{"id":86854,"date":"2025-04-28T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=86854"},"modified":"2025-04-28T09:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T14:00:44","slug":"trouble-on-the-farm-and-in-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/trouble-on-the-farm-and-in-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Trouble on the Farm and in the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Leslie Diestelkamp<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/donkey-300x300.avif\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" \/>When I was quite young, I learned some important lessons regarding farm work. Mules were my favorite beast of burden (those were the days when there were very few tractors on Missouri farms). But I immediately learned to regard with much awe the hind feet of a mule. Yet the lesson I learned was that &#8212; a mule can&#8217;t pull while kicking &#8212; and he can&#8217;t kick while pulling. Even now, when the mule is almost extinct on the farms, we can learn a lesson in the church from him. In some places, brethren fuss and &#8216;kick&#8217; so much that they just can&#8217;t get down to pulling the load of spiritual service to the Lord. But if they can be induced to get busy pulling, they will almost always give up their kicking. Perhaps preachers should be the first to be impressed with the principle we learned from the good ole mule.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Leslie Diestelkamp When I was quite young, I learned some important lessons regarding farm work. Mules were my favorite beast of burden (those were the days when there were very few tractors on Missouri farms). But I immediately learned to regard with much awe the hind feet of a mule. Yet the lesson I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[456],"class_list":["post-86854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-unity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":63307,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/quit-horsing-around\/","url_meta":{"origin":86854,"position":0},"title":"Quit Horsing Around","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 32 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Bible is filled with reminders to look at the world around us and learn from the examples we find. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The ant is an example of industry and not procrastinating - Proverbs 6:6-11 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Job recommended - Job 12:7-10 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is wisdom to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57710,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/joe-h-blue\/","url_meta":{"origin":86854,"position":1},"title":"Joe H. Blue","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"[Written in January 1944 in a personal letter to Roy L. Ruckman. Brother Blue had no thought of it being more than a personal letter, but it has been shared with hundreds for it is a means of encouraging young preachers.] I was born September 18, 1875, in Izard County,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12768,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/kicking-against-the-goads\/","url_meta":{"origin":86854,"position":2},"title":"Kicking Against the Goads","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Whit Sasser A goad is an animal prod -- a stick that is jabbed into the hind section of, say a plowing ox, to stimulate better forward movement. Almost instinctively, the animal may be aggravated by the prodding goad and kick against it. People can be the same way.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/goad.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":89428,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lessons-we-need-from-balaam-and-his-donkey\/","url_meta":{"origin":86854,"position":3},"title":"Lessons We Need from Balaam and His Donkey","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richard Blackford It begins with Balak, the Moabite king, who was fearful of the Israelites moving through his territory on their way to the Promised Land. He sent for Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet and diviner, to bribe him to pronounce a curse on the Israelites. Concerning the donkey, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/jackass-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7751,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-were-the-israels-not-to-mix-two-different-kinds-of-seed\/","url_meta":{"origin":86854,"position":4},"title":"Why were the Israels not to mix two different kinds of seed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is meant by the command not to mix two different kinds of seed in Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 22? Would this mean that humans should not selectively breed new hybrids? Answer: \"You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40875,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lessons-ive-learned-from-my-dog\/","url_meta":{"origin":86854,"position":5},"title":"Lessons I&#8217;ve Learned From My Dog","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Rob Speer A dog requires\u00a0constant\u00a0training. Training Bear to do something once is not enough. He must be constantly reminded and lessons need continuous reinforcement. He will obey the commands we have taught him as long as we are consistent. He will get a toy, sit, stay, etc. when we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/dog2-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}