What is the Only Thing That Matters?

​September 6, 2026
 
Reflections from the Heart of Allan Redenius
“My dad's red tractor is better than your dad's green tractor,” said I to another boy on the bus.  “No, it is not!  Green tractors are better than red tractors,” was his reply.  And so, the senseless argument continued.  Maybe in the end, green tractors won the duel.  There seems to be more green John Deere's than red International Harvesters in the fields.
 
What do third and fourth grade little boys know about tractors anyway?  Not much, but that was the daily banter on the school bus.  Sometimes the conversation morphed to “My dad's stronger than your dad.”  Occasionally, the banter would be about cows.  “Brown cows are better than black and white cows,” said one little boy to me.  To which I replied, “Now why would you say that?  Black and white cows are prettier.”  Now that's a scientific answer, don't you think?
    
As I grew older, the conversation turned to the sport of baseball.  It was my opinion that the Baltimore Orioles were a better baseball team than the New York Yankees.  “I'll bet you a pencil that the Orioles beat the Yankees in the World Series.”  What does a sixth grader know about baseball?  Not as much as he thinks.  I lost a lot of pencils in my day.  What was I thinking?  The Yankees had Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Whitey Ford, among others.  And to think, I bet against those guys.  But what does a sixth grader know about probabilities?  Not as much as he thinks.  In the end, the Yankees must be a better team.  They kept winning.  The Orioles, well not so much.
 
These are some of the frivolous conversations in the school bus in 1950/1960’s era.  Meaningless and harmless banter between kids who think they know, but do not, except of course for me.  😊  I was always certain of what I said and believed myself to be always right.  (From Armona: “I could say so much here….” 😊😊)
 
Now today in my older wisdom, as I reflect on my younger years, I'm not so certain of my positions back then.  Today, I do not argue about frivolous, meaningless things.  The only thing that matters is that you know Jesus as the Lord and your Savior.  When I was a boy, I sat in the back of the bus and said nothing about Jesus, just tractors and dumb kid stuff.  Now I stand at the front of the bus and shout out so that all may hear.  Jesus is Lord!
 
Still riding the bus, the bus of life.
Pastor Allan
 
©2026 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved