January 17
During one of the diverse chapters of my life (1996 - 2000), God blessed me with the opportunity to take over the Apple Orchard I had grown up working in. I would love to share about the beauty, hard work, & serenity of farming and some about my Godly mentor too but here's a God Moment that stood out and I think will bless you in the sharing.
One of the challenges during harvest season (July through October with 24 varieties overlapping along the way) was finding reliable help. One area that seemed to be a regular problem was manning the sales stand. One day there was nobody to tend the stand and I believe God's Holy Spirit gave me divine inspiration. The thought just came to me to make a sign "Working in the Orchard, please put cash or check in the money jar". I decided to just trust people and let it be between them and God. I thought it was just a temporary measure but that was not to be. At first, I was checking the can every time I brought a load of apples in. By the end of the day I was praising God for giving me this idea and decided to quit trying to find someone to collect money. I made a couple more signs and put a slot in the counter with a box underneath, inside the stand (shed with open side & awning).
Over the days, weeks, months, & then years, God taught me an AMAZING thing out of that God Moment. People want to be trusted! People appreciate the opportunity to be trustworthy! People will CHANGE their natural inclination to cheat and steal when you put the free will choice of good vs. evil openly in their hands! I can't even express how much of a blessing this realization was. And it just got better and better!
To that point we had been marketing apples to local stores but by the middle of the second season business had picked up so much that we sold everything on site. People were telling their friends about us. People were walking out into the orchard to find me or one of the other workers to tell us how much they appreciated being trusted. People were leaving tips. People were leaving beautiful notes on the counter. I started doing hay rides for a couple of the nearby schools and part of the tour was tasting our cider and having a talk about trust. New customers were coming all the time and the regulars were proudly explaining and pointing out where to put the money. During the busiest part of the season the money slot would often get completely jammed up and there would be checks and money all over the counter with rocks on top.
Because it got dark so early in the fall I put up lighting and customers started coming late into the evening. Around Halloween there was some concern of vandalism as we were in a residential area being the last large orchard around. Even though I left the apples on display overnight we never had a single incident of vandalism. God clearly demonstrated his hedge of protection and blessing on the entire operation.
By the middle of season three I had to start bringing in apples from Green Bluff or Wenatchee to supplement our crop. I can honestly say that theft was almost non-existent and I am absolutely certain that there was more money at the end of each day than the priced sales. I'm convinced the few who did not pay came back to make amends or squared up the next time they came or even the next year. I could write pages of stories and get emotional thinking about this... Praise God!
Toward the end of season 5 God called me back into the military and off I went on another adventure.
Dan Finney