Weathering The Storms

How do you react when someone shares with you the storms they are experiencing? Do you listen and care? Or do you turn the conversation to a storm you have experienced or are experiencing?

Do you think the church adequately disciples folks to respond helpfully to those who are suffering storms? Storms are often scary and lonely. Folks driving in a  storm usually can't see what's ahead. Most often we can't calm the storm however we can  be intentional about being their white line beside them along the road of life so they can keep going.

 When rain is falling hard in our own lives we need to do what Noah did. Trust God. Have faith. Get to work. Believe in miracles. Weather the storm. See the promise.

This harvest season has been hard on equipment. Early Friday morning Mark and Stacy had an axle break on their grain cart.

Mark has spent a couple of days working on getting things back together.

Our combination of a grain cart and tractor on tracks has been a huge help in getting crop from the combines to the semis. However the track tractor broke down and is in the shop getting repairs. 

When Cargill/Eddyville closes or breaks down we continue to harvest going to bins on the farm. I have been known to caution folks about on farm or elevator storage. Believe me both have a vital purpose and are necessary. Especially with this year's harvest basis. However there are two big reasons they are not intended for. The first is to use a bin as an alternative or to postpone marketing. The second is to use storage to create a pile. For a false sense of security.

There are multiple options when moving grain from one place to another. There are the traditional augers. There are grain pumps which are paddles on a chain link in a tube. There are systems like we have in Pella that blow grain to the different bins. And finally there are grain legs which are buckets on a chain that lift grain from a pit high above the bins and then have gravity drop the grain down a tube to the different bins. The secret to an efficient storage system is the ability to unload fast. This usually involves a drive over pit to dump grain into one of the four options we are visiting about.

Many grain moving systems are automated and have shut off features if a bin gets full, it runs out of grain, or if something goes wrong. However nothing is fool proof and I often get up and just make sure there's not a strange noise or a pile of corn somewhere.

Then like this year there are the rainy days when Cargill is open and harvest is not possible. That's when we use bins to continue to haul, take advantage of short unload lines, and fill our contracts.

Whether you weather the storms of harvest or the storms of life, often the results of the storm are just as difficult as the storm itself. Practically speaking is the dealing with mud after heavy rains. Or dealing with down crops after strong winds. Or coping and fixing after equipment breakdowns. Coping with life include the craving for a fix or a drink after the storm of an addiction. Dealing with health issues after the storm of a stroke, a heart attack, pain, or a broken body. Living with an empty chair at the table and a hole in one's heart after the storm of losing a loved one.

One year ago this weekend little Ryker suddenly went home to be with Jesus. I've got tears in my eyes just visiting about it. It was an unexpected storm that changed his immediate families lives. Even through the loss, Ryker's family prayed that this storm would somehow bring honor to God and effect folk's lives in the community. His and others unexpected deaths have touched all of us still here on earth living with the after effects. Please keep nephew Matt and Megan and brother Bill and Julie in your prayers.

This family has been through a storm for sure when folks not only tried to stop him from being on the Supreme Court but tried to destroy his life and reputation. I don't know this family but I have a friend who does and he says this is an upstanding, honorable, and Godly man. I hope and pray he, his family, and our country can move forward.

Often we as Christians focus on who we are. Our beliefs. Our families. Our work. Our lists. Our storms. And we miss the second half of the gospel which like we talked about last week is to love our neighbor as much or more than ourselves.

Love is an action, not an emotion. Love is what we do, not who we are. Remember the story of the elderly wife asking her elderly husband why he didn't show her attention or affection anymore. The husband replied that when they got married he told her he loved her and if things changed he would let her know. That's not how it works folks.

If you know folks experiencing or living with the after effects of a storm make it a goal to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Noah was given a rainbow as a promise that the sun would again shine. We are to receive and give relationships to each other as a promise and reminder that the Son is shining.