Live Unoffended

Good morning. Our crew had a busy and productive harvest week mostly in the northern part of the county where we had enough rain to have normal yields.

Speaking of rain, we had two rain events last week of an inch and a half and an inch here south of Oskaloosa. One morning everyone arrived to the shop early and it was raining so we enjoyed going out for breakfast together.

Last Sunday morning we celebrated with Pastor Paul and Ellen on being in the ministry 35 years. They and their grown children  and their families reside in Michigan. However they have been serving Osky 1 CRC for the last 13 months. Congratulations and thanks for your friendships.

It's always a treat when the gals hunt us up with supper. This past Wednesday evening Emily, Jackson, and Jayden fed us in the field. Thanks Emily for being so patient while the crew was moving from one farm to another.

Coming home with a load of corn late one evening Kurt hit a deer. Below we are in the process of pulling the bumper back straight.

Cargill/Eddyville had to finish the week early due to lots of truck traffic this week so Friday we switched to soybeans.

Friday evening Cassia, Rachael, Adali, and Natalie brought us supper to the Vos farm where we were combining. Cres and Evie used to live here and were neighbors and landlords. Decades ago when I had just met Jan I came to this place to hang out with Jan while she babysat for their four ornery boys. I still remember helping fold clothes off the kitchen table Evie. :) I love memories. 

We usually forward market our soybeans to Burlington and Des Moines. Friday Alex and Andy were in the trucks delivering to ADM. I checked dumping hours on the internet and was pleased to see they had  Des Moines posted to be open until 11pm. Well a little after 10 Alex calls and says, "hey Steve, they closed at 8. We could sleep here except for the fact that they don't open until 10am on Saturday". We made a quick trip to DM to pick them up and Ryan brought them back Saturday morning. Sorry guys, my bad.

It seems every time we turn around these days someone is offended about something. Peoples first reaction to a situation is to get angry. Folks often feel hurt when they hear things that may or may not be true. Everyone has had times when they feel they have been spoken bad of, taken advantage of, or treated unfair. When Eddyville gets busy, has long lines, and folks have to wait, there is plenty of CB radio reaction when someone accidently or intentionally steps out of turn.

We have two choices when folks cut in line on us, ignore us, or speak ill of us. We can give in to our human nature and be irritated and angry. Or we can intentionally decide we are going to live unoffended. "Living unoffended" is a phrase I picked up from Marty in Ottumwa.

I have a few thoughts on things that will help us live unoffended. First realize and remember we are imperfect and have many of our own faults and have probably cut in line on others before.

We need to be empathetic, a good listener, and of service to others, not just in a passive but a proactive way. Maybe there are folks that need in line ahead of us even though we are first.

We need to be grounded in what we believe, keep our eyes on the goal, and keep the main thing the main thing. However when life take a turn we don't expect, and we need a wrecker to pull us out we must be willing to adapt to those changes.

Sometimes when it seems we can't get through a gate or situation we just need to go over them.

When Christ lived here on earth He had so many opportunities to be offended by the way folks rejected Him and treated Him, yet He continually obeyed His Father and reached out to others. He uses situations in our lives to help us get over thinking of ourselves, and loving and living for Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And to love and live for our neighbor as much or more than ourselves. Have a great week.