Harvest Blessings and Trials
The wheat this year in Lowell's fields produced 60-70 bushels per acre--a tremendous blessing, especially with the market very strong. With some of it sold around $8.00 a bushel, Lowell is checking out a Versatile tractor, looking to replace his 5020 John Deere gone bad. This is about as close as farmers get to euphoria.
Nearby, however, is an unharvested 40-acre wheat field that is dead--not from a ripe crop having been harvested, but from a green field having been accidentally sprayed with Roundup--a herbicide that kills every plant which gets its leaves sprayed--unless it's been genetically modified to resist the effects. The intention was to spray this valuable seed wheat crop with a fungicide, presumably to lighten disease pressure and boost the yield just a bit. This makes good economic sense when the resulting crop can be sold for $15.00 a bushel. But the Co-op guys got it wrong and the once-promising field holds no more promise.
Worse yet, much of the crop already had buyers waiting in the wings, so the seed dealer (our friend) will have to buy high-priced wheat to maintain his integrity with the customers who were depending on this source for their wheat seed for fall planting. Replacement value far exceeds the limits of the Co-op's insurance policy, unless the insurance provider can get a payout from the company that insures them.
The enemy here is not the Co-op employees or the insurance companies, but the same enemy who has always made life difficult for people who seek to follow Christ. Nothing would please this enemy more than to see the ones whose livelihood is adversely affected become angry and bitter at the way they've been victimized. But another way is possible, by God's grace--the way of forgiveness. I will pray for forgiveness to be freely offered. And, because I want to see my friends both free and provided for, I will also pray that they receive just remuneration.
And please, God, help the the guys at the Co-op to get it right from now on.
Nearby, however, is an unharvested 40-acre wheat field that is dead--not from a ripe crop having been harvested, but from a green field having been accidentally sprayed with Roundup--a herbicide that kills every plant which gets its leaves sprayed--unless it's been genetically modified to resist the effects. The intention was to spray this valuable seed wheat crop with a fungicide, presumably to lighten disease pressure and boost the yield just a bit. This makes good economic sense when the resulting crop can be sold for $15.00 a bushel. But the Co-op guys got it wrong and the once-promising field holds no more promise.
Worse yet, much of the crop already had buyers waiting in the wings, so the seed dealer (our friend) will have to buy high-priced wheat to maintain his integrity with the customers who were depending on this source for their wheat seed for fall planting. Replacement value far exceeds the limits of the Co-op's insurance policy, unless the insurance provider can get a payout from the company that insures them.
The enemy here is not the Co-op employees or the insurance companies, but the same enemy who has always made life difficult for people who seek to follow Christ. Nothing would please this enemy more than to see the ones whose livelihood is adversely affected become angry and bitter at the way they've been victimized. But another way is possible, by God's grace--the way of forgiveness. I will pray for forgiveness to be freely offered. And, because I want to see my friends both free and provided for, I will also pray that they receive just remuneration.
And please, God, help the the guys at the Co-op to get it right from now on.
posted by Mrs. I at
5:42 PM
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