A couple weeks ago I was dropping my daughters off at their respective children’s ministries at church. This particular morning was unlike any other because we had actually managed to leave early and arrive before the children’s ministry was open — those of you with kids 4 years of age and younger will understand the miracle.

Anyway, we were waiting in the lobby for about 10 minutes and next to the chairs was this statue of Jesus with two little kids on his knee. I had put my 1 year old down to play and immediately she ran for the statue. Visions of her grabbing the statue and shattering it ran through my mind. But what she did next spoke to my heart. Upon reaching the Jesus statue she looked at Jesus, then pointed to his beard and exclaimed, “Daddy!”

A few years ago I was interviewing Christian artist Jeremy Camp who at the time had a 1 year old daughter. My wife and I were nearing the due date of our first daughter, and I asked him what it was like to be a father. I expected the cliche answer that it was “awesome, and the best experience of your life,” but what he said has stuck with me all these years.

According to Camp, being a father brings home the relationship that we have with our heavenly father. When we have our own children we get to see a glimpse of how Jesus feels towards us. When we discipline we do so (or should do so) out of love and not anger. We have this unconditional love for our children that is just unexplainable at times.

As it did for Camp, being a father has given me a “backstage” pass to catch a glimpse of how things are run behind the curtain.

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest.” — John 4:35

As we head into the fall season here at NewLife FM, I look forward to all the fall food items that become available. During the harvest season many enjoy the tastes and smells of the season. Pumpkin pie spice has to be one of my favorite smells of the season — of course it doesn’t take the place of an actual pumpkin pie — but nothing says fall more than pumpkins!

My wife and I love taking our girls to the local pumpkin patch to select some of the tasty gourds. The combination of a beautiful crisp fall day combined with getting out into the fields to select the perfect pumpkin just seem to make the long summer wait worth the while.

As we prepare for the fall harvest, I can’t help but think how excited God gets when another soul is ready for the picking. Sometimes that soul takes a lot of attending to as it becomes “vine ripened.” But when that soul makes the decision to accept the gift of salvation and is finally harvested, what a wonderful aroma must fill the heavens.

This fall, let us be reminded of the harvest of souls that awaits us in the “fields white unto harvest!”