In the fall of 1849 young James Folgers traveled with his two brothers to California to be part of the gold rush. Since 15 year old James could not afford the equipment to mine he stayed behind in the camps and started serving the miners coffee. His business flourished and today his name is still in our kitchens and offices while the main event, the gold rush is just a memory.
In 1853 24 year old Levi Strauss was selling canvas for tents and wagons to those miners. As time went on the miners pants started wearing out. (Kind of like the ones in the picture below :) Young Levi started making pants. However the canvas chaffed the miners legs so Mr. Strauss found a fabric from France called denim. The pants became a big hit and were nicknamed bluejeans. Once again Mr. Strauss's service business long outlasted the main business of mining gold.
Today's main event in agriculture is feeding the world. The participants are called farmers. There are a variety of agriculture businesses that serve farming. Implement dealers sell farmers new equipment when times are good and fix their old equipment when times are not as good.
Crop input suppliers come with Jaarsma goodies and offer good prices and service for the upcoming crop.
Bankers offer financing and reasonable interest rates to farmers for the tons of money it takes to put in a crop. I actually didn't have a picture of a banker so I substituted this picture of two Mikes who just happened to come to breakfast Wednesday morning with the same sweatshirt on.
Our family has been doing field work for other farmers ever since we have been farming. It's called custom farming and has become our main business. Below of few of us stopped for pizza last evening.
This is John, a second grader, learning to chisel. He helped our part time help Andy yesterday.
Driving tractor wears a person out. Not all of us are small enough to curl up on the cab floor and take a nap. Thanks for the pictures Andy.
We helped haul corn from Radcliff to Eddyville this week for Jerry. Believe it or not this sweet grain setup belongs to a farm family who farm together as a set of brothers and their sons.
It was enjoyable meeting and sharing stories with Jim, one of the brothers and owners of this farm facility.
Yesterday the girls had a baby shower at the cabin. Our daughter-in-law Emily and son Kurt are looking forward to a baby boy in late December.
Speaking of boys this group looks like a handful. For those of us who have children parenting is one of the most important jobs of serving we have been given.
Kristin and Karl help serve as youth leaders. Loving and serving God is the main event at church. Loving and serving each other is just as important. Caring about each other, who we can see down here, proves we care about God, who we can't see up there.
Our main event in life is to serve God through our jobs and families. Many times those jobs are accomplished in the background. Sometimes it means surrendering our own wants. So often however surrender brings blessings we never expect. Whatever you do this week, big or small, be a reflection of who you serve.
"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10
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