Plans And Intentions

Have you thought intentionally about your plans for 2024? What do you hope to get accomplished this year? The secret to getting something accomplished is to get started. Lane, Elijah, Jackson, and Ezra are getting a seed tender ready for spring planting.

To think about a plan for the year you have to turn off the noise, and start with why. Jan and I have gone up on the hill on New Year's morning, prayed together, and watched the sun come up. However since it was cloudy Monday we prayed together from our home. "Commit to the Lord whatever you do. And He will establish your plans". Proverbs 16:3 Thanks for the picture FB.

On New Years evening BJ and Cassia had our extended family over for a potluck including some of my siblings and their families.

This past Tuesday was the last day of the grandkids' Christmas school break. So cousins got together at Grandma's house. Thanks for the picture Jan.

Our children had planned a progressive dinner for a Christmas gift for Jan and I. So Tuesday evening we started at Becky and Brian's for appetizers. Then Emily and Kurt's for the main course. And finally Cassia and BJ's for dessert. I have so much to be thankful for, that saying thanks hardly seemed adequate. Solid Christian families. That care about each other and us. All living in this community. All great cooks. All busy working with projects, family, and community. All with plans and intentions for the coming year. Thanks kiddos. And thank you Lord for having a plan that put Jan and I in this family. Thanks for the picture Emily.

For those of you that grow and store grain, it's time to check your bins and probably shake them. Shaking them means pulling some grain, especially the peak, and center, out of the bin. A couple of reasons why this year. Here in southern Iowa we've had the 2nd warmest December ever. And with a large crop most bins are full up to the roof. Which means there is no room for circulating air even if you run the cooling fans.

I know, in places the lines are long, the markets are depressed, and others have the same idea. But up until recently the roads have been good, the yards dry, and the unloading equipment unfrozen.

Richard, an old marketing consultant, used to say, "Farmers sell for one of three reasons, they need the money, they need the bin, or it smells". And even dry corn can start to smell when it's temperature is warmer than the outside air temp. Plus this is the collateral you are either going to pay the bank note with, farm pymt, or cash rent next month.

Kurt, Ezra, and Elijah helped rearrange our machine sheds so we could get more machinery inside before bad weather. Dean, Alex, and others started getting the planters in the shop for their yearly overhaul.

Mike and Cody are just about finished painting Cody's car. They did a great job.

Yesterday morning we woke up to unexpected slick roads. All of a sudden these easy, ordinary plans and intentions got complicated. That's winter in Iowa.

The room grew quiet as Grandpa told about the old days. His plans and intentions. His successes and failures. And how God was faithful even in the tough stories. Storytelling was how life was communicated in the old days. If presented in an interesting way, with the benefit of the listener in mind, teaching with stories is still effective today. Thanks for the picture Epoch.

Folks have asked about the upcoming 2024 elections. And folks' plans and intentions. We have slid as a culture and a country so far into corruption so fast, I question whether we will even have a fair election. Back home folks are putting polls, policies, media predictions, and their preferences, over their principles. And when you're not guided by a set of principles, you soon lose your way.

Eric and our family go back 30 years to our haying days in northwest Colorado. Thanks for the shout out Eric. And thanks for the picture Melanie.

Two weeks ago on Christmas Eve I shared Jan, my, and our IHC 856's story 50 years ago. Back then I was needing a set of duals to do custom work. And didn't have the money in the checkbook or the blessing from FHA to buy a pair. Then a pair showed up in The Spokesman for $150. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future". Jeremiah 29:11. That promise to Israel back when they were in captivity, is the same promise for us in 2024. Thanks for the picture. Happy New Year.