Broken Pieces

Have you ever had something outlive it's usefulness? When Andrew and Jen updated their farm yard they had a farm scale deck they no longer had a use for. Joe and Diana said they would love use it for a bridge at Lake View Camp. 

Yesterday Osky 1 church had a work day at Lake View Camp. Around 50 folks brought their willingness, their abilities, and their equipment to help out with all kinds of jobs, including installing a bridge. 

The bridge now makes accessible some timber and a pond on the camp property that was previously not used. 

There was a lot of cleanup, firewood cutting, brush and limb mulching, landscaping, and carpentering accomplished. 

There was also mowing done including some new trails on the now accessible part. 

As we prayed together before lunch I was encouraged that in a country where a lot of things are broken there are still plenty of good folks that care about their neighbor and a cause, and are willing to share their time.

Kutos to the PC football team on a great season. They lost to the defending state champs 45 to 43 in a well played game.

Well, on the last week of harvest we had an unloading auger break. We had to send Jim to southwest Iowa for parts. Thanks to the folks at Titan for staying late and getting us going.

Titan's shop in Pella is impressive with six combines in a row getting attention.

Many folks are wrapping up harvest. The corn piles are getting bigger and the elevators are getting full.

Most bins on the farm are full. Even those bins that in previous were too small, too broken, or too hard to unload.

For those of you that have corn stored don't forget to run your fans when the weather cools. We have had a warm fall. The corn quality is great this year. It just went into storage extra warm. For our city friends when the weather cools and you have a pile of warm corn you create condensation or moisture. That leads to spoilage. You always like to have your bin temps equal to or cooler than the outside air.

This cemetery is located east of Pleasantville in Marion County in the middle of nowhere on the southeast corner of a field we farm. According to the gravestones it is a single family cemetery. This family lost a father, a wife, and several young children during the mid to late 1800s. I'm sure folks back then questioned whether coming west and pioneering was the right thing to do.

Our last field of corn harvested was our test plot. Comparisons between hybrids don't tell the full story however it's fun to compare and keep and eye on stalk and root strength as well as yield. 

We have already started getting in seed for next years crop and are busy selling.

Last Sunday evening we heard from Martin Luther. He talked to us about his questioning his church those many years ago. He reminded us how we are all broken people incapable of saving ourselves. He told us about his renewed experience in accepting Christ's salvation by faith alone. He warned us not to repeat the ideas of his time when folks thought doctrine, rules, actions, and traditions could help save them. 

We live in a broken country today. My mind often goes from how to save a country for our grandkids to how to save our grandkids for the upcoming country they are going to be living in. Whatever happens we know God is in charge. However we must keep being faithful in our lives, our families lives, and a light in our communities and country. Don't forget to vote this week. We our having a community prayer service at First CRC Church in Oskaloosa for our country and the elections this evening at 6 pm. We would love to have you join us. Have a good week my friends.