Kendall the Fire

“It’s Too Late!” Those were the words spoken to Betty.  The story began on Green Meadow Farms, a family owned dairy business on the outskirts of Nappanee, Indiana—a town where I pastored some years ago. Betty’s husband Joseph was noted for his dairy herd and his continual effort to upgrade his Holstein cattle. Success was his pride.

Not many years prior, he had purchased a young bull, which had come from the most selected and registered breeding stock that was available. A price over $10,000.00 had been paid for the young calf and, based on the productivity of the creature that was now mature, most estimated that his worth was between $ 50,000.00 and $100,000.00.  The cows he sired were coming into full production and proving to be great “milkers.” The future looked bright on Green Meadow Farms.

But that was before and this is now… after the frantic call. A beef packinghouse driver had pulled into the driveway of the dairy farm and made his way to a small herd of cattle in the back pen. They all stood sedately chewing their cud. How well-fed they appeared, and they easily allowed themselves to be loaded onto the truck. The driver hauled them quickly to the slaughterhouse and death for the bovine brethren came shortly thereafter.

The desk phone at Marcum’s Meats beeped and a frantic Bettie (Joseph’s wife) was on the other end. “I need to speak with the supervisor… this is Bettie from Green Meadow Farms and I need you to stop the process of slaughter, right now!” She proceeded to explain that they had failed to cut out from the herd of old cattle, the prized breeding bull.

“It’s too late,” the supervisor said, “he was processed along with the rest.” The prized bull had inadvertently been slaughtered with the others. Dismay reigned as word filtered among the farm hands at Green Meadows, none more distraught than Joseph and Bettie. Despite his rich price tag, he met the fate of his more humble pen-mates. The driver’s response was not unusual, “how was I to know? He looked like all the rest.”

When this story went public I couldn’t help but wonder, how many bad things happen when we are with the wrong bunch? Many a person has been ruined—both in this life and for eternity—by residing too long with the wrong crowd. The downfall was fatal. Their talent and value lost because they didn’t get out.

So… who are you hanging with?  It’s no bull—we had better take note of what crowd we are going to associate with.