Purpose In Your Plan

While harvesting soybeans on the east edge of Oskaloosa on Friday the 2-way radio was active with conversation. Mark and Stacy's family were combining south of Givin on Buddy and Eileen's farm. John was conversing with his Dad, BJ, and Uncle Karl, as they were taking out soybeans east of Lacey. And I had to smile to myself as I heard Jackson, below, tell Pablo who was trucking, he needed another little bit of beans from his Dad's combine, where they were working northeast of New Sharon, before he could load the semi. Jackson is in 3rd grade.

Back in the early 1980s a picture of two little boys came out with the caption, "You been farming long". Yesterday cousins Malaki and Jackson catch up on farming before they head to the fields with their Dads. Thanks for the picture Kurt.

Kudos to Cassia, Emily, Kristin, and even Dean's wife Connie, for supper in the field. Family, working with friends, and watching grandkids learn responsibility is a blessing. I personally believe it's also honoring the One who created us for a purpose. God told Adam, Noah, and others to be fruitful. And multiply. And although most think that means having children, it's much more than that.

We worked on multiple fronts this week. Some of us combined into semis for Burlington. Others went to the bin. We also did four customwork jobs this past week. Below I have just finished cutting beans north of Eddyville with the Grandkid combine and am moving to one of BJ's fields west of Givin.

Speaking of the Grandkid combine, Ezra who is in 9th grade, and Becky and Brian's oldest, took out the test plot just across the road from here at the shop. That late planted plot caught some later rains and actually yielded well.

Speaking of test plots, Karl had a 25 corn hybrid plot south of Gibson near the little community of Coal Creek on a farm he rents from his Grandmother, my Mom. It also yielded very well with moisture ranging from 16% to 23%.

When we purchased our high speed disc there were a couple of tillage pieces we used less. So we sold them as well as my seed treating equipment on a monthly on-line auction. Thanks for your help Dennis. Farm auctions look so different these days from ten years ago. And although I will miss the old way of farmers gathering, that day is over.

In between other jobs Mike has been working on clearing a ditch. Getting ready for a pond. In that ditch he has found cars and farm equipment from the 1940s. Guess there weren't any on-line auctions back then. Not even on-line. Just a party line for those of you my age who remember the only phone was the one on the kitchen wall. And the only mobile part was limited to the length of the phone cord. 😊

As I was cutting beans north of DFS Friday afternoon I watched two semis park on the dead end street and family pick them up. Kudos to those who truck all week for a living. Life would stop without you. I'm not wanting to exclude or downplay the importance of you gals in my next comments. Kudos to the guys who stand up as "real men" and take all their responsibilities seriously. Those trying to take over our country today do not want men that think on their own, take a stand, love their families, and work hard. I'm convinced they are trying to centralize power and make the normal working folks weaker.

Years ago my friend Del talked about how our culture is trying to downplay masculinity. This picture was taken 3 years ago with Jesus' hometown of Nazareth in the background. Del is standing on the cliff the leaders tried to push Jesus off of 2000 years ago. They hated Him for not complying to their way of thinking. Sound familiar?

When Tucker was in Iowa recently he talked about how our culture does not want men with a plan and a purpose. Our country seems to be promoting slough, complacency, and undisciplined. He has also produced a documentary this year called, "The End of Men".

My point is not about men becoming high and mighty in their own mind. "A legend in his own mind" as big Steve used to say about an arrogant person. 😊 God does not work through the high and mighty. He used normal, ordinary, often uneducated folks in His time on earth. I wished I would have had time to look up the picture from The Chosen series where Jesus is walking with His disciples. He still uses ordinary folks today for His plan and our purposes.

Two final thoughts. Don't try and prepare life for your kids. Prepare your kids for life. And: It's not about what we say. Often it's not even about what we do. It's about who we are. And that my friends, takes God's grace. Blessings.