Due to equipment needing repair, Jeff Ditzenberge was spending an additional day combining. He unloaded into the auger cart, made another minor repair and was ready to start back to work when he noticed a car parked along the side of the road with three children peering out the window. Jeff walked up to see if the people needed help. The lady explained that their grandchildren lived in Florida and had not seen “farm stuff” like this so they stopped to let them see the equipment in action. The two boys were excited, but the younger girl tended to be shy. The grandparents thanked Jeff for stopping to visit with them. They expressed they would like to stay a little longer to watch. That’s when Jeff asked if the children would like to ride. The boys eagerly agreed and walked to the big machine. Jeff found out from the brothers that their sister was sometimes shy because of a birthmark on her face. When they all returned to the car, Jeff asked the little girl one more time if she wanted a ride. She replied that her brothers said that kind of stuff was for boys. Farmer Jeff assured her that there were girl farmers and a girl had ridden in the cab the day before. When she decided she wanted to go, Jeff asked the grandmother if she knew how to video on her phone. She assured him she did. He then said that when the yellow lights on the combine started flashing to begin recording. Jeff and the little girl got in the cab, and he turned the machine around. As they started back towards the car, he turned on the flashing lights. He then let the girl take the wheel and steer the combine. When the engine stopped, the two brothers were wide-eyed as they realized their sister had driven the big machine. The little girl ran excitedly back to the car, with a huge smile and non-stop chatter. She then went back and gave the farmer a big hug and her brothers thanked Jeff for the ride. The grandfather patted Ditzenberge on the shoulder and thanked him for whatever he did or said to encourage his granddaughter. “That’s the biggest smile we’ve seen on her vacation so far.” As everyone got back in the car and left, Jeff kept thinking, “If one of the combines hadn’t broken down yesterday, I wouldn’t have been in that field this morning, and I wouldn’t have been by myself and we would have been really pushed wherever we were at to keep up with everything…and it proved to me once again everything happens for a reason. 30 minutes out of 24 hours… I need to do that more often.”
Jeff Ditzenberge thought his job for the day was to fix a combine and complete the task from the day before. Maybe encouraging a shy little girl and giving a ride on farm equipment to city kids was another reason. May we all look for extra reasons in the ordinary to make a difference for others.
Do everything in love.
1 Corinthians 16:14
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
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