Orion, Phil, and Norman

Over the last several months, I read two autobiographies and a biography that I enjoyed.

The first, You Can't Dream Big Enough, by Orion Samuelson.  For over 60 years, Orion was/is one of the most respected broadcasters in American agriculture.  He spent most of his career at WGN, and broadcast-ed from the WGN studios on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.  The most honored Ag journalist in the country, he was a staunch defender of the American farmer.  He took every chance he had to educate consumers about where their food came from.  I had the chance to meet and shake hands with him a few years back.  We could use a lot more in the media like him!

Next came Happy, Happy, Happy by Phil Robertson.  Phil is the patriarch of the bearded Robertson clan that got rich selling duck calls.  They now star on the A & E reality show Duck Dynasty, the most watched cable show ever.  He was a college football quarterback who played ahead of Terry Bradshaw, but quit playing after his junior year so he could spend more time hunting in the fall..  He had the opportunity to play in the NFL also, but turned it down to hunt ducks.  Phil repented at the age of 28, and has been a zealous, unashamed Christian and evangelist while hunting, fishing and making duck calls.  I have never seen the show, but I appreciate the fact that he is using the show and his fame to spread the Gospel.
He just became controversial and was fired from the show for quoting the Bible and calling homosexuality a sin in an interview.

We Christians are quickly losing Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion in this country.

The latest book that I read was, Our Daily Bread, The Essential Norman Bourlag by Noel Vietmeyer.  Norman Bourlag was perhaps the most important man in the world that nobody has heard of!  A great humanitarian, his wheat breeding discoveries literally saved billions of people in third world countries from starvation while transforming the economies of whole countries.  He took on the governments of several nations and the scientific establishments in the process.  He is one of only 5 people to have received both the Nobel Prize and the Congressional Medal of Honor.  I didn't think a book about wheat breeding could be interesting, but I actually found it fascinating.  He was also the person who introduced Little League baseball to Mexico while he was working there.  The team he started and coached eventually went on to win the Little League World Series.

   He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
Psalm 147:14