God was in the Rye Grass

This has truly touched my heart and with permission I asked if I could post it on my blog.
It was sent by Linda, (a co-worker who was diagnosed last year with breast cancer) whose husband Glenn has been going through some very difficult times over the last seven months. Glenn wrote this!

Recently Glenn sent out and I thought you would enjoy reading Glenn’s perspective. This may be a repeat as some of you have already received this:

“God is working not only in my physical life, but also in my life with Him. I want to share with you here one of the things God has reminded me of during these almost 7 months of continuing uncertainty. GOD WAS IN THE RYE GRASS As a child, one of the tasks that I had on the farm was making sure that during the early springtime, as the rye grass was coming up, that my cow had a regular visit to the rye field. There were just 4 cows in my family, which just happened to be the same number of people in our family. I was responsible for one, my brother for one, my mom for one, and my dad for one….(although Dad was "really" the responsible one.) I milked my own cow; I would make sure my cow had feed and hay; I would "haul her manure away"; and I was her total care taker. But the reason I had to take her out to the rye field in the spring, was so she could fill up one of her several stomachs with that fresh, dark green rye grass, which would then make her milk as rich as kings milk. That would make good cream for our butter that we sold every Friday to the store we "traded at". Friday's were known as "TOWNING DAY!" I suspect that really sounds weird to some of you, but living in the country, (and it WAS THE COUNTRY then,) when we went TO TOWN, that was a treat! Not that we ever GOT anything, but we left the farm and went into the city full of people….all 15,000 of those Lexington Barbecue people along with paved streets and sidewalks.
Now, I never did trust cows. I was a rather LITTLE boy even when I was little. I thought I was going to be a midget, but I ALMOST grew out of it!!!! I wasn't fearful of cows mind you….just the cows HEAD. I could take the back end of the cow…...that's the general area where the milk came from. The cow's tail was back there too, but it was just a nuisance….swatting around all over me while I was milking in the summer without a shirt on. (If you never felt a cow's tail swat your bare back….you don't know how that feels, but I tell you, it can sting.) But the head, now that was different. The head of a cow was as big as I was, and on top of that…no pun intended….there were sharp, mean-looking HORNS up there. Those cow heads were hung on mighty powerful necks too. I've seen a milk cow bust a stall plank by just swinging that big head and breaking it with her horns. Those cow HEADS can do some real damage. But it was my responsibility to get the cow out in the rye field, and I had to do that by putting a chain around either her neck or her horns. Usually I preferred the neck! Then I'd lead that cow out through the woods to our rye field, back into what we called the "new ground" about a half mile from the barn. As a little boy, every step I took with that cow….(mind you that head and horns were RIGHT BEHIND ME)…..every step I took I was afraid she was going to run over me. So, to keep her from doing that…I would just sort of speed up. Then I'd look back, and wouldn't you know it, as I speeded up, she speeded up. So I'd speed up a little more to get a little more out in front. But every time I did that, and then looked back…guess what……the cow was right there. Poor ole cow was almost running sometimes by the time we reached the rye field.
When we got there, I'd walk her out into the field where she hadn't grazed before, to a brand new patch of that rich rye grass, and I'd drop that chain. As soon as I did, she would drop that big head to the ground and begin tearing up that rye grass. I can still hear that sound today, the sound of a cow's teeth cutting that tough rye grass. Rip, rip, rip…..then the chain would go ching, clang, ching, as she would swing that big head around moving the chain out of her way every few feet.
So there the cow was, loving every bite of that rye, and little 'ole me standing there in the field. What do you do on a cold windy March day in the middle of the rye field? Well here is what I did. I just zipped up my coat real tight, pulled up my corduroy hood and tied the string tight, and laid down right in the middle of the rye. When I was lying down, the rye grass was totally covering me……keeping off the bitter wind, and I was a snug as a bug in a rug. Warm, cozy, and quiet. As I lay there on the bed of rye grass looking up at the sky. I'd do the "what is that cloud" thing, you know, that cloud looks like a rabbit, that one looks like a cat! And I'd also hear a couple of planes going over, (remember this was just about 7 years after WW II and they still used the B-29.) Every once in a while I'd see a formation of B 29's, sometime 6 or so in one formation…..with some flights made up 5 or 6 formations long. What a sight for a kid who wanted to fly when he grew up! Just laying there in the rye, watching the clouds and the planes, and hearing the wind howling through the trees at the edge of the field, but protected from it's fury, and the cow's rip, rip, rip, as she tore off the rye grass, and the clang, clang clang of the chain around her neck. This was an absolute heavenly experience…..one of the very few things about the farm that I really loved.
