The Grain Dryer

   My childhood is full of many fond memories. Growing up on a farm provided many learning experiences as well as opportunities to get into trouble. My brother, Aaron, and I loved to play on the machinery, climb the grain bins, and play hide and seek around the farm buildings.

   There was one tall skinny building that I especially liked to play in. You could climb up about one-third of the way and there was a door that opened into a tunnel. Every little boy wonders what's inside a tunnel.

   One sunny summer afternoon Aaron and I climbed up the ladder, opened the door and crawled into the metal tunnel. We were playing around and having a grand time when suddenly we heard a car in the driveway. Fear scampered through us in that instant as we remembered Dad had told us that we were never to play inside these tunnels. I listened as Dad got out of the truck and walked directly over to the partially open door and began to close it. At that moment, desperate fear gripped us and we began to scream because we didn't want to get locked inside. Relief flooded over us when he opened the door and helped us out and back down the ladder, where we sat in a puddle of tears, wondering why Dad would try and lock us inside.

   As I look back, I now realize that Dad was forced to use a little fear to teach Aaron and me a lesson. You see, the tunnel that we were in was part of a grain dryer. A grain dryer is basically a large furnace that removes the moisture from grain. Were that machine to have been turned on, Aaron and I would have died quickly. Because Dad loved us he needed a way to impress upon our young minds the seriousness of the danger we were in.

   God loves us even more than my own father loves me. That's a lot of love. God loves us so much that He sent His only son to this earth to pay the death penalty for our foolish choices; and Jesus someday will take us away from this earth that will burn like a furnace, to live with Him eternally.

Read God's warning to us in Revelation 14:6-12