How We Will Remember

Greetings from the Cayman Islands. Jan and I are blessed to be on vacation. Last Sunday morning after our blog visit and early church we drove to Indiana.

I would like to sincerely thank the Becks family for this opportunity. We flew out of Atlanta, Indiana early Monday morning.

My visits with you on Sunday mornings are most often either what we've been up to for the week or what's on my heart. This week is both. A couple of Sundays ago our family praise team sang a new song. Jan had heard it on FB at a Thanksgiving service in Rock Valley.  It's a simple catchy song called, We Will Remember. That song got me thinking.  Thanks for sharing the song with us Freida.

Back home early in the week the guys were tiling at Karl and Kristin's while Mike built a terrace. I saw on Snapchat where Kristin had them all in for lunch. Thanks for the picture Kasey.

Kurt continued to truck for others. Thanks for the picture Kurt.

Of course as many of you know far better than myself, winter was back by the end of the week. BJ was busy blading folks out. Thanks for the picture Suzanne.

Karl had fat hog loads scheduled during the bad weather and was busy helping trucks get to paved roads. Thanks for the picture Karl.

Many Friday night high school basketball games were rescheduled early to Thursday evening to stay ahead of the snow including the game at Pella Christian hosting Oskaloosa. In between the girls and boys game the 1990 boys state high school basketball champs from PCHS were remembered.Thanks for the picture Karl.

Back to the Caymans. We are mostly just in shorts and bare feet relaxing. And enjoying old and new friends. Below we eating out with old friends, Ken and Cheri from Indiana, our host down here. And new friends, Wayne and Twyla from Missouri, who we share our apartment with. Our friends standing are the restaurant staff.

We can't come down here without remembering and resharing a "wow God" story. A couple of years ago on our way home from the island here Jan decided to stop and get some spices at Fosters Grocery to take home for our children who love to cook. She told me I was welcome to wait in our rental car since she wouldn't be long. Uncharacteristic of me, I told her I'd just come in.

A gentleman was also in the spice isle shopping. He smiled at overhearing our conversation and said, "what we won't do for our kids, right?" I casually asked him if he was on vacation as well. His answer changed the course of our families history. He said he and his wife were here for his wife's back. He said that after many doctor visits in their home town of Chattanooga, they met a doctor who suggested a lower disc replacement rather than a normal fusion. This procedure wasn't and still isn't approved in the USA. Jan and I left the grocery store both wondering the same thing. Our son BJ was home with a ruptured disc in his lower back. Suggested therapy hadn't been working and BJ was failing healthwise. Thanks Dave. God used you in our families lives.

 Long story short, BJ and Cassia came down here to the Caymans 3 weeks later with the help of these doctors, had disc replacement surgery, was back on the tractor planting corn in 2 months, and is still able to provide for his family today by the vocation he loves. Farming. Friday BJ's doctors from Chattanooga, TN. were back down here for their monthly surgeries. Jan and I were blessed to reconnect with them on Friday, visit about their continuing success, and again thank them. If any of you would like more information or are just curious you are welcome to google "balancedback" on the internet.

One of the things I've been enjoying this week is early morning coffee in our host's apartment with farm folks from all over the midwest. The news networks on the TV are usually on and I have seen more news this past week down here than all year back home. Having said that, I am going to try and be gentle, humble, and kind about our next story.

As many of you probably already know their are several folks in Iowa campaigning and wanting to be president. I don't want to awful-ize these folks but I think they are people that are horribly misguided. Friends, these candidates are tripping over each other trying to prove to us who is the most socialist. They are trying to buy votes by promising everyone will be taken care of. I even heard one say they are going to try and create dignity in working less or not working at all. Folks, that's not how I see it. We were created to make a difference. It's why you get up every day and do what you do.

Socially they are wanting us to be able to choose to change our sex and have neutral gender bathrooms. One wants to have men incarcerated in women's prisons if men think they are actually a woman. Everyone one of them is still in favor of killing the unborn. Friends, there is no longer a question about the validity of life before an abortion. Science has proven and the new ultrasounds confirm that unborn babies are human beings.

We need to remember our children and grandchildren and what kind of country we want them be able to raise their families in. I saw a poll this week that said 70% of our younger generation would welcome the opportunity for us to be a socialist country and have the government totally take care of them.

Remember growing up feeling sorry for the residents of Russia and Germany during the cold war. Folks, socialism doesn't work. When you have more folks riding rather than pushing the wagon, it stops. Just ask Venezuela. Jan has a cousin that's been a missionary there for many years. Venezuela was the wealthiest country in South America not long ago. Then socialism took over. Agriculture production dropped 75% when the government overtaxed and eventually took over the acres. Today Venezuela is a 3rd world country with many folks starving. When we look back. How will we remember the elections of 2020?

Let's remember to pray for our families, our friends, our communities, and our country. And let's start being engaged and intentional about our culture and our future. We need to remember we have been called to be light and hope. Light in a dark world for today and hope in a troubled world for tomorrow. That's called leadership. Leadership is not a title. It's an example.

We are looking forward to attending Sunrise Community Church here in Cayman this morning. We have worshiped with these folks in previous visits and enjoy the fellowship. Thanks for stopping by. Let's visit again next week.