A More Personal Parable of a Distracted Student

Like a child I sit and wait for instruction with an assignment laying on the desk in front of me. I fiddle with my papers and twiddle my thumbs.  Look out the window, whistle quietly to myself, or zone out.  I nod off, I think about the other things I could be doing; whatever it is, I just keep sitting, waiting for a word from the teacher to tell me what to do.  I haven't been paying attention for a while now, so I don't really even know for what I am listening. But I keep listening because I've been told over and over, listen to the teacher and she will tell you what to do.

After an hour, as I am bored to death waiting for direction, I lay my head down on the desk and give up on the assignment before me.  SMACK! The teacher slaps my desk with the ruler as I suck in my drool and snap to a drowsy attention.  Now that she has my attention she squats down next to my desk and says, "Nathan, what are you doing?"

     "Waiting for you to tell me what to do," I respond confidently.

     She calmly reassures me, "But Nathan, I already told you what you must do for me. I explained how to do it."

     "When did you do that?" I begin to stammer losing confidence.  "I listened for you to explain; I sat quietly--now I did lose focus every once in a while.  Did I miss it then?  Did you tell me while I wasn't listening?  I heard that last class you told some of the students how to do it individually.  Weren't you going to do that for me too?"

     "Oh Nathan, I spoke the words to my classroom assistant and she wrote them right on the assignment paper.  I even wrote out a syllabus so that you would know the big picture--how all of these little assignments fit into the overall goals for the class.  I told you my expectations, and one of them is to read what I had written for you.  Those are my words directly even though the assistant wrote them.  Why do I need to say it again to each person individually if I have already had it written down for you to read?  Don't you think that sitting there with the directions in your lap without reading them is a silly thing to do?"  She continued with compassion, "Don't be discouraged Nathan, you might be a little bit behind everyone else, but you still have time, just start reading my directions and follow them.  It is that simple. You can do it."

מִנְחָה֙

ECHO Agricultural Conferences 2009 and 2010

     "ECHO's Annual ECHO Agricultural Conference is an event that brings together some of the world’s most influential voices dedicated to eradicating hunger and improving lives. Speakers share practical solutions to agricultural challenges, personal experiences and strategies for improving the lives of millions who everyday face the threat of starvation. The event offers an open exchange of information, connecting the people and ideas that can make a real and sustainable difference." -www.echonet.org
     The conference in my own words is a motley conglomeration of people passionate about Agriculture, meeting the agricultural needs of the world's hungry people, and about our Lord, Jesus Christ.  The like-mindedness of the attendees that makes it so unique;  from Cornell University professors to subsistance farmers from Haiti and Kenya, from college students to NGO development workers, this is truly a global conference.
     It was such an honor to be asked by EDGE OUTREACH to represent them at the conference.  With only a few kinks in the first presentation, the event went well.  I had a display table set up in a side room while the morning sessions occurred at the hotel conference center.  Then tightly packed we moved to the 50 acre ECHO farm where I unpacked and gave two one-hour demonstrations of the purifier that EDGE OUTREACH uses.
     I never cease to be amazed by the versatility of the purifier.  Providing 10,000 gallons of pure water every day with only the simple inputs of one handful of salt, a 12 volt battery, and the locally available water, this is truly a live-giving instrument.


More pictures are at the following links to my Facebook albums from the last two years at the conference.
ECHO Conference 2010  |  ECHO Conference 2009

מִנְחָה֙

A Parable of Three Farmers

Three men.

Three tracts of land.
Three farming handbooks.
Three million-dollar loans.
One for each.

Laying aside the book, as time grows short,
The first invests his share and his time.
Intently tills and plants his own way.

Also sitting on the given instruction,
The second listens patiently for a word--
Personal guidance from the master gardener.

The third cracks the book and opens his mind
To the plans laid out in the handbook.
Beginning only after much study,

Constantly referring back to the guide.
Following the book leads him another way
Unconventionally,  he trusts the book
Without waiting for the master to tell him individually.

Upon returning, the master gardener frowns
In disappointment of his investment.
So much he gave and received nothing from most.

Having cultivated nothing
Except thistles and thorns and rocks and clumps,
The first two will be punished.

Having read the instructions,
The second farmer is rewarded.
"Well done my good and faithful steward."


מִנְחָה֙