Hi Pastor John:
I feel so good this morning, in this hotel room. As you know I cover a few states, urban & rural addresses. Last week I came upon a man who trained draft horses and oxen. The horses were beautiful, but I was interested in the oxen, because of the many scriptures that speak of the yoke.
This person raises and trains these oxen from youth, and after their initial two year training, he sends them to 3rd world countries, and then proceedes to train one person from the village to use them to cultivate their fields. He stated that a pair of oxen is picked out to be joined together from the beginning as calves, and through a process of two years, they become large enough (2000 lbs each) and trained to really be of some good.
He took me downstairs and showed me a yoke. He hand-makes the yoke for each pair of oxen, and each side of the yoke is custom cut and fitted. He rounds out the cut-out and shaves it with glass or iron to round out the corners so the edges will not cut into the necks of the oxen because it needs to be able to rock back and forth. As the oxen grow, he has to continually remake a new yoke and custom-make each side again. He measures the neck of each oxen and custom bends a piece of tubular wood to fit under their neck and attach them to the yoke. It would be normal in a two year period to make 5 or 6 sets of yokes, and it is very seldom that a used yoke can be used on another set of oxen, because of the custom fit for the previous pair. Part of the training process is to find out which ox is the right and which is the left. I was so excited because of the scriptures about yokes. He told me that it would be impossible to put a draft horse and an ox together. I smiled :).
I asked him how big a tree could the team of oxen pull. He told me he hasn’t seen one yet, because they are trained to pull together. I smiled again!
I look back on my life, when Jesus took over in 2001, and remembered when Jesus took off a yoke that had been too heavy for me after ten years, at your house in the doorway, and then gently put a new one on me that was custom-built by Jesus. This yoke has been very much lighter and easier to pull. Now since Jesus healed Judy, I have a partner that pulls with me. It seems that were are planting more fields now. 🙂
The one scripture I really love is in 1Samuel, where that team of milk cows were being led by the Spirit of God. These cows had never been trained or bound to a yoke before because they were used for breading, and the yokes were not made for them, but God used them to carry His Ark. Now, we carry the Ark of God if we have the Spirit of God in us. He is able to gently lead us and guide us.
One thing the man said is that oxen basically eat the whole time they’re working, because of the enormous appetite they have by working…so he all the time gives them breaks and feeds them while they are yoked. 🙂
I understand now when Jesus said, “my yoke is easy, and my burden light”, and… how you can’t be yoked again with unbelievers (christians), “for what fellowship hath darkness with light?”
This is just a small example of what God has been teaching me about this yoke.
Your fellow yoke-man,
Billy
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Hi Brother Billy:
It has been a blessing to be yoked together in Christ with you. This yoke we wear is very light, and the work is easy because of the Spirit Jesus has given us, and the food we are fed all day is so good! Let’s keep plowing.
jdc