Blown Away

After church, today, we came home to go to work at "battening down the hatches" as the forecast for the next couple of days is rather chilling. We are expecting sub-zero temperatures at night. This with the fruit trees all having set fruit.

There is a certain amount of frustration with this, because we are faced with this for the third year in a row. To top things off, the wind is blowing like crazy out there, even at this hour (9:00 pm) as I write this.

So, we went ahead and tucked in the week old broilers in the brooder. That job was easy enough, we didn't have to add much, just some extra precautions. The next job was to tuck in the broilers already on pasture. The chicken tractors are really a warm weather contraption and with the wind blowing the way it is, I felt they needed to be covered. This was quite the chore. I attempted to put a tarp over the half that is exposed, but, again, that confounded wind kept blowing it away before I could get it set. I did have the help of my six year old daughter, and she was out there with me like the trooper she is, the whole time. She managed to grab a corner of the tarp and hold it long enough for me to get a big rock on it. I couldn't have done it without her. Thank you Elisabeth.

I even took an old, plastic garbage can and cut (broke) a side out of it and placed it in the tractor for added shelter. They were taken care of. Then it was time for the comedy event of the century as we attempted to put sheets on the fruit trees.

As my wife and I tried to throw the sheet over the trees, the wind took them away. It was like being in a gale at sea. According to the Weather Bug, we are in the 30 mph zone out of the N-NW. I would say that there are gusts well beyond that. The 30 mph wind is most certainly a sustained wind speed.

Because of all the wind and the coming temps on Monday and Tuesday (Maybe the upper teens) we have begun to feel that our efforts to save the fruit are futile. I would say that the frustration level is quite high.

As we finished, we looked at each other and said that we did what we could, now we just pray. I indicated that I had been praying that God would allow this to pass. I even lamented that we are just trying to be good stewards and use what He has provided (yup, I was whining). Then my wife suggested that it was part of the judgement. But then a verse hit me (thank you Lord) that set me back to right.

Mt 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

This provided some comfort. Our daily struggles are not, necessarily, part of a consequence of our disobedience to Him. He causes the sun to rise on the just and the unjust, the evil and the good. This is His land, and we are simply sojourners here. It is a comfort to know that we did what we could, the rest is according to His will. With this knowledge I can now take the bad a little better. He truly is in control and I must accept that, no matter what. I get it. Job got it also when he fell on his face and said "the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Thank you, Lord, for giving me peace in the midst of anxiety. You are King, supreme, and You alone, command the winds and the rain.

I was just reminded of another thing, that great hymn, "How great Thou Art". Amen!