The View from the Tractor

Oh wow!  What day is it?  We have been going non stop.  My rear end is numb.  The seat in the combine cab is not very comfortable for 10 hours of sitting.  My wife has taken some pictures that I will post when we are finished.  Suffice it to say, the crop is better than I anticipated.  We start at 8 am and go til we find a good spot to stop.  Usually after 9, then supper, and then I look forward to bed.

Very few breakdowns and so far we have cogered (is this a word?) it all together to keep things going. We do have a string of fields left that still have green wheat in them.  If you run the combine through this, it doesn’t get thrashed.  So, we wait until the sun bakes it dry.

I think I am showing my age because I am tired.  I wanted to get a post in just to keep you updated.

I do have a great story i want to tell you about.  Opportunities exist all the time.  I had a woman ride in the combine with me the other day and she wasn’t my wife.  In fact, my wife was out of town in Billings, MT.  This woman was single.  Got your attention don’t I?  Well, last Sunday this girl came to church with us too.  I am looking forward to putting up the story soon, but for now, I have got to sleep before I fall asleep in my chair (again).

Hope things are going great for you as they are for me.  Stay tuned, theres more to come.

Wish you were here.  We are in the middle of wheat harvest on the Golden plains of Nebraska.  Weather wise, today was very interesting.  I also learned, you should never do much on Sunday or you will pay a price.

Sunday night, we were at the close of the day when I was informed by the young man who was driving the combine (Justin) that he had blown a tire.  I was hoping that it wasn’t the front tire because those things are over $1500.  Thankfully, it was the rear tire and I knew where I could swipe a used one off an old junked combine.  We were up and running first thing this morning.  Did I ever mention I really hate break downs?

We finished up one field this morning and moved across to another one.  It seems the wheat this year is having a difficult time ripening.  Usually this time of year, we should be finished.  We aren’t even half done.  And many of the fields that remain still have green wheat in them and are wasted if they were to be harvested.  Seems most guys are having trouble knocking everything out of the head when it goes through the combine.  We just need some more hot weather.

Early this afternoon, we got clouds, and a sprinkle of rain, just enough to mess things up.  And then I look over and see this:

Yes, if you look closely, you will see one wild tornado.  My wife had come to take pictures of us during harvest and this is what she see’s instead.  Turns out we were 15 miles from it, but it was still cool to see.  I have this wierd and crazy dream to go drive through one of those.  Crazy I know!

It was an interesting day because shortly after this, lighning hit a wheat field and started a fire.  More fun, but then the rain came and put it out about the same time the firetrucks showed up.  That was easy!

I have a story I want to post up here about what occurred this past weekend.  I was thrilled and elated and I can’t wait to find time to share it with you.  Stay tuned!

Isn’t it amazing that I can walk out of my front door and …I am at work. I find it rather interesting that I am part of one of one of the most noblest of professions. Consider who was the first Agricultural Production Specialist. It was God himself as he planted the Garden of Eden and the rest of the earth for that matter.

A couple of questions that I am often asked are how much do you farm and what do you farm? Let me just take you on a little tour. I farm around 4000 acres. My grandfather and I and usually one hired youngster farmed this all together about 12 years ago. Grandpa Dave passed away in 2001 and the hired hands just haven’t worked out too well. My repair bill has gone down 75% since the hired hands have left to search for greener pastures. I sincerely miss Grandpa Dave however. He was more like my father as we spent about everyday together for about 20 years. The past few years, I have pretty much farmed this all by myself. My boy Michael is now 12 and I am getting him more involved and I am looking forward to that.

What do I farm? Well, I farm the rich soil. Notice I did not say dirt as that is the stuff under your fingers and left in your tub. I grow corn which just got a nice rain last night and looks amazing here despite all the stories you may hear from the media, we are doing just great. Also included in this years lineup is millet, which I just got done planting and it is coming up. What is millet? It is birdfood, sometimes used in human food and if you ever eaten 7 or 10 or 15 grain bread, it is the small little white seeds in the bread. It is also the replacement for rice thrown at weddings since it has been proven that rice makes birds blow up or something. And the main staple here is wheat.

Normally, we are cutting wheat, but the cool spring has delayed harvest. The calendar says we should be cutting, but the crop is just not ready. The recent rain seems to help ripen the grain so any day now, we should be off an running. It really looks pretty good despite all the turmoil my fields have had to endure. The price is good and things are looking, well…. pretty good. I try and remain the eternal optimist in a world of those around me who look at a glass half full and call it bone dry!

So there you have it, the fields are ripe and it is harvest time. It will be a busy time around here and this is my favorite time of year. I will try and get some pictures of the operation so that you can where you food comes from. Stay tuned. If you should have any questions about the farm, feel free to leave a comment and I will answer them.

As my good friend John Dobbs always signs out….Thanks for reading!

I used to be a news junkie.  I think I have been there since the inception of talk radio.  My favorite radio station is NewRadio 850 KOA in Denver. They have talk show hosts, carry Rush Limbaugh, and broadcast over most of the United States after dark.  I listened to that station religiously, every day.  Until I got my Ipod.

I read the news now in only a select manner.  I subscribe to the top headlines, skim it ever so quickly, and once a month, I might click on a story to read more.  I have been pretty harsh on the Jehovahs Witnesses.  But, then there came this article. I really disagree with many things they teach, but they truly have a mission based theology.  This was interesting in learning about their thoughts on baptism.  I never knew that was what they thought.  Probably because I was not interested in arguing with them when they come and knock on my door.

