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“Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” -Billy Graham

That day has come.

In the postscript of my book Crap Happens...Wallowing Is Optional, I noted that Billy Graham had an influence on my life, beginning when I was quite young. I thought you might enjoy reading it.

~*~

I have one final story to tell, as nourishing and satisfying as a good meal.
***

One of my earliest childhood memories is of sitting on the living room floor in front of the boxy black and white television set. My brothers are around me, and Ma and Pa sit behind us on the sagging couch. All eyes are fixed on the screen and our ears are listening to Billy Graham as he speaks to a huge crowd … and to us.

If you’ve ever seen one of his crusades, you know they always ended the same way. George Beverly Shea would sing, “Just As I Am” and Mr. Graham would make his closing remarks, inviting those who wanted to “ask Jesus into your heart” to come forward for prayer. “You who are watching this telecast from the comfort of your home can ask Jesus to come into your heart right where you are, just as you are.”

I did that. Every time. The words always moved me in an inexplicable way.

There’s nothing wrong with the picture of inviting Jesus into your heart, but many years later it became clear to me that Jesus didn’t “just” want to live in my heart - he wanted my whole life. As the old hymn says, “All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.” In 1972, to the best of my ability, I gave my life (all of it) to Jesus. He made me, so I belonged to him; he wasn’t just tucked away in my heart, but I was tucked away in his.

Regardless of the stories and advice I’ve shared in this book describing how I overcame (and continue to overcome) problems on the farm and in my life in general, all my self-help, best intentions, and strength come from my Father God and his son, Jesus.

Your life can be made new with a simple prayer: “Lord, I need you. I come to you. I give my life into your keeping. Live your life through me. Thank you.”

Start reading the Bible. Find a contemporary version that is easy to understand. Talk to God on a daily basis, right in the middle of whatever you’re doing. You’ll see changes in the way you think, respond, and act. The best change is God’s amazing peace that wraps you up and keeps you safe. When crap happens (and it will), look for God and accept his help.

I look forward to seeing you in the “life romantic” on the other side.

~*~ 

TORNADO 5/24/17

I smile and laugh a lot and probably use too many emojis but, other than that, I'm not a very emotional person. Yet I'm sitting here boohooing, scrolling through photo after photo of the aftermath of the tornado that swept across the farm on May 24.

As we walked around, while the tornado was twisting its way to other locations, I kept saying, "Unbelievable!" "Amazing!" "I can't believe it!" In those first moments, there was simply no way to process all we were seeing.

Without further ado, here are a few pics.

Left side of front yard.

This is the road to the neighbor's house. Yes, that's Weldon standing in the road!

The farm road heading to the main road.

The line of trees below the pond had their tops twisted off, but this photo doesn't show it very well.

After surveying the damage, it was time for supper. By lamplight, of course. No power.

Then, out for further investigation.

Back of the house.

Front yard.

That night (Wednesday), Weldon hooked up the generator so he could milk the cows and his mom and sister could have electricity. Electricity or no, work crews started showing up on Thursday morning.

Power lines along our road had to be replaced.

 

This old Rambler has sat amongst the trees for years, but now the trees are resting on it!

The root balls on these old trees were huge! I guess that makes sense, but still ....

Putting up a new electric pole at the house.

Patching the 4 holes in the roof.

Other than trees, no lives were lost. No farm buildings were seriously damaged. The house will need to be re-roofed, but that will wait for another day. Electricity was back on about 5pm Thursday.

Weldon needed a mental and physical break on Friday, so we drove around to see some other local damage. Again, Amazing! Unbelievable! Ice cream from the Dairi-O was good medicine.

On Saturday, May 27, with the help of 14 friends, neighbors, and family members, we worked our butts off and made some good progress on cleaning up the yard and fields. We cannot say "Thank you" enough for all the help. I was working too hard to get any pictures, but I had to take a selfie:

Enjoying some cold Cheerwine.

At 10:00 that very night there was a huge lightning strike. HUGE! BAM!! We kept electricity at our house, but no phone or wi-fi. Weldon's mom and sis and the milk parlor were without electricity and the generator wouldn't work on the pole like it used to. Weldon figured a way to connect the generator right into the milk parlor and, voila! he could milk cows on Sunday morning ... much later than usual, but they got milked. After lots of phone calls and offers, Mom Edith's house was set up with a big generator to keep the refrigerators and freezers running.

On Monday, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and some guys from church were here to clean up the downed trees along the fence lines and around the ponds. Electricians worked on the pole in Edith's yard. Men worked to get the milk parlor and milk tank up and running. Whew!

On Wednesday, May 31, the whole farm had electricity, phone, and internet. To celebrate the return to normal, I picked black raspberries and made the first pie of the season. Yay!

I'm hoping that experiencing a tornado (particularly its aftermath) has changed me. It touched some part of me that's hidden way inside. Feelings. Emotions. We lost nothing, but I realized all that could have been lost. I hope that now, when someone asks me to pray, I'll pray with more sympathy, more compassion, more heart. Stuff that people go through is real. May my prayers be just as real.

So, that's that. It's be a very farm muse kind of post, hasn't it? Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring.

All's Well That Ends Well

Just before dawn breaks, as I'm heading out to feed the cats and kittens, I shouldn't hear the roar of the big tractor. But that's exactly what I hear this morning.  It's bound to mean problems, so I feed the cats and hurry to the back of the hay barn where I can get a view of the free stalls and, hopefully, see what's going on.

Sure enough, there's Weldon on the tractor and Pat standing near a cow lying in a free stall furthest from me. It's obvious that the cow has just had a calf and, as I work my way over to Pat, I see the new baby standing among some of the other cows. But Mama Cow is "hung up" between the upper and lower rungs of the stall divider pipe and can't get free.

The nuts and bolts that hold the stall together have been unscrewed, and Weldon has a big chain wrapped around the stall pipe and attached to the lift forks of the tractor. Slowly he lifts the stall divider pipe up and away from the cow.

However, the cow can't stand. This is when I start to cry (silently, of course) and pray (silently, of course). And this is exactly why I'm not cut out to be a nurse. These kind of things just tear me apart.

So ... Weldon goes to get the hip clamps (for the cow, not for any one of us) and attaches the device to the cow's hips and then chains it to the lift forks of the tractor. (I've seen him do this before, so I'm not in total shock like the first time I saw it.) Slowly, ever so slowly, he lifts the back end of the cow until she is obligated to stand. But she's doesn't want to stand on those back legs! (cry, pray, cry, pray)

Finally (seems like forever, but it was probably just a minute or two) she gingerly puts weight on her back legs and Weldon can remove the hip clamps. (sob, thank you, sob, thank you)

We slowly conduct mom and baby through a gate so they can get out to a nice grassy field and recover from their traumatic morning.

All's well that ends well :-)