To Help And To Hope

 Last Sunday evening Jan took this picture during Parking Lot Praise at our church. This picture made me wonder what our country will look like when hopefully our grandchildren have families of their own. And then a followup thought. Am I doing everything I can to help. Thanks Ethan, Elijah, John, Rachel, and Amelia.

It's enjoyable to help with the little things. Gideon and Noah stopped by yesterday, said their mower had quit working, and asked if they could borrow Grandmas. I heard Gideon tell his friend Noah, "Wow, this is a nice mower". I used to worry about what folks might think if we had newer paint. My point in this story is you can't help folks if you don't have something reliable to share with them. We shared things with a half a dozen folks this week.

Another little way we can help is to teach the young ones to help others. This project involved picking apples for Grandma. I wasn't real successful in this endeavor. If you look close Lane is throwing ears of corn on the ground. Jayden is playing on the "monkey bars". And Sydnie is wondering why Grandpa isn't picking apples. 😊

Getting bins ready for harvest reminded me we had a pit auger that had quit working late last year. In calling around everyone came up with the same answer. Sorry, we can't help you. Equipment is too hard to find.

So Mike helped me with Plan B. We had to cut cement in order to make another auger fit. Thanks Mike. That was a dirty job.

We found a new auger in Cedar Falls at the largest Westfield auger dealership in the country. Thanks Dave. It was fun getting to know you.

Karl spent a couple of days helping Keith and Julie chop silage. Jamie's chopper takes ten rows of corn and has around 900 horsepower.

The gals all worked together and did salsa and pizza sauce Friday. Jan very much enjoyed working together with her daughter-in-laws.

Last week Saturday morning 90 firefighters, 16 fire departments, 7 manure haulers, and roughly a million gallon of water intentionally burned down an old grain elevator, an annex, and two old dry fertilizer buildings in Sully. Thanks for the picture and the info Dan.

In a couple of weeks we will be starting harvest. We have our own trucks however we are always grateful for the help from others who help us haul to Eddyville as well. About three years ago Richard started hauling for us regularly with his semi. He had retired from hogs. Richard was president of The Iowa Pork Producers and helped start the Pork Tent at the Iowa State Fair in the 1980s. Working together we created a lasting friendship.

Richard died somewhat unexpectedly this past Tuesday. Nancy, Scott and Rachelle, Mark and Kayla and Wilder, we promise to keep you in our thoughts and prayers. And we considered it a privilege to be asked to help you with the funeral service. Richard was a weekly reader of our Sunday morning visits.

This past Wednesday our oldest, Mike, had his 44th birthday. So Jan got out her huge skillet, used the apples we picked, and made a pie as well as the rest of the meal we had together in the shop as an extended family. Thanks for the picture Jan.

I am constantly frustrated by how our government tries to bury help and hope at everything they do. I'm also frustrated with the medical community for following that lack of help and hope like blind sheep. Last year a 40 year old approved medication, Hydrochloroquine, was showing effectiveness in the treatment of covid. And our government basically outlawed it. Back in 2020 when we were doing all our shopping with the Amish because of required masks in town, they were telling us how they were using another 40 year old approved medication, Ivermectin, very effectively for treatment. This past week I've had two conversations with friends. The first was a couple in their mid 70s where Ivermectin helped them become healthy after just two days from being tested positive with covid. The next conversation was with a fellow where all his employees were taking Ivermectin monthly as a preventative and no one in his business had contacted the virus. I have taken Hydrochloroquine as a Malaria preventative more than once when traveling to Africa. I have also taken Ivermectin. Both are safe at reccommended dosage. Problem is most of the reccommended dosages for these older approved drugs have been removed from the internet. 

Another subject where our government is literally burying help and hope is in Afghanistan. Kudos to Samaritans Purse, The Nazarene Fund, Iowa state legislature Zach Nunn who was a former member of our special forces in Afghanistan, and other retired military civilians who have taken it on their own shoulders to physically help get Americans out from the airport as well as other areas in the country with no help and sometimes hindrance from our government. These folks that are flying into this country are heroes, as well as those servicemen who were killed. I heard a press conference where our government had removed around 80000 folks among which around 4000 were Americans. Anyone else wonder who the other 76000 folks were? Missionary reports are saying our fellow Americans over there are feeling abandoned by their own government.

Folks, our help and our hope will not come from government. So can I find a positive message? Will our grandchildren's families live with a plan and a purpose?

Psalms 121 is a song folks sang in Bible times during struggles. "I look to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth". Rest without fear in this hope next week. Rest is not the absence of chaos. Rest is the promise of an inner peace. Blessings friends.