Now as I look back on things like that today as I am presently going through treatment for esophageal cancer……I realize a lot about what was going on back then. You see now, during this time, I have the peace of God, the comfort of God, the assurance of God's total authority in my life, and realize that whatever comes, I only want God's will, because there is nothing better than God's personal will for me, even when I have cancer. I know that God is faithful. I know that I can TRUST Him, not just with my soul, but with my body as well. If God is faithful enough that I can entrust him with my very eternal soul….how could I not entrust him with this mortal body of mine? I do, and I explicitly, totally trust God through this process of treatment, that whatever the outcome of this, whether he gives me a miracle or a crown at the end of this…..I want HIS will to be done. Oh I would love a miracle, but what if that is not God's best for me? And so I pray just as His own Son prayed, "Lord if it be possible let this cup pass from me….but nevertheless not MY WILL, but THY WILL be done." And in full assurance of God's proven faithfulness, and with total peace and trust, that's where I stand.
What in the world does this have to do with GOD in the Rye field?? Well folks, I've come to understand that it has EVERYTHING to do with God in the Rye field. You see, as a young lad, out in the middle of the field with the cold wind blowing, I was literally on cloud nine, ten and eleven….snug and warm, cut off from the howling wind above me, looking at my 2 favorite things in life, airplanes and sky, and hearing the unbelievably comforting sounds of a cow eating rye grass and a chain being tossed about. I didn't have a worry in the world. I knew the cow was right there with me….I didn't have to STICK MY HEAD above the rye grass to see where she was. I could hear her. I wasn't being blown away by the March wind…because I was underneath the tall rye. I wasn't cold, because my corduroy coat and hood had me warm and cozy. I just lay there on a bed of soft crushed rye grass soaking in the sky, the clouds and the airplanes flying overhead.. You see, God comes to us in the content of what we can understand at the time. As a young boy, I wasn't familiar with the deep truths of the scriptures; I wasn't familiar with the knowledge of how God comforts his people during periods of their lives that could be cold, or boring, or scaring. But you know what, GOD WAS IN THAT RYE FIELD with me as a child, just the same as he is with me here today through the uncertainties of esophageal cancer. As a lad, God came down and just POURED out his peace on me. I didn't even realize it at the time. I wasn't even sure what it was. I just experienced it. I didn't even have to ask for it….God just did it.
Today, I understand just a little bit more about God and his sovereignty than I did 55 years ago. I understand now a little bit more of how God loves, and comforts, and offers peace, contentment and assurance. Today, I just say, "Lord I TRUST YOU…may your will be done…and the jacket get's zipped up, the hood string tied snugly, and rye grass gets packed down on the hard ground, the clouds fly by accompanied here and there by a flight of my favorite planes, and I just lie here soaking it all in, and saying, isn't God wonderful! ISN'T MY GOD WONDERFUL!!
I don't think I can explain God's peace any better than that. GOD'S HERE IN THE RYE , SO LET THE TRIALS JUST FLY ON BY!! I have his peace, his warmth, His comfort, His presence, and His assurance that I AM WORTH more to him than all the fields of rye; than all the herds of cattle; than all the planes in the sky……and HE LOVES ME!! Let me say that again…HE REALLY LOVES ME!! And if you are HIS through Christ….He loves YOU too!
What peace and assurance! God can give you that same peace and assurance that He gave me before I even needed it. I want to praise Him and thank him that for me….He did that. He gave me those things in my fellowship with Him, some years before the cancer came; years before I knew the REALITY of the possibility of death being right around the corner. You see, He and I spent a lot of time in the Rye field together before the real tests came. And in that, he lovingly prepared me for whatever His will may be. I KNOW I CAN TRUST MY FAITHFUL, LOVING GOD!
Are you spending time with God in the Rye fields? Are you now spending time with him in sweet fellowship that he longs to have with you. He wants to, so that when the winds and cold come your way, you'll just simply praise him for YOUR ASSURANCE OF His sovereignty, and roll over into his soft rye covered hands and rest in total comfort, secure and ASSURED in HIM.”
Have a great day!Glenn