The Minnesota State Fair was one of those great adventurous trips that I remember well from my youth. The time was the 1950’s when farm prices were holding well, and prosperity seemed possible for agriculture. One of the great sections of the Minnesota State Fair grounds was Machinery Hill, advertised to be a full 80 acres of farm and related equipment. It was magnificent, row after row of manufacturers including some with names like Cockshutt, David Brown, Minneapolis Moline, Case, Oliver, Ford, Massey-Ferguson, Allis Chalmers, and of course the giants of the field, John Deere and International Harvester; the green and the red. Other equipment, too, was setup to be viewed–barn cleaners, rock pickers, hay balers, skid loaders, discs, plows, cultivators, combines, elevators, and on and on went the displays as far as the eye could see.
Most everyone who came to Machinery Hill, however, at one time or anther, made their way to the International Harvester tent where stands were set up around a sawdust packed arena for seating. There you see, was where the International Harvester tractors would perform four times daily at 10:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 4:30 p.m. As the show times approached farmer-tanned men wearing their town overalls would fill the stands sharing their popcorn with their hard-working wives and children.
As show time approached the stands overflowed. People stood anywhere they could find a place. Then the announcer would fairly shout out, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the International Harvester Dancing Tractors.” Wheeling into the ring would come eight “Series M’ tractors in single file, each driven in by a bright-eyed young man wearing a white shirt and a tie. They came in and circled the ring and then braked to a stop in perfect order, each tractor facing outward, while the drivers were introduced to the enthusiastic crowd, and the virtues of the “M’ International Harvester tractor were extolled. Then it was back to the performance, two abreast circling the ring, or weaving in and out of each other in single file, or eight in a line, four facing one way and four the other way, wheeling in a line along a central pivot point in the middle. My favorite was the two lines of four tractors flying in from the side at a right angle so that each tractor cut through the other line, tires and metal narrowly missing each other as they passed in the center. One thousand cheering farm folk from all over Minnesota thought so, too, as this maneuver would always bring them out of their seats, laughing, applauding, stomping their feet on the metal bleachers. To my young mind it was a wondrous sight, performing as if they were circus attractions in the center ring made up of hugh hunks of metal and rubber.
Sometimes I wonder what amazing surprises God has in store for us when he gathers us in the big tent beyond the stars. Will we laugh and clap with astonishment at wonders that he will reveal before us? Will the dazzling brilliance of bejeweled walls shine in our eyes like the flash of so many dancing, shiny red tractors? Will the warmth of the presence of the Lamb infuse us with the joy of gathering with so many others of God’s people, as we thrill to the unfolding spectacle before us?
One thing is for sure. As much as we pause in wonder and astonishment at the marvels of this world including dancing tractors, they are not worth being compared to what is to come. God is still creating untold triumphs in the new Jerusalem. As Max Lucado writes, “Word has it that his timeless hands are preparing a city so glorious that even the angels get goose bumps upon seeing it. Considering what he has done so far, that is one creation I plan to see.” (1)
So join me in the grandstand as we see the dancing tractors wheel before us. But join me as well as our eyes are drawn to another tent, the city of the Lamb, where we behold the wonders of the New Jerusalem to come. What marvels we see there! What wonders are coming!
(1) Max Lucado, No Wonder They Call Him the Savior, Multnomah Press, USA. C 1986 P 58.
Pastor Dale Halverson
