Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Rainy Weather

Since my home and most of our cottages overlook the beautiful Flint River, I am always keenly aware of the rainfall and how that affects our river. During the floods of 1994 and 1998, the river rose as much as 52 vertical feet and covered all of our facilities with the exception of my home, and it got way too close for comfort there. After the flood of '98 I promised myself that I would never pray for rain again. I am reminded of what my Dad always said about farming, " Son, dry weather will scare you, but wet weather will kill you".
 Well, I have not broken that promise. However, I made one small mistake a little over a week ago. While saying my prayers, I casually reminded God that it was getting fairly dry at Riverview, and I was worried about the stress on all of our pine timber since we had just finished with our controlled burning. BIG MISTAKE ! It commenced to rain the following day, and rained either a little or a lot for seven straight days.
 Now, we are in no danger of river flooding because our soil moisture was very deficit, and the river was quite low for the spring of the year. However, we are way behind on planting our sweet corn as it is wet enough to bog a buzzard's shadow at the moment. There are only so many "wet weather" jobs for 26 employees to do while waiting to get back into the fields and woods. Our employees have evidently learned the most important task that they can perform right now which is hide from the boss. I'm about to take a heat seeking device out and go hunt for body signatures on Rivevriew.
 On the bright side( no pun intended), the sun is shining today, praise the Lord!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Easter weeknd

What a gorgeous Easter weekend we just experienced in south Georgia. I have been attending Easter sunrise services at our little country Baptist church since I was in my early 20's. I can never recall a sunrise service with a gigantic Easter full moon setting at the same time that the sun was rising. It was a very poignant and needed experience for me because God called two young mothers in their early 40's home this weekend who lost their valiant fights to cancer. I had prayed and prayed for God to intervene in both situations, but He chose not to do so. I have always struggled with the concept of bad things happening to good people. I do know that I have no business questioning my God who has an infinite mind and perfect plan with my feeble and finite mind.
 The sunrise services, the prayers, and the words from my pastor helped. I watched that moon come up Saturday night from my porch and thought to myself that it was brighter than normal. I realized that God was sending me a signal that he was welcoming two angels into His presence that would not have to struggle with any more pain or sorrow. One of my dearest friends sent me this quote as he was struggling with the same loss. The writer said, " Prayer works, but the Lord makes His own schedule and His own way.For angels who die young, I have decided that it is God's reward to them, not His punishment to us."
 Now I realize that this is not my normal, tongue-in-cheek blog. maybe I'm writing this one for me, but maybe it will resonate with at least someone who reads it today. I promise that the next one I post will be on a lighter subject.