The Little Red Hen

After almost a month of going in and out of the hospital, I was finally able to visit the CAM agriculture project at Laiban, Tanay. I have seen some progress on the work. We have partially harvested the camote which was planted just two months ago. The tilapia fingerlings have reasonably grown. Our piglets are growing just fine. But one thing caught my attention -- there are already some chicks chirping around! The first ten chicks on site! After just a month one hen had already hatched her eggs.

The chicks today will be the chickens of tomorrow. And soon it will be chicken meat served on our tables. Now, it may be just few in number, but I believe it is a good start. Once in a meeting with CBC leaders, I was trying to motivate and encourage our brethren to be of help to our project. I told them, this little chicken will reduce the expenditures of our church. The bananas will be an additional income. I made some computations just to drive the point. Indeed, slowly but surely, it’s coming to reality. Soon we will reap our labor.

I was reminded of a story about a little red hen who had several chicks to feed so she thought of planting corn for their food. She knew it would be hard to do it alone, so she asked her friends to help her. She went to her friend, the duck, to ask some help, but the duck just quacked and said “some other day.” Then she went to the turkey but he just laughed with unbelief saying, it can’t be done. Then she went to the goose. The goose just agreed but didn’t come. But the hen was really determined. She planted the corn, watered it and took good care of it until it was ready for harvest. When harvest time came she asked her friends again to help her but they didn’t come. So she harvested it all by herself. When it was cooked the good smell reached the three animals which went to the hen to ask for some, but the hen ignored them. So they went home famished while the hen and her chicks were all full.

The hen received some discouragement. She was ridiculed. She was laughed at and questioned by her friends but she didn’t give up until she saw the fruits of her labor.

I had a privilege of going with the pastor last week to visit a pastor who was before a fundamentalist but was deceived to go to a charismatic group. He was abandoned by his Baptist sending church and found shelter and received help from a charismatic group. But now he realized his fault and is now willing to go back to the fold of fundamentalism. We don’t like these things to happen to our own missionaries laboring in the field. As the hen planned and provided the needs of her chicks, we must also do so for our missionaries future and present needs. There may be discouragements. Things may happen not the way it was planned. Some people may laugh at our ideas. Others may question its feasibility. Amidst all of these, we must remain focused on our goals. Like the hen, we must plant the corn and allow them to smell the sweet savor of our labors.

The CAM agri-livestock project is not only aiming to provide our missionaries their needs but also to teach them how to turn stone into bread so to speak. As they see how we manage the project, we teach them how to sustain and maintain the work indigenously. Because of our limited resources, everyone must learn to roll up their sleeves. They must learn not only to preach and sit all day long in their study tables, as if it is all they need to do and either just starve the next day or just wait for their families or whoever can help them to provide their daily needs. It grieves my heart to learn of pastors who have exchanged their biblical convictions, like Esau, for one morsel of meat.

Also, remember that the whole agri-livestock project is subject to the vagaries of nature. The outcome can very well be a product of genetics. Even the prices are subject to the workings of the market. But we realize that though we can do something to lessen the negative results of these, we need to place them all before God’s throne of grace and ask for His blessing. This is one truth we want our missionaries to learn from the project. May God help us all.