of sin created hardship for every farmer and person who would come after them.

Since that first farming tragedy, farming has been used as a metaphor for life to give hope for those affected by life's hardships. For example, God's words, which are like seeds, will affect people differently. People who respond positively to God's hopeful words are thought to be healthy soil and those who don't are thought of as rocky or thorny soil.

Like life, farming can be difficult. Lots of bad stuff can happen on farms. I learned this one tragic day some two years ago. On that day, the phone rang and on the other end a weak voice said, "Can you come to the farm, there was an accident and Scott has been killed."

Fifteen minutes later, I turned into the farmyard and saw the ambulance, yellow police tape circling the accident scene and a devastated farm family.

What happened? It was harvest time and Scott was packing silage. The job was almost finished. The bunker was just full, there was maybe a few more minutes needed on the pile. When Scott was backing up, the tractor's back wheel slid over the edge of the concrete bunker wall, causing the tractor to tumble down the side of the bunker. Scott was underneath the back tire. He was 18.

There was a display of compassion and concern that followed from neighbours, family, friends and church members. There were around 1,300 people at Scott's celebration of life service. Many came to the farm in the days and weeks that followed to help.

Jesus knows that life can be difficult and burdensome. He came to undo the tragic effects of sin introduced by the first farmers. He once said some words of hope to a group of farmers:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11: 28-30

Here we have a promise from God's words to us, if we come to Jesus to receive healing from sin, we will find rest-rest from burdens, difficulties and tragedies of life.

? Mike VanderKwaak is a pastor at Heartland Fellowship. Contact him at mike@ heartlandfellowship.com.

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