Slow Start

Gus woke us up at about 4 A.M. with his barking.  We didn't know what he was barking at until we were out and about in the morning and a big shaggy (Newfoundland?) dog was wandering around the barnyard.  The old farmers' wife called a couple of neighbors to see if anyone knew who it belonged to, but no one knew.  She even filed a lost dog report with Animal Control.  Daughter #2 showed up mid morning and took a picture and posted it to Facebook.  Within 15 minutes the owner pulled in the yard and claimed his dog!  A friend had seen the post and texted him and asked if his dog was missing.  He had been driving around all morning looking for it.
That was a quick recovery.

We started planting corn on the 16th, but quit after a day and a half because of the forecast-ed cold and rainy weather.  We planted a little more today, but we are still holding back because of the continued cold weather and forecast-ed rain tomorrow.  Its been a slow start to the season.  Some of our neighbors have planted a lot, and some have chosen not to even start yet.  We are somewhere in the middle, hoping we didn't make a mistake.

Son #2's Jeep has been in the shop for over a week now.  He's been driving our van to work and on young group trips on the weekends.  We are stuck driving the old '97 Blazer.  Our mechanic told us that the Blazer is unsafe to drive without about $1400 worth of much needed repairs.  We've decided not to spend any money on it anymore, so we are trying to get by until we can find something else to buy for a second vehicle.

And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
Psalm 59:14

Encore

I finished reading "41" A Portrait of My Father by George W. Bush.  This biography by a son who admires and adores his father chronicles the life of our 41st President and reflects on how he influenced said son who became the 43rd President.  George H. W. Bush was an amazing American who piloted torpedo bombers in WWII, graduated from Yale, founded his own Texas oil company, was a congressman from Texas, Ambassador to the U.N., Ambassador to China, Director of the C.I.A., Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Vice President to President Ronald Reagan, and finally President of the United States.  This book gave me a whole new perspective and appreciation for George Bush Senior.

I also just finished reading Encore: Secrets of Serial Entrepreneurship by Derek Sauder.  Derek was hired in 2001 as Engineer #1 at Precision Planting in Tremont, his uncle Gregg's start-up planter attachment company.  Precision Planting grew rapidly to to become an international innovator and supplier in the planting (and harvesting) business, and was eventually purchased by Monsanto.  Derek helped create product designs that improved and revolutionized every category of planter performance.  He shares many lessons, antidotes, and theories on building a successful start-up business.  Having watched PP grow, having purchased and used many of their products, and personally knowing many of their engineers and employees, I found it a very interesting and informative read.

In 2011 Derek was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.  He wrote much of the book sitting in doctors offices and while getting and recovering from his treatments.  At the time of his death in June of 2014 at the age of 40, Derek held 31 patents.
And he was a graduate of the University of Illinois.

The son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father.
2 Chronicles 2:14

Culture

Foellinger Great Hall in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts is considered one of the top ten best college music halls in America.
 Last night, I put on my Illini orange tie and my blue blazer (my wife wasn't home when I dressed:) and we headed to C-U to watch nephew Ned perform with the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra.  The U. of I. Chamber Singers and the U. of I. Oratorio Society also performed with the orchestra.
I have been to numerous concerts in old Foellinger Auditorium (which is still a neat place), but this was my first time in the Great Hall at Krannert.  After we took our seats, the hall filled with a cacophony of sound.  From the stage the musicians were entering and warming up and tuning their instruments.  The Choir members were finding their positions on the risers, and the audience was chatting.  Soon the lights dimmed and the hall fell silent.  The conductor made his appearance and the concert began.  The large hall has excellent acoustics and was soon filled with amazing music.  Perhaps the highest quality large group performance and the most talented musicians I have ever heard. Classical music,very professionally performed.  One of the soprano soloists, singing from the choir balcony, was able to fill the great hall with sound from her voice alone.
The only negative in my opinion was that the theme of the concert centered on war and death.  Not exactly an uplifting theme.
In addition to Mozart and Bach, much of the music was composed by Lewis Spratlan, a Pulitzer prize winning composer, who flew in from Massachusetts to watch the performance of his composition.



We met up with Ned after the concert and took him to Dairy Queen before we headed home.

And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.
I Samuel 18:6

Potential

A farmer in Georgia won the National Corn Growers Association Yield Contest last year with a yield of 503 bushels per acre!
At several winter meetings this year, we were reminded of the following:
Corn has the potential to produce 500 plus bushels per acre with modern genetics.  That potential is already in the seed.  Nothing we do as producers adds any potential to the yield.  All we do is preserve and encourage what is already there.  Proper planting, tillage, fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation, etc. doesn't add yield.  It just allows the seed to express a part of its potential.

I wonder if faith isn't similar.
The Bible teaches us that if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed, we could pluck sycamore trees out of the ground or move mountains.  That powerful potential is already in that tiny seed of faith.  All of our efforts to serve, study, bring forth fruit, witness, obey, worship, and do good works doesn't add any help or power to that seed of faith.  It just allows the potential that God already put there to be expressed and exercised.
Hopefully, by allowing that potential to be expressed through our lives, our seed of faith will grow.  And in turn, our faith will affect the lives of others.

And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Luke 17:6