Light

During the frontier times of the southwest, pioneers would often only travel during the daylight. Many felt safer together when they formed and moved to a town. However crime and fights became a growing problem, particularly at night. Street lights changed everything. Folks felt safer. And commerce exploded. Today Yuma, Arizona, has around 100,000 permanent residents year around, and 250,000 during the winter months.

Yuma, AZ is an agricultural area overlooking the Colorado River valley, next to California and Old Mexico. The Colorado River irrigates close to 6 million acres of crop land! Agriculture and the military bases are the 2 largest segments of the economy.

Russ is the voice of conservative talk radio in southwest Arizona. He has a daughter in the valley with 6 children whose husband is a helicopter mechanic for the US border patrol. His son is a squadron commander in Sicily.

I was fortunate enough to meet and visit Russ. We enjoyed conversations about Yuma life, state and national politics, and culture in general.

126 miles of the 370 mile Arizona border with Mexico has a 30 ft. wall. Jan and I drove along 35 miles of the border fence.

We visited with 4 different border patrol officers while on our drive along the wall. They were all friendly and informative.

During last year's Arizona trip we were sent back to Mexico by US Customs for taking out too much vanilla. This year we got out 24 bottles in 2 trips to Old Mexico along with medications and antibiotics for our family for the year. We share both the vanilla and medications.

A visit to Yuma wouldn't be complete without catching up with Pastor Tom and Erin. Tom had just returned home the day before from a 6 week mission trip to Sierra Leone, Africa.

We left Arizona midafternoon Sunday arriving home Monday night just in time to get ready for a blizzard. The light of the sunset Wednesday evening promised warmer weather ahead.

Kurt and Emily are gearing up for another season of of feeding folks at venues and events with their Boonies wood fired pizza trailer.

On Thursday Karl and Kristin (K + K Seed) hosted a lunch in our farm shop. The menu was Boonies pizza and Kristin's desserts. Becks was there for seed questions, and NewFields Ag was on hand for information on planter box biological seed treatments for our upcoming crop.

We all have the ability to either brighten someone's day or darken it depending on our attitudes.

When Jesus was on earth 2000 years ago He gave a very practical message called the Sermon on the Mount. He told the crowd (Bible says multitude) "You are the light of the world. Like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Rather on a lamp stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your good deeds shine for everyone to see, so that folks will praise your Heavenly Father". Matthew 5:14-16 Thanks for the picture Kasey.

This morning's visit would not be complete without sharing that as of this past Friday evening (3/7/75) Jan and I have been married 50 years. According to the US Census Bureau 6% of marriages in our country last 50 years. I love you Jan. And one of my brightest memories is meeting you the summer after my junior year in high school. Thanks BJ, Cassia, and family for making our day special.