What's In Your Story

A story is an account of people, places, and events that happen over a period in time. In our case, over the past week. Add relationships, highlights, vulnerabilities, and heart, and we have ourselves a chapter that is a snapshot of the bigger picture in "His-story" (history).

It was a beautiful week and we put in six long days of harvesting. It's interesting how when you get just a little behind (a day or two) early on due to circumstances beyond one's control, it compounds over time. And by the end of the series of chapters in a story, one gets quite behind (a month).

In a story the interesting part isn't necessarily the facts, but how one handles the facts. If the characters would say, "Oh me Oh my" it would be a depressing thing to read.

This past week we would start very early on corn. Then sometime between noon and early afternoon we would drop the cornheads, switch the combines to soybeans, cut beans until well into the night, then finish off the day by putting the cornheads back on for morning.

Since we had many of our soybeans sold for November delivery we would send ours and others trucks to either Burlington, Des Moines, or DFS. We kept a truck or two close to home and would use bins as a relief valve to keep the combines going. Yields, particular in soybeans, have been very remarkable, even extraordinary.

Our goal was to finish soybeans yesterday, however Sunday came last evening with just a few left. Since we were all tired from a long week, and since the forecast is promising, we came home to our day of rest, fellowship, and worship.

As kids, we grow up wanting and needing to be loved. In reality, that doesn't change much as adults. However what I'm learning is as important as it is to be needed and loved, our first obligation is not to be loved but to love. Ourselves. Our spouses. Our families. Our co-workers and community. Our God.

We were blessed with lots of part time help this past week. Thanks to Karl, Kurt, and BJ for helping everyone stay organized and productive. We had an interesting scenario one evening with four folks named John working. So on the 2-way we had Big John, Little John, Papa John, and Banker John. 😊

We were also favored with supper brought out to us five of the six nights we worked. A huge thank you to Cassia, Emily, Kristin, and Amanda for blessing us this past week.

Our harvest is running into other areas of responsibilities, so we hooked up the honey wagon, got it operating, and currently have it rented out to a friend and neighbor who has a tractor broken down.

Brandon is in the honey hauling business and has helped me out before. He found time to haul the manure at the Denney site yesterday. Thank you Brandon and crew.

We also had Alex hook up our toolbar and start NH3 yesterday. Nitrogen for next year's crop has doubled in price since many purchased their needs back in late summer. The only way the lower price is good is if it's applied this fall.

Below I took a picture of a farmer applying his NH3 along Hwy 163 yesterday morning. Best wishes and thanks for the friendship Chris.

So where has your story been? Where is it at? Where can it go? Don't use the excuse of our last year and a half or our countries backsliding to quit being intentional about writing the story God wants you to be. We as a country have a lack of help, supplies, production, and hope, because good folks have put their lives in neutral.

By the way, that's a good looking field of cover crop Eugene.

Every week our story becomes part of history (His-story). And God as our Heavenly Father loves it and wants us to pray and ask Him for help. That's the loving God part of our story.

We're pilgrims on a journey. May all who come behind us find us faithful. May the fire of our devotion light their way. May the footprints that we leave, lead them to believe. and the lives (stories) we live today, inspire them to obey. That's the loving others part of our story.