Playing in the Haymow

March 23, 2025
 
Reflections from the Heart of Allan Redenius
Growing up on the farm in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s gave to me a treasure hoard of memories that few children today will ever experience.  Instead of being lost in the black hole of the Internet and playing some sort of video game with no real reward, I was outside chasing chickens, raising rabbits, slopping hogs, and when I wasn't doing my chores, I was playing in the barn.
 
One of my many chores was to throw bales of hay down from the haymow for the feeding of the cows.  There was only one danger in that chore.  I had to be careful not to slip and fall down the chute, twenty feet to the cement floor below where the bales of hay landed.  In spite of being hot in the summer and cold in the winter, the haymow was the best place to be.  It was there you could swing on the hay rope as if you were Tarzan.  If you could hang on, with a hoop and a holler from one end of the barn to the other, you could swing.  
 
There were treasures in the haymow to be found.  Shh… do you hear the muffled meows of the new kitty litter?  Move a few bales, and there you would find them, all scrunched together to keep warm.  Play with them for a few minutes, and the next day look for them all over again.  Mama cat, once her litter was found, always moved them to a new hiding place.
 
It was in the haymow that you could catch pigeons in the dark of night.  Quietly climb high into the rafters where they roost, shine a bright light into their eyes, reach out and they were yours.  “Gotcha!”  Put them in a cage, feed them, take care of them, and soon they were my friends.  Often, I would intentionally leave the cage door open.  Some flew around during the day and came back in the evening, while others never returned.
 
Now that I'm older, of course I do not play in the haymow any longer.  You can't even find a barn anymore.   But like searching for newborn kittens or blinding pigeons, today I search for lost souls who have hidden themselves in their sin.  I shine the bright light of Jesus, not to blind people, but for them to clearly see the freedom and salvation that Christ brings.  If you come to Christ, the door to His nest is always open.  Choose to live in the lair of Satan and the door to your prison is never open but always shut and locked.  Jesus is the only escape.
 
Living life to the full!  Reaching out to those who need to be saved.
 
Pastor Allan
 
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