thursday morning, 29 june,
Sitting on the patio of our hosts, a morning breeze waving the ferns and the sounds of a neighborhood in my ears, I thank God the journey is over. At least the airline portion of it. With finally with a little sleep behind me, my mind is functioning better.
Yesterday wouldn’t exactly classify as a travel nightmare, but it still wasn’t (more…)
We made our standby early-out flight from Springfield and are relaxing in the lounge by our departure gate.
We start boarding at 7p and it is really nice to not have to run from place to place.
I finally quit crying about halfway to Dallas. I suppose that I shouldn’t tell anyone that, since I’m, the supposed to be the “big strong man,” but (more…)
It rained today, not a lot and certainly not all we need, but some. It softened the fertilizer I spread on my pastures yesterday and got it into the ground where it will do it’s job.
The drought isn’t broken, we are still so very dry here and I’m leaving in just a few days.
Leaving.
After so long (more…)
I finally found a picture of me that “is” me. I’ve got several where I’m in the house or speaking somewhere, but today my daughter caught me unaware and took this shot.
So now you know what the face behind the post looks like.
Sandra will join me soon in this section, she’s a lot prettier than I am, and much more photogenic.
One of the challenges of a newsletter is finding news to put in the letter. Over the last few months of preparation, we’ve posted on a large variety of subjects, a diverse list that would make one wonder what any of them have to do with a road to Brazil.
A lot of it was written to keep you up on the process of (more…)
The hay is up, mine is lined up in small lots, 15 bales to the row and fenced off from the cattle by electric fence. Brett’s share, taken in payment for cutting, raking and baling is being moved by trailer to his farm and lined up by the road. I put a pencil to it once, if everything went right, I would be able to pay for a haybine, a baler and a tractor big enough to pull it in a little less than 50 years. My farm is small enough that I can’t justify that kind of investment.
Don’t think I’ll go that way, so I share-crop. Brett (my neighbor) gets half for doing the work, and making payments to the bank for the machinery, and I get to keep half. It works out good for everyone that way.
Last year it stopped raining in March and we had no rain of any consequence till May of this year. We’ve been in this drought now for over a year, and while we got 7 inches in early May, it just boosted our hay crop enough to survive another year.
Heat waves and bright sun cause the air to dance as I close the gate on a harvest that little over half of what it should be, and I wonder, How long will this drought last?
Every man has a dream. That thing inside of him that drives him on in search of a better life. Or perhaps I should say, everyone has had a dream.
Dreams tend to be fragile creatures, easily crushed by the weight of day to day existence, or held captive by poverty and disease.
There is no prison so secure or no jailer so cruel as hopelessness, and no release from hopelessness apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
For Two thousand years now, men who have given their allegiance to that Kingdom have suffered persecution, have had their goods spoiled and their lives taken, yet (more…)
The days pass, slowly now that we’ve past yet another projected date of departure.
We are at peace, but will have to pick up some work next week, Our budget was planned to end the last week of May and we would make the transition to ministry support, so we have to go to plan B here.
(more…)
Day to day farm life, the work is never finished and there is always something else to do.
We’re still waiting on our visas to be approved by the Brazilian govt, so we can leave, until then, life goes on.
This day, I finished (more…)
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