Christmas Relationships

Merry Christmas from our family to you'all this morning. Other than some grandkids in college we live on various places around the Oskaloosa community in southern Iowa. You'all are neighbors, folks we work with, folks we go to church with, classmates of Jan or I, friends from Arizona, Michigan, Indiana, and other states. And friends we hold dear in Africa, Israel, Cayman, and a few other countries. A few of you I don't know. However I consider it a privilege you join us in this weekly visit, and I truly hope to meet more of you someday. Thanks for setting up the picture Becky.

                             

This past Wednesday evening our crew celebrated Jan's birthday at Georges in Pella. Close to 40 of us enjoyed 16 pizzas.

We often have scheduled guests in our office in the farm shop first thing in the morning this time of year. Friday morning Brian and Mark brought breakfast pizza compliments of Bank Iowa. Thanks for the visit, and thanks for working with our family guys.

We're also working with Brad, Kiley, Andy, and others from Musco Lighting. Brad and Andy came on a very cold, windy, morning to climb our new grain leg just east of our home farm. They were measuring, and are designing a combination Bethlehem star, cross combination.

Since it's still in the design and development stages, it won't be lit and displayed yet this Christmas week. Early this fall when the facility was being built, we had a goal that it might be used for more than just a place to move and store grain for ourselves. Among other ideas was one that we could use the height to help celebrate the seasons of our Savior's life. The leg is visible for several miles, including the 4 lane highway just a mile north of our farm.

Kudos to grandsons Ethan, John, and friends who put a new clutch and exhaust system in one of our trucks that Jim drives.

We continue to haul contracted grain to the processor. This is the time of year when one finishes paying off this past year's crop notes, locks in crop inputs for next crop year, and hopefully shares with charities and others less fortunate and in need.

This time of year it's sometimes just a matter of hours between mud and frozen fields due to temps ranging from single digits to mid 40s. We use those few hours to continue to chisel mostly flat bottom ground going back to corn. 

The tiling and dozing crews continue to work continuously, going from job to job, until the frost in the ground reaches 4 to 6 inches.

This is a bit of an unusual picture of the shepherds in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. However I'm using it because I want you to think deeper than just a nativity scene sitting on yards. Think about the relationships these common farming folks experienced on what in their minds was going to be just another ordinary night of watching and caring for their livestock. Read Luke 2 starting at vs 8. They are sitting in the back 40 when they encounter and are in the presence of, "An angel of the Lord". Terrifying and awesome at the same time. Then they take a risk and decide, "Lets go see", and find young parents they don't know in a barn. Next they see and are given understanding that this is their young Messiah, "Lying in the manger, just as the angels had said".

The shepherds encountered two final relationships on that Christmas night. Verse 17 says, "After seeing, accepting, and worshipping Him, the shepherds returned to their flocks, telling everyone. And all who heard were astonished". Verse 20 closes this part of the story with ,"The shepherds glorified and praised God for all they had seen and heard".

God didn't use kings, or church leaders, or even those that were educated to accomplish His purpose of Salvation. He used a very ordinary, poor, young, couple, and some blue collar farm hands. Our response? Listen. Let's go see. Accept and worship. That gets us to Heaven but it's definitely not the end of the story. We are to go tell others of all we have seen and heard. That takes relationships. Have a great Christmas week!