Real Men

Today is Father's Day. Our children, our culture, and our country all need real men. Men that provide and protect. Men that give 110%, that aren't afraid of responsibility, and care about others more than themselves. Men that are willing to stand up to a school board and say, "heck no you're not going to teach my kids or our community kids porn or gender change". Men that show their families they have a bold courage in times of crisis.

Jayden, Sydnie, and Lane are looking for baby kittens under a trailer.

Gals, you play a huge responsibility in our families and our culture today. Your ability to make things happen are God given and appreciated. Moms, you play an essential role in raising boys to be real men by not coddling them, not over protecting them, not making them the center of attention, and allowing them some of the adventure that God built in their DNA. Wives, you also determine whether your man succeeds or fails, by either your encouragement and affirmation, or your criticism and belittlement. However this morning I'm going to ask if it's ok to use Father's Day to focus how much we need real men.

Jackson, Ezra, and Elijah help Grandpa a couple of days a week. Below they are getting ready to mow and run the weed eater at a farm yard away from home.

Things stand or fall based on structural fortitude. This bridge in Greece was built 3000 years ago. That's 1000 years before Christ. And it is still being used today.

Steady and constant are attributes. Drainage tile is like that. It works 24/7. We could use a rain in southern Iowa however we often worry too much about our crops. I still see tiles running like this one which was just plowed in in late March. Which means we still have moisture in our soil structure. Often after a busy day I'll jump on a 4 wheeler in the evening just to unwind. This past week for fun I calculated how long it would take this tile, at this discharge rate of 25 gallon/hour, without evaporation, to finish filling the last 10 feet of this new 3 acre pond across from our home. 33 years. 😊

A fun story. Last Friday night we were staying at Henry and Karla's Holiday Inn in Sioux Center while attending Risefest. Early Saturday morning I was up in the dining area drinking coffee and having devotions when I saw this elderly couple leaving with lots of luggage, so I jumped up to help get them loaded in their rental car. They were Lawrence and Bertha from Lynden, Washington traveling to South Dakota to visit family. We enjoyed Dutch Bingo. They knew Jacki, a classmate of mine. And Howard and Bev who stayed at our home when they helped Howard's brother harvest.

 

Mike and Mark are busy building a pond for Keith. A hub is set just away from the dirtwork action for elevations. Mike sets his dozer blade at the hub, then builds a file, and finally uses satellites to run the blade to the right heights and proper slopes.

BJ planted his last farm of soybeans early last week after chopping the rye cover crop for cattle feed.

Both sprayers and the dry spreader ran hard this past week. That means 3 operators and 3 tender drivers bringing product to the field. We finished second pass corn for weeds. We finished dry spreading N (nitrogen fertilizer) on our corn acres. And we pushed to get our soybeans sprayed a second time.

Believe it or not there have been no new herbicides (weed killers) for the last 40 years. So technology has built traits into crops to be resistant to the herbicides we have. Well with soybeans 2 main platforms have emerged. One platform uses soybeans resistant to dicamba (Extend). And the other uses soybeans resistant to 2-4-D (Enlist) for broadleaf weeds. These traits have not yet been stacked in the seed so one system kills the other. That means farmers need to have conversations with their neighbors as to who plants what. And then be conscious of the wind and drift. 90% of these conversations are cordial. Most folks are more worried about dicamba drift than 2-4-D. However in the field below the further dark green field is 2-4-D and a southern wind carried the second pass spray over into the dicamba beans. Myself and many other farmers choose to live unoffended with minor drift, unless it's a catastrophic total field event.

I'm sure you have all noticed the rising price of groceries, gas, vehicles, you name it. Three weeks ago we baled first cutting alfalfa and then applied potash fertilizer. The second cutting is growing well and will be blooming soon. We also got the bill for the potash fertilizer. Nothing against our crop supplier, the fertilizer cost of $150/acre was more than the value of the hay baled. We hope to get more hay. However that will mean more fertilizer.

It now cost $1000 to fill a semi with fuel. And that happens regularly. Last fall we were paying just under 2% for interest on equipment loans. Six months later I'm hearing interest is close to 7% for borrowing long term money. My feeling is our current economy is unsustainable. Thanks for the picture Collin.

Bethany is a young Mom about our daughter Becky's age. She works for Becks Seed and is one of five individuals on the leadership team. She came this past Wednesday to visit with us and a few of our customers. One of her many responsibilities is to "keep the culture" in a very fast growing seed company. That culture means faith based, customer first, and family friendly. It's a joy to work with these folks and serves our family well as we have the same goals in our seed business.

Well I finally found some time to mow road ditches yesterday afternoon. As I have told you before it's a job I enjoy. I talked about trading batwing mowers. This one is 4 years old and list price was $16000. For years we would trade for $6000. Today the same mower list price today is $36000 with $17000 to trade. 

I would like to wrap up on this Father's Day with three areas where Dad's need to be real men. The first is work. We need to be constant and steady like that earlier tile. We have an obligation to provide. Many times it means long hours. Not all jobs are enjoyable. God created us to be productive. We are to make our work places where our help wants to be. And feel appreciated. For older fellows retirement could mean transitioning from being productive for self to being productive for others by volunteering, etc. Thanks for the picture Andy.

The next area for a father to be a real man is family. It sounds obvious. It means being an example of serving others. It's about structural fortitude like that old bridge. It means displaying grit and gratitude. It's being tough and tender at the same time. It means cherishing your spouse like I've told many of you younger fathers. It means making your home a place where your kids love to be. It means living unoffended by occasional sarcastic remarks. Real men are responsible to make a home safe and happy.

Finally and most importantly a father's responsibility is to be someone who shows that he walks with the Lord in his personal life. Someone who loves God with his heart, soul, mind, and strength. And loves his neighbor more than himself. A real man is the spiritual leader of his family. Some of you may say I didn't really get that trait growing up, and I'm not sure I'm qualified. None of us are. That's why we ask God for help and try hard every day. Being a spiritual leader doesn't mean we just "do church". It means we teach our kids and show our grandkids what it means to be a disciple. If we get it right at home it will spread to community, and hopefully to country. Thanks for the visit and thanks for so many of your friendships.