Journey In The Kingdom. Ben BSL McGonagle

have work on one of his lettuce picking teams starting the next day. We were so happy that we had work straightaway. We were up real early to get a ride out. It was a classic experience. Cherie was in the harvester packing the lettuces into boxes, and I worked in the field with a team of eight, cutting the lettuces with a knife and putting them on the conveyor belt of the harvester. Every now and then the lady working next to Cherie would bellow at us, “GRUBS!" And we knew that some of the lettuces were no good. It was a good day’s work.

      When I got home my hand swelled up. I couldn’t believe it. It was an old injury that just inflamed again. We had work and now my hand couldn’t hack the consistent cutting with a knife. I was praying thinking, God, what was the point of having just one day’s work at this place? We told the team leader about my hand and didn’t go to work the next day even though we needed the cash. And then went looking for other work and applied at a job finding agency in town.

      6:00 a.m. the next morning we were jolted awake by a big BANG! BANG! BANG! on the caravan door. I thought, Oh no. Another drunk has come to the wrong caravan. BANG! BANG! BANG! I opened the door ready for anything.

      The man standing at the door asked, “Are you Ben and Cherie?”

      “Yeah.” I answered warily.

      He asked, “Do you still want a job?”

      “Yes!”

      “Be ready in five minutes!” he barked before walking off.

      We were out the door in three minutes flat, and in another fifteen minutes we were on a property picking capsicums, tomatoes and apples with a team of pickers. It was hard work, but we enjoyed it. (I distinctly remember after we had been picking tomatoes for a while that our hands were stained so green that at church on Sunday someone came to shake our hands and when we reached out our hands they flinched! He He! Love it.) Apples and tomatoes we didn’t mind, but picking capsicums was painful! We had to bend at the waist as if to touch our toes, pick the capsicums while dragging an 80lt bin up hill and stay bent over basically the whole day. (We couldn’t go on our knees because we had to move too fast.) We became very familiar with rubbing Deep Heat and Tiger Balm onto our aching backs every night! I remember at the end of one of the rows I just lay down in agony, my back in spasms! But aside from the back pain, it was a good job and we were able to share about Jesus to lots of people who had travelled there from all over the world!

      We still needed cash and our day’s wage from the lettuces was about to come through. We checked the bank and were shocked. We had been paid $600 for a day’s work! Being an honest guy, I phoned up the farm and managed to get hold of the owner of the property. I told him who we were, and he remembered us even though there were heaps of other workers. I told him we had been paid too much, but he said that that was up to his accounts department. He would check it out but unless he called us back don’t worry! He never called back. Amazing! God had done it again.

      Our faith increased and we had even more proof that He is worthy of our trust and faith.