Service Engine Soon

It was 4 am. This fall's weather has required long days. I'm driving our old blue van. It was our family vehicle 25 years ago when there were 8 of us. It's unreliable and only goes from farm to farm. Oskaloosa's downtown Christmas lights light up the square as I drive through town.

 This particular farm I'm driving to is on the fringe of the old van's ability. It's 25 miles from home. I'm taking the van because it will be sitting in the field until we have time to retrieve it. I'm going after a tractor and chisel and moving them to another farm.

 As I'm driving down dark rural roads I feel the van hesitate and lurch. The "service engine soon" light comes on. I am thinking it is going to let me down. I imagine myself stranded. I'm losing confidence in the old girl.

 We have a number of pieces of equipment that need serviced. Some soon. Some over the winter months.

 Some days I feel in need of a tune up. Several years ago Jean gave me some good advice on how not to get sick while being busy and short on sleep. It works.

We knifed in honey over the snow early in the week. South of town we had around 4 inches. Thanks for the picture Kasey.

 However we received very little snow northwest of Pella where we have a fair amount of manure to haul yet. The folks we had hired to help us are many, many barns behind.

 As Karl watched the sun come up on Friday morning the sky promised we were going to have moisture. We as well as other of our farmer friends have been running day and night trying to catch up after a soaking, stressful fall.

Tankering honey from the hog pit to the field saves time. We have run two tanker outfits as hard as they will go helping others get their pits emptied. Thanks for the pic Kurt.

 Thursday many of us took time off to go to a Thanksgiving service at church and then get together as a family for a Thanksgiving dinner.

 After a delicious lunch we continued our tradition of shooting clay pigeons. I think the kids outdid the grownups.

 All but about 15 of us from my parents and siblings side were able to enjoy time together. It was a beautiful day with temps in the upper 50s.

I took time Thanksgiving Day to stop, look, reflect, and listen. I'm grateful for so many things. However God calls us to be more than just grateful. He calls us to be generous. With our stuff, our time, our abilities. You've all heard me visit about the two parts of being a Christian. Who we are. And what we do with who we are. Grateful is who we are. Generous is what we do with who we are. Grateful is loving God with all our heart. Generous is loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Sometimes I hesitate. My "service engine soon" light comes on. I'm thinking about myself and all our unfinished work. There are times when I let people down. Sometimes I feel what I'm called to do is on the fringe of my abilities, like the old van. Occasionally I'm unreliable, especially to the folks I love the most. Below Ethan and John are helping Grandpa put harvest equipment inside while it waits to get cleaned up.

In spite of the van's weaknesses it got me to the field that morning. In spite of our shortcomings we keep trying as well. When the "service engine soon" light comes on it needs to be given attention. Just not our only attention.

I can think of so many examples of you all being generous. It might be fixing Thanksgiving dinner. It might be inviting someone to come to dinner with you. It might be putting in extra effort at work, even on Thanksgiving Day. It might be extra money in the offering plate. It might be writing a thinking of you note to a friend who is down. It might be teaching Sunday School. It might be watching westerns on Grit TV with a friend in the nursing home.

Early Tuesday morning Russ, a friend from Cedar Rapids and I leave for southeastern Africa. We hope to help our Malawian famer friends plant their crops. All by hand of course. Our goal is to encourage them. To coach them on some better management tips. Thanks Ken for all your efforts in the past and introducing me to these friends far away. I look forward to Harrison being our driver, interpreter, and money changer. I want to congratulate his daughters for graduating from African Bible College. I want to return the visit to Hennie who has gone from growing tobacco to raising macadamia nuts. He was a guest at our customer appreciation supper a couple of years back. I can't wait to see Moses and Maria and their family who have become leaders in their church and their village.

In short, I want to attempt to be Christ's hands and feet in a culture less fortunate than us. Here at home we worry about our next years crop. Many of these folks worry about their next meal.

It's 4 am. on this Sunday morning. The weather outside is a howling wind out of the northeast and bits of moisture starting to sting the face. The forecast is promising a storm in southern Iowa. My encouragement to you this morning is to have an open, willing, and generous heart. No, you don't need to go across the world. However have courage to not just be who you are, but what you do with who you are, even when your "service engine soon" light comes on. I hope to find wi-fi in Africa so we can visit again next week. Thanks for being friends. Thanks for the picture of earlier in the week Suzanne.