Holding Power

 Holding power is what you hang on to when you need to finish strong or when life gets unsound or shaky. I'm often asked what it takes for a family or team to work together productively and cheerfully. The answer is not that complicated. It's to love and care for each other. And it's to put others ahead of oneself.

As we wrapped up the 2020 harvest this week we had a few hurdles to cross together. One was finding a way to continue to combine and get rid of the corn at night while doing custom work. Since my bins were empty we offered them as holding capacity to deliver later. Also a huge thank you to Andy, Richard, Eugene, Layton, Brent, Jim, Pablo, Kasey, Jim, Matt, John, and Alex for helping our family with this crop.

With other jobs and responsibilities overlapping harvest we were blessed to have our next generation step up. Thank you Ezra, Elijah, and John for working like grownups. I hope your teachers at school understand.

The further north we went the more the derecho affected the corn stand. This field for Andy and Amara is on the south edge of Deep River and was 80% flat.

A tradition Jan and I enjoyed years ago was was when Daryl and Rosie, our landlords, would buy meal tickets for our whole family to go to our local St Marys Catholic Church turkey supper. Well, thanks to John and Amanda, that tradition continued this year when they brought our whole crew carry out meals to the field from that same supper.

The manure tankers stay busy. Below Kurt has unhooked grain trailers and hooked up the tankers getting ready for early the next morning.

Anhydrous season is in full swing. NH3 is a nitrogen source for next years corn crop. We use it where we don't have hog manure. Thanks Alex for working with Jim, Brent, and Brennan in getting us rolling.

2020 has been a lot of things including an election year. In the voting booth we vote for local, state, and national folks to represent and serve us. On the local ballet are folks we know and work with on a first name basis. Our local elected come for coffee and conversation where we discuss ideas. Thanks Russ, Steve, Mark, Chuck, and others.

State elections affect how we live in our communities. Examples are like how much weight we get to carry on our semis. Whether our kids go to school. Whether we are required to wear masks. Whether we have a balanced budget and what taxes we pay. I appreciate living in Iowa right now and thank our elected folks. As our governor told me in April, "From overcoming challenges to seizing opportunities, Iowa is blessed with hard-working, resilient and thoughtful people". Thanks Governor Kim for your service. Below is Key Coop in Barnes City.

National elections are becoming more about who's ideas and philosophys we are going to follow and less and less about representing and serving. It's a tug-of-war between liberalism and conservatism. It's about deciding between capitalism or socialism. It's about more business or more taxes. It between following our constitution or redefining it. It's between being a patriot or a protester.

I've been asked to write about the hate in our country today. I'm not crazy about complying. I like to stay positive. However hate can have a huge holding power on us. In our nation the opposing political party hates this man. The establishment in his own party hates him. The media hates him. Christians even hate him and compromise their values when they vote. Thank you Mr. President and staff for keeping your promises. Thank you for your efforts.

I have been appalled at the hate remarks on FB and by the media toward this gal. She has worked tirelessly and I am proud to have her represent us as Iowans. Thank you Governor Kim.

 Local hate starts to hit close to home. It's between community ideas. It can be between neighbors and friends. It can destroy businesses, relationships, and even families. I have found over the years that it is way easier to love someone than to hate them, even when we disagree. And I temper the hate temptation by praying for the few folks that hate me and my family.

 Take away this morning is don't allow disagreement, differences of opinion, or jealousy, to turn into hate. Don't leave this earth hating someone. It will have eternal consequences. On the other hand leaving this earth after returning good for evil will be rewarding when you hear your Lord say, "Well done. When you did it to others on earth, you were actually doing it to Me". Below is Union Mills Cemetery where we were combining on Friday.

Let's finish positive. Congratulations to Matt and Heather on the baptism of their fourth child. Our children's holding power when times are scary is their father and mother. Our holding power as grownups in uncertain and shaky times is our Heavenly Father. Hang on to that and finish strong. Blessings to you all. Thanks for taking the time for this visit.