Standing For A Cause

 There is a song many of you know written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend in 2001 called "In Christ Alone". The last verse is my favorite. "No guilt in life. No fear in death. This is the power of Christ in me. From life's first cry till final breath. Jesus commands my destiny." Written twenty years ago, this song reminds us today we are not to live in fear. Not of our economy. Not of a pandemic. Not of our government. And we must be willing to make a stand for what we value and believe. Family is a value we believe in around here. Below Jan is feeding a whole herd of grandkids.

We built our home in 2015. However Jan had been planning long before that. On top of her list was designing the front entry door that would be without steps and used every day. She wanted our home to be welcoming and comfortable for friends.

Farming and agriculture is more than planting and harvesting crops and caring for livestock these days. It's a way of life in what some folks call the flyover part of our country. And it's a way of life worth standing up for. Below Michael, Elijah, Jackson, and Ezra spent Tuesday together helping out.

Mark and his family spend much of their summers digging footings and basements for others. This week they worked on one of their own projects with the help of Brett's crew.

Last week we visited about double cropping a few soybeans after rye. The ground has been pretty much wet since so I'm thankful we took advantage of that opportunity to get that project in after supper that evening. Those July 8 bean plants are about 2 inches tall already. With planting season behind us our seed tenders have all been accounted for and put away except one.

Soybeans are at R3 in maturity and it's time for 3rd pass spraying. R3 is when the top nodes of leaves have a very small pod forming with larger pods below. The bulk of the yield comes from nodes 6 through 12 on a soybean plant. And R3 is when fungicide, insecticide, and foliar feeding are most effective. PFR trials have also shown an increased yield when spraying 3rd pass in mornings verses afternoons because of the plants ability to absorb then. Kurt, Karl, and Alex got started spraying this past week.

Spraying fungicide on corn acres is also in full swing. And the bulk of those acres are done with either a helicopter or an airplane.

The corn crop in our area looks amazing. I'm hearing northwest Iowa has received some much needed rain. And there are crops south of us that look poor because of wet feet. We are not ahead of schedule maturity and heat unit wise. And I'm guessing kernels will blacklayer or mature mid September.

A few of you may have caught the fact that I started with family, friends, and farming as causes to stand up for. Faith is a big cause in our lives around here and it affects the rest of what we do as well. When standing up for a cause folks watch whether one walks their talk. Those of you that know me well know I'm a long ways from perfect. However I serve a God that was and is perfect. And that same God wants to use unlikely folks like me and you to stand up for how He wants us to live. That's what the 4th verse of "In Christ Alone" talks about.

How are we to live? Honor God and bless others.

While we were working on the billboard sign just north of Ottumwa a young gentleman walked up, said he had ran out of gas, and asked for a ride. After we dropped him back off at his car, one of the grandkids in the back seat said, "Look Grandpa, the yellow sign ahead says do not pick up hitchhikers".😊

For the past dozen years I have served on The Family Leader board. This past Friday TFL held it's annual Summit where like minded folks get together for the purpose of standing up for causes we feel are important including the values and freedoms we still experience in this country. TFL also engages churches and pastors that are willing with elected folks for the purpose of helping with solving issues like foster care, mental health, and protecting the values that make us who we are. Below is a shepherd of the church with a shepherd of government. Thanks for the picture Pastor Tom and Holly.

Speakers this year included former vice-president Mike Pence, Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, pastor from the Atlanta area Michael Youseff, as well as folks from Iowa. Below is Steve Deace from Blaze TV.

In my opinion there are two states in this country that have been the best to live in the last year and a half. They are both in flyover country. And much credit needs to be given to the governors of these two states. Below is Governor Kim from Iowa. She thanked TFL for helping her during Covid.

The second state is South Dakota and kudos to Governor Kristi who said her folks were always safe and always happy. Iowa and South Dakota were states that never shut down.

Foster was remembered. If you recall we visited about his passing in earlier visits. He was a friend of TFL.

Foster was a friend to many, including Jan and I. It was very enjoyable to catch up and visit with Lynn, his widow, and Steve, his son.

Del Tackett is another friend of TFL and ours as well. Del did "The Truth Project" which asks the question, What is Truth? Del is currently training leaders for "The Engagement Project" which asks the question, What do we do with that Truth? I'd love to expand however I've already used too many words. We started with words to the song "In Christ Alone". The chorus of that song finishes with, "Till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand". (For the Cause) Thanks for the visit!