Guard The Good

Paul is in prison. He knows his time is short. In his 2nd letter to Timothy he gives advice to the much younger man. The next generation. He asks Timothy to guard the good, with God's help. Ronald Reagan said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It must be fought for, guarded, and handed on for them to do the same." This picture was taken at Becky and Brian's farm west of Peoria.

For generations our predecessors have been guarding the good. They taught us to work. There were consequences if we weren't truthful. They taught us to be generous. And they showed us there were morals and values worth standing up for. This is my father's 8th grade graduation picture from Oskaloosa Christian School in the late 1940s. He is 3rd from the left in the back row.

I like to add this 8th grade graduation picture just to pester my classmates. We had 12 boys and 9 girls in 1970. An interesting fact. Every boy in our class stayed in the community to work and raise a family. Verlan (Fish), Gary, and Kevin have passed away.

Last Sunday evening a few of us went to that same Oskaloosa Christian School. We asked God to be with the kids, the teachers, the year. I observed the different and welcoming rooms, silently praying for grandkids and their classmates. Below is Mrs. Klucas's bulletin board.

Last week was the last Monday for the large grandkid crew at Grandma's house since school is starting. So I organized and helped with a weed pulling event by the front entry of our house. The kids gladly helped and enjoyed working together as cousins.

Jan canned a big batch of salsa. It's delicious. Don't look too close, I spelled sausa/2023 wrong on every lid.

Remember the parts container story in the farm shop above the office? Wow. What a big job. We're just about finished. The toughest part of this job is what to keep and what to throw away.

There is one container upstairs who's contents needed thrown away. They will do us no good. However I marked the container "sentimental value" and "guarded" some old stuff. An Ag Leader yield monitor from my old 1982 IHC 1460 combine. A test weight scale I bought at the Snyder Feed Auction in the late 1970s. A hand pump I either inherited or permanently borrowed from my father-in-law. Notice the rubber inner tube and baling wire on top to keep it from leaking. And an old fashioned transit that used to be used for level grading.

Well, it's been a hot week. And it's been three weeks since we had a half inch of rain twice. Here at the shop south of Osky we've had around 7 inches of rain during the crop growing season (April-August).

Our 4th cutting alfalfa yield around the house was about half of 3rd cutting in July.

I was telling Jan this past week that it's easy to get weary when the yards are brown, the crops are dying fast, and there is no rain in the forecast. I just need to guard the good things in my mind. Harvest is very close.

Jan and I took another couple of days off. Friday morning we stopped at a little country restaurant in Farmington, Illinois for breakfast. The place was full of good small town folks. When I'm totally unknown in a place I like to, with the waitress's help, quietly bless a total stranger or two.

Friday afternoon we stopped at Becknology Days at Becks headquarters in Atlanta, Illinois. We enjoyed lunch, country store shopping, and conversations with lots of folks including Ken, Mark, Jim, Bethany and Kent, and Randy and Lisa.

Friday evening we went out to eat with Ken and Cheri. They are dear friends. After staying overnight in their wonderful home we headed back home on Saturday. We drove through heavy rain in Illinois.

In a sermon on a grassy hillside 2000 years ago Jesus told folks, "By their fruit you shall know them". That same Paul we started our visit with talked to the church of Galatia about that "fruit" of the Spirit, love, peace, forbearance, kindness, gentleness, and self control. We also started with the beginning of a quote from a former president talking about the necessity of guarding or freedoms and teaching the next generation to do the same. That quote finishes with, "Or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was like in the United States when men were free". Finish strong, and guard the good.