The JW’s are really what developed my Christianity.  I grew up in the church, and learned the doctrine my entire young life.  It wasn’t until one afternoon, a knock on the door and a deep discussion with the Jehovahs Witness that made me realize that what I thought was true…was now in shambles and was in great need to be re-defined by me.  I took this little book that they gave me called, you can live forever in paradise.

mmm, really, I can live on earth forever, that wasn’t something I was taught.

I spent every waking moment as a senior in HS scouring this book and the Bible, trying to validate what it was I truly believed.  Every Christian needs to have this experience, to seek out what it is they believe, and why they believe what they believe. Far too many people just wander through, never realizing how precious a gift their mind is.

It was because of that experience that I have learned to continue to examine my beliefs.  Many times I find I was right, but there are times when what I think can be shaped in a different dimension.

Lately I have heard many of my brothers and sisters make statements that I may have made several years ago. It breaks my heart to see Christians struggle with where they sit with God. They fail to see the loving, forgiving, gracious, merciful God that I have come to know.  And with that, I have a teaching mission over the next few weeks to show them the God that desires a loving relationship with them. I can’t wait!

A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions. Prov. 18:2

Let me confess, this is a struggle. There were many times when someone would say something about me, or something I was involved in or a conglomerate of many other items that would set me into a psychological tailspin. In my head, what they said must be true. And, that statement of truth must be a fact.

I have some things in my head and already started that shall grace these pages and the seven people that read this blog may find controversial. I only speak them out of love and to challenge what you think and believe. Just as one carpenter did some 2000 years ago. It is easy to grow when one learns that God has given a mind to think with.

However, light was shed on this particular issue and I find it quite peculiar, being one who really strives to find black and white in everything, that so many suffer from my same disability. The problem comes when we take opinion and make it fact! It’s like the phrase that Jack Webb on Dragnet never uttered, but so many claim he did, “Just the facts ma’am, just the facts”. {Yes this statement is fact and not opinion}

I catch myself often stating my opinion as fact, and I relish catching others stating their opinion as fact. I often like to challenge those in bible class stating a fact when they start the statement with, “I THINK”. Good, I am glad you think, but is this opinion or fact?

Let me describe it to you with this illustration. I teach for the State Fire Marshals Office in Nebraska. I was conducting a class with a fire department that contained several Mennonite brethren. These people are remarkable and put us to shame in the ministry of serving but, that is my opinion. Anyway, it is a rule that you must be clean shaven to wear the air masks used in firefighting. Mennonites have beards. So, in a discussion of why they have beards, and beliefs in Christianity, our conversation grew into our beliefs of salvation. Now, see the scene here, I am representing the state of Nebraska, talking religion to 10 guys, half of which aren’t Mennonite, when one asks me point blank, “Do you believe one must be baptized to be saved?” Why do I get myself into these types of situations???? Actually, I loved it!!! Now, is this answer going to be opinion, or is it going to be fact? My answer: “I BELIEVE………………..(long pause as the room was silent) that the bible says, ……….you must be baptized for the remission of your sins” I stated a fact and not my opinion. I could have stated my opinion, but it is just that, an opinion and not fact!

So, please examine these next few days when you hear opinion and when you hear facts. Or, when you hear opinions, but you took it as fact. And really remember this factual posting as you read others opinions!

“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.” - Helen Keller.

Oh how there are many who search the world for the finest things in life. They work hours upon hours to get more money so they can have income to pay for their bills. When you examine the history of this country over let’s say the past 50 years, you can observe that things have changed immensely.

We will call it “the standards of life”. For example:

• Then, having a car was becoming a standard that time, today, a car for every person over 16.
• Then, you needed just one garage with a door you had to get out of you car to open, today a car with technology sends a signal to the house that the car is in the vicinity and it automatically opens the door, tells the car that it is in the proper position, the door automatically shuts (unless the neighborhood cat is under it) and the garage is heated to keep the car warm in the winter.
• Then, you read the newspaper for news and could listen to the radio, today, you have 60″ plasma flat screen television with more news channels than I had total channels as a kid.
• Then, informational entertainment was limited to MAD Magazine and a few other choice selections, today, you can waste hours with blogs (this one excluded!).
• And so on and so on etc. etc. etc.

The standard of life is a fruitless effort to have more and more. It’s interesting in today’s present economy that people are really starting to examine this. “What do we cut out or where do we cut back?”. I talked to a friend who is in the know and gas stations along I-80 in Nebraska are 20% lower in fuel sales this summer. But, people still search for more stuff and ways to get it.

Yesterday I had my 4 year old daughter on the tractor with me. She really wanted to ride along. As we went around the field and drove across the prairie, the noise of the tractor helped her drift asleep with her head on my shoulder. What a moment that I know in just a few short years, will probably cease to exist. My 5 year old Tyler got in bed last night and then he got up and said, “Dad, I was in bed, when are you going to come tell us a story?” So I got off the computer and went in like I often do and told them a story. I love to make up the bedtime stories and like everytime I preach, they hang on every word. A precious moment when I end the story and they beg, “tell us another one”. Watching my little 6 month old baby fall asleep in my arms after I gave him a bottle-priceless. And then there is Michael, my 12 year old man! I have noticed this past week that for some strange reason, his voice is really changing. And when my wife Rachel snuggles up beside me and just rubs my back or takes my hand or when she questions my behavior, all things I need, priceless!

All these things are FREE! And they are the best things in life! And they will live in my mind for as long as I exist! So, I tell myself, yeah, I would love a new pickup, I would love a new combine…it’s all stuff. Dwell on the things that are eternal, they are much more valuable.

What is the best thing in your life?