What About The Rock

Friday morning Jan got up at 5 am and put together a breakfast casserole in a cast iron skillet. She brought it out to the office before we started our day. Thank you Jan and crew. We make a good team.

There are two types of rocks in our lives. The rocks we stumble on and trouble us. And the rocks we hang on to during our troubles.

 Yesterday I was preparing ground for planting with a Krause Excelerator at the McCracken Farm on the Eddyville flats. This rock you see on the floor of my cab got stuck between two disc blades. I worked on trying to remove it for about a half hour. All I had for tools was a gang wrench. Is it ok to pray for help for little things? Well it didn't just fall out after I asked God for help. But it did start to move. Which gave me motivation to keep trying. And in a few minutes my rock was out of the way and I was back to work.

 We are each other's rocks we hang on to during troubles. Often the rocks in our fields (lives) come at the most unexpected and inconvenient times. Below Joe is unhooking the trailer after soil sampling fields all day for a customer.

Mike is having an undercarriage rebuilt on his 6H Cat dozer. This is the machine he started his dozing business with 15 years ago when he was doing the grading at the new campus at PCHS. He also now has a 6T with a cab.

Alex and others used this high speed disc to prepare ground for planting. This machine is designed to size and mix the previous years residue with the soil while still moving dirt yet leaving the residue close to the soil surface for conservation and less erosion. It also has a huge basket on the back for a firm seed bed. It's downfall is that it takes a ton of horsepower.

I arrived home late one evening to see these three fellows still working on getting our sprayer tenders ready for next week. Karl is warming up the end of a 3 inch hose with the Knipco so it will slide over a hose barb better. Thanks Karl, Kurt, and Matt. Karl will start spraying pre (herbicides before emergence) on ground going to soybeans tomorrow.

Alex, Layton, and Kurt worked on applying NH3 (nitrogen) for this years corn crop. Thanks Nutrien for your long hours and keeping us in tanks. Tomorrow one outfit goes southeast to Brian's for custom and the other one goes north to a South Skunk River bottom BJ rents.

Although I didn't get a picture we also worked hard at seeding this week on waterways and fields going to alfalfa. Below Jan is tilling a portion of the sweet corn patch for a small garden. She planted onions, peas, and potatoes on Good Friday.

We started planting corn late Friday afternoon. The soil moisture was ideal. The 4 inch soil temps were 43 degrees on Friday and had warmed to 49 degrees after yesterday's warm weather. Below Kurt and his son Jackson are checking seed depth. Believe it or not seed kernels need to be a touch deeper in early April. This keeps the early month temp fluctuation from confusing it's early development. We also hope to start soybean planting Tuesday or Wednesday.

Even seed depth, seed emergence, spacing, and the firming ability of the planter are critical when planting. We used to think fast emergence after planting was the key. Actually uniform emergence is of greater importance. This Precision Planting 3 year study shows the yield drop on a stalk (not a field) of corn when it emerges later than it's companions in the same row.

Today we celebrate Easter. Just about 2000 years ago about this same time of morning some women were walking to a cemetery. They had a bad week. Church leaders had convinced the Roman government to crucify their friend. Jesus died on the cross just before their Sabbath so they didn't have time to embalm his body. The graves in Israel are not 6 feet deep with dirt on top. Their land is mostly rock. So they use caves and roll a large rock in front of the opening. Their conversation on the road to the cave was about how were they going to move that big rock. 

You know the rest of the story. The troubled rock was rolled out of the way. Not only that, the cave (tomb) was empty. When they looked in (maybe a little scary) all they saw was more rock and some folded up grave clothes. What they thought that Sunday morning was nothing but a bunch of troubles. What they came to find out and what we celebrate today was that "their Rock" (and ours) had risen from the dead. All their troubles turned out to be their salvation. By the way. This picture of an empty cave is one I took a couple of years ago in Jerusalem when Jan and I were visiting there. Scholars feel this was the actual cave Simon took Jesus body to after He died. Why do they feel that way? They found it empty.

                                                                                                            Although eternity in heaven after we die if we accept Jesus gift is assuring, we still have work to do down here on earth. God has us here for a reason even when we get troubled with rocks in our fields (lives). We are also to be a solid rock for others.

How can we be a rock? By example. By helping. By affirming words. Maybe a note or text. By not being afraid. By being a good listener rather than waiting to talk. By being in the background until needed. Even in these crazy couple of years with our "going crazy" country, enjoy family and friends today. The Easter Lily will bloom, just like on Jan's kitchen counter. Thank you so much for taking time for our weekly visit.