THE NUT FACTORY

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

Psalms 103:11-13

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.”

 

Harry hated his job. It was a total bore. All day long he had to stand by the conveyor belt and examine all the nuts that jiggled past his eyes. His responsibility was to look for the bad ones, the nuts that were damaged, rotten or blemished. When he saw one he quickly grabbed it and threw it in the garbage bin next to his side. It wasn’t a hard job physically but it just drove him mentally crazy because for hours and hours he just stood there looking at all those bouncing nuts. The little things drove him batty as he tried to discern which ones were bad as they bounced and bumped up-and-down on the flat rubber belt.

 

Harry looked up and saw Joe coming his way. Joe was a good friend but he was always inviting Harry to church. It wasn’t that Harry hated the idea of going to church; it’s just that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to get involved with all that religious stuff. He knew he could use some of God in his life. Sometimes he felt bad about some things he had done in his past. It was like he was a nut with some blemishes. He wondered if God would toss him away like he did the bad nuts.

 

“How ya doing Harry.”

 

“I’m fine. Same old same old.”

 

“Ya wanta go to church with me tonight?”

 

“I’ll pass. I went a couple of weeks ago with you and I think I’ve had my dose of the Bible for a few weeks.”

 

“It’s going to be good.”

 

“Sorry, not this time.”

 

“Okay, see ya round.”

 

Joe went off to the other area of the building where he worked. Harry concentrated on finding bad nuts. Some days he went a little bonkers and felt like a judgmental god looking for those evil little nuts he could purge from the congregation. Sometimes he felt evil and would pick up a good nut and toss it into the garbage bin. He almost heard screams from the nuts as they were discarded into the darkness of hell within the garbage can. He didn’t think he’d make a very good god. Funny, he wasn’t really interested in religion but his thoughts often wandered to spiritual things during work, must be the boredom.

 

“WATCH OUT!”

 

Harry felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and then everything went black. Harry didn’t know it but a pulley had broken loose from the sidewall of the building and as it swung across the room it hit him in the back of the head.

 

Harry opened his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling of the factory. It was difficult for him to fixate on anything because everything was bouncing around. It almost made him sick to his stomach to look at anything because every thing was going up and down and sideways. He closed his eyes but felt this rumbling going all through his body. It seemed like the ground was moving.

 

Finally he was able to focus on his surroundings. He felt the rubbery surface he was laying on. Why wasn’t it the concrete floor of the factory? He looked over to his left and he saw this huge nut with a face on it. It had an ugly black appearance to it, like it was rotten. He almost screamed.

 

He glanced to his right and there was another huge nut with a face on it as well. This nut rolled over, looked at him and smiled. It seemed to be spoiled as it had some kind of fuzzy green growth all over its surface. Then it bounced away.

 

Harry was frightened. Was he hallucinating? As he looked down at his body he freaked out. He had no arms, no legs; he was just a large brown nut with black splotches all over it. He panicked. His eyes darted around for some source for normalcy. Nuts surrounded him, bad nuts. Most of them wore smiles, but they were strange smiles….like they were on drugs or something. It was as if they didn’t care where they were, they were just enjoying the moment.

 

Some of them looked horrible, like they had been bouncing around for years. They were wrinkled and black, their faces contorted by the fungus and death that grew upon them. Some were only slightly blemished but he would have rejected them if he were evaluating them. He would have even rejected himself if he were in such a position for he noticed that all over his smooth tan surface were black splotches. He continued to bounce and roll around with all the other nuts. They bumped into one another. He tried to scream out but his voice didn’t respond. Was he mad? Had he finally gone crazy from working this stupid nut job?

 

Then his heart skipped a beat and horror gripped his throat. There above him was a huge giant hand. It was coming down from above, reaching, reaching, and coming closer, closer. Was this his judgment? Was he going to be rejected and discarded like all those thousands of nuts he had thrown away? He wished Joe were here. Maybe Joe could have helped him. The hand continued descending, coming closer and closer. Was it coming for him? He couldn’t take it any longer.

 

“GOD HELP ME! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! SAVE ME!”

 

The hand reached down and picked him up. He started to try to scream again, but suddenly he felt at peace. He looked down upon his circular nutty surface and saw that the blemishes were disappearing. He was being transformed into the most marvelous looking nut he had ever seen.

 

“Harry wake up. Are you okay?”

 

Harry opened his eyes. He felt the cold concrete floor beneath him. Joe helped him up. Harry felt the back of his head. There was a large sore knot where the pulley had hit him. He looked around and felt his body with his hands relieved that he was human again.

 

“Thank goodness, I’m not a nut anymore.”

 

“What?”

 

“Uh, never mind what I said. I’m a little dazed.”

 

“Well I hope so. You were screaming like the dickens and we couldn’t get you to wake up. You really scared us Harry.”

 

“Well I was pretty scared.”

 

“Why don’t you go over there and lay down in the break room for awhile.”

 

“Yeah. I think that would be good.”

 

Harry went over to the couch in the break room and lay down. He began to think about his weird hallucination or dream. Was he really a bad nut at heart? Was life like a huge conveyor belt with all the bad nuts rolling along, oblivious to their fate? Was judgment just a few moments away and without the intervention of someone all would perish forever? Maybe God was trying to tell him something? Maybe in some strange way God was trying to say that he needed to seek the truth.

 

“Hey Joe.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I think I will go to church with you tonight after all.”

 

“Great. You’ll love it. I’ll pick you up at 8:00.”

 

Isaiah 1:18-20

“’Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’ For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”