The Farmer and the Preacher

     Once upon a time there was a man. He bought a small piece of desert in West Texas. He, and his wife dug ditches to bring water to the plot and planted corn. The first crop failed. They even considered giving up but, miraculously the next year the crop came in. Not a lot, nothing to sell, but they killed a cow, and with that, and a few bushels of corn they survived. 

     The next year they split the crop between corn and some wheat, enabling them to sell some and reinvest the money thus acquiring a few more acres. The wife had a child, then another, and another so that eventually boys and one girl were milking cows, tending the fields, and allowing the farmer to buy more and more dessert, which he quickly irrigated, planting more, expanding more, and when old he could sit on his porch and his land was literally as far as the eye could see. He'd gotten into politics, and was instrumental in damming up a small stream, producing a lake, so that no one would have to scratch out ditches as he and his wife had done some forty years before.  With the advent of water grass and trees took root, and farmers' crops never failed. 

     One day, while enjoying an iced tea with his grand daughter the local preacher dropped by. The old farmer rarely went to church, but this didn't stop the preacher from coming by every so often to try to "save" him. The two sat on rocking chairs drinking tea and gazing at the acres of corn, the corrals full of horses, and the children playing all over the yard. 

     "God is indeed wonderful," the preacher said. 

     "Yes, yes he is reverend," the farmer was always soft spoken, and polite. 

     "Isn't it amazing what God, and man can do together?" the preacher continued. 

     The Farmer refilled both glasses, lit his pipe and said, "Yeah preacher, but you should have seen this place when God had it all to Himself!"