Facing Our Giants

Good morning. Thanks for taking the time to stop by. You know, we have times in our lives when it feels nothing can stop us from conquering our giants. Then there are other times when everything is a giant that we can't get around or over and we feel it's impossible to keep going. Below is a statue of young David near a museum in Jerusalem.

Facing and conquering our giants is not an event. It's a journey. David, the young shepherd boy killed Goliath and saved the Israelites from the Philistines. However that wasn't the last giant he faced. His fellow citizens gave him accolades and spoke highly of him. This talk made Saul, the very king he saved from the Philistines, jealous and David had to hide in the caves in the picture below to keep King Saul from killing him.

Jan often has her hands full on Mondays with six kids four and under. In Bible times one of the hardest giants King David faced was raising and handling his kids. They tried to kill each other. Some tried to kill their Dad and take away his throne. Once again David had to run for his life.

 In our occupations there are times when "Plan A" works, when we feel productive, and it's a rewarding experience. There are other times when weather, unplanned obstacles, finances, or relationships feel like a giant. Below we are hauling hog honey with two wagons being hauled to by two semi tankers.

 Karl covered his and Kristin's garden in one short pass with enough fertilizer value to grow great vegetables. Thanks for the picture Karl.

 Early in the week Alex continued to apply nitrogen for next years corn crop running long hours. Thanks for the picture Alex.

We're thankful for enough good weather earlier in the week to have some lime applied. Farmland tends to get acidy and crushed limestone neutralizes the ph and helps everything work better including herbicides.

How many folks does it take to replace a mailbox? Well, Ezra to hold the flashlight. BJ to cut the bottom board. Matt to mount the new box. And the rest of us to watch.

About midweek it started raining. I'm thankful it wasn't snow yet like you folks to the north and west of us. So we started working on shop projects. Below Kurt, Karl, Layton, and John along with the rest of us worked on semi trailers and chisels.

We are finished harvesting and the combines are inside. However we still have contracted crops that need to be hauled to the processor so we have been moving both corn and soybeans from farm bins to either Eddyville or Burlington.

I hope most of you had a good Thanksgiving. This is the turkey a 4-H family had cleaned and gave us after I bought it at the 4-H auction and then let them keep it. It was a huge bird. As large as our smoker. After thawing Jan soaked it in a brine she prepared, stuffed it with all kinds of good things, and covered it in bacon.

The 4-H family also gave us a leg of lamb since I had purchased one of them as well. We ate a lot of lamb on our trip to Israel so Jan prepared it Mediterranean style and smoked it. Family time and meals are important to the Jewish people in Israel. They're important to us in America as well.

We visited last week about our older work force. Our country is facing many giants. And we as Americans are not any stronger than our next generation. Lets us that are older give them the time, attention, training, and affirmation they need to be assets in our communities and in God's kingdom sooner than we realize. Most of our family Thanksgivings include Ranger rides.

Another Thanksgiving tradition around here has been clay target shooting including the granddaughters with the older ones helping and encouraging the younger ones. Many of our grandkids are on shooting teams competitively. In fact our oldest, Gideon, is planning on attending William Penn University next fall for engineering on a shooting scholarship.

We talked about our kids being our countries future. That because we are all getting older. And at some point in time we will face the giant of leaving this life we know on earth. A big kutos to my sister-in-law Ginger who continues to check on and help our aging parents.

We have no guarantees of getting old. Many of you have directly faced the giant of losing someone you love. As some of you and we as a community have experienced this week, that huge hole can't be replaced without hope. Hope of heaven only through Christ for the one we lost. And hope of grace and healing from God alone for those who are asked to stick around. Eugene and Gloria have helped us haul grain for years. Gloria passed away after a lingering illness. Her funeral is tomorrow. We are praying for you Eugene.

 Although Jim and I don't see a lot of each other we have become 2am friends for each other. This past week Jim suddenly lost his wife Barb to a blood clot. Her funeral was yesterday. We're praying for you Jim and family as you continue life with a hole. I didn't know Lawrence all that well however he was a husband, a father, an uncle and a brother-in-law to many of you. Lawrence passed away after a fall. Prayers for this large family. Many of you know better than I. How do you handle this giant after it feels life has been torn out by the roots. You lean on God. You lean on others. You continue to help others as God gives you opportunities. And by God's grace you will again start to bloom with the life and purpose God has for you. God bless you all.