Signs and doors

Every fortnight people from a farming background, or who have a heart for the countryside, offer a personal reflection on faith and rural life. They hope that you will be encouraged by it.

Recently I was doing some tidying-up at the farm, in the byre, where the pipeline milking machine used to be, and in the ‘dairy’, which still contains the electric motor and vacuum pump.

I loved milking cows, most days, but now I would struggle to operate all the technology of a modern milking parlour.

As I decided on what to keep, I remembered that there was once an old sign on the dairy door: ‘Gascoigne Milker’ it read, ‘Milking Troubles? No Sir! I milk the Gascoigne way.’ It was a reminder that we could have confidence as we milked. I wonder how many readers remember that sign?

Some farms have diversified into B&Bs, or Airbnbs, and from time to time will have to put up this sign (virtually or for real): ‘No Vacancies’. It made me think of the picture that Jesus paints for us of heaven, when he tells His disciples, ‘My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?’ (John 14:2).

I wonder, if this year will you have room for Jesus in your life? Will you make space to let Him be your Saviour, and friend, so that He can go and prepare a room for you? Or are the things that fill up your life more important than Jesus? Revelation 3:17 says, ‘You say, “I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.” But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.’ Do these things give you confidence to face the future, in a similar way the Gascoigne sign gave us confidence in the milking parlour?

There are many people who have the sign ‘No Entry’ to Jesus firmly in place on the door to their life. Doors are mentioned in the Bible around 180 times and a door with a ‘No Entry’ sign reminds me of Genesis 6:3, when the Lord said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever….” Or remember, Noah and the Ark in Genesis? When the rains came down, and the door was shut, there was no admittance to safety for people who wanted to flee from the flood.

Only those who have trusted Jesus as their Saviour will be admitted to heaven and the place that He has prepared for them. Everyone else will be met with the sign on the door, ‘No Admittance’ – and that, unfortunately, is without exception!

Jesus tells us, however, in Revelation 3:20 that He is waiting. ‘“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”’ All you have to do is open the door of your heart.

We can have a reliable, fully functioning milking parlour - with or without a ‘Gascoigne Milker’ sign on the door - but most of all we need a reliable Saviour. But like that old sign, when someone asks you, “Do you have troubles?” You can reply, “Yes Sir, but they have been overcome, for I am following the way of Jesus”- for as it is described in John 10:9 in the New American Standard Bible, it says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Trevor Boyd is the minister of First Rathfriland Presbyterian Church in the rolling County Down countryside. Married to Barbara, the father of three is an ex-sheep breeder and previously sold animal health products across Northern Ireland.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Rev. Kenny Hanna at [email protected] or call him on 028 9753 1234.

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