In-Between

I watched the sun peak out after the storm and just before dark the other evening. The TV news was showing the different lines of heavy weather. Our neighborhood was spared damage. We were right between a tornado just to our south and one just to our north.

We are in-between fall and winter. Fall tillage, NH3, slurry hauling, dozing, and tiling are now happening in-between wet weather.

 I'm visiting with you from Georgia this evening. We are staying just south of Atlanta.

 Jan and I drove down with my parents for a long weekend to attend a memorial service for a relative of my mom who recently died.

As we drove around today to see what was in the rural areas I was struck by all the large beautiful homes setting back in the trees with a fenced in yard. Obviously very well to do folks.

On those same roads were homes barely good enough to keep a family dry and warm. Obviously poor folks with little resources.

Now I don't know how the "haves" got what they have and the "have nots" don't, and it would be foolish for me to guess. I can tell you however that I'm betting most of us feel we are somewhere in-between being rich and being poor.

And I'm also suggesting that as we look back, whether we want to admit it or not, most of our lives happened beyond our plans or control. Jan and I were both teenagers when we got married, just about unheard of today. For two years before we had children we farmed together side by side. 

We both wanted kids however we never dreamed they would keep coming and even two at a time. Our daughter Becky is missing in this picture. The just right pic is sometimes hard to access when you're not home.

We also didn't know what our children would want to do when they got out of the house. We did tell them they had to leave for a couple of years and if they chose college they had to pay half their tuition. Our oldest son Mike left for the Marine Corps when he was just 17. He was the youngest Marine in the US for a little while. He turned 18 in boot camp. We loaded up the whole family and flew to his boot camp graduation in San Diego 20 years ago this past week.

About a dozen years ago grandkids started showing up. I have told you before I was fine telling folks I had grandkids. It took a little longer to tell them and to admit to myself I was a grandpa.

Today our 6 children all have wonderful families of their own. The girls got together for an overnight get away last night.

We are so blessed. Sometime in-between being a teenager, raising teenagers, and soon to have teenage grandchildren, God has showed us He was in charge all along. Were there always good times? Of course not. However He promised to be by our side the whole way.

Our lives are on a time line. We start out with a dot on that timeline when we are just a little tyke.

We grow up, get an education, find an occupation, have a family, and sometimes we even get old. 

And then we put another dot on that timeline when we die. It doesn't matter whether we are rich or poor. It doesn't matter how educated we are. It doesn't even matter how big our family was. The dots mean nothing. What's in-between those dots mean everything. 

How will folks remember us when our bodies are in this fenced in yard? How would you like to be remembered? If you are reading this you still have time to make a difference in-between your dots.