ANOTHER DAY OF REJOICING

 

ANOTHER DAY OF REJOICING

 

  Psalm 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.  

  Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice. 

  1Thessalonians 5:16-19 Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. 

 

  I rejoice every day. Yesterday was no different though the particulars were a bit so.

  It actually began the evening before. My eldest daughter, her husband, and a longtime friend I hadn’t seen for a while invited me to join them at Memphis where they were camping (the indoor kind) for a long weekend. As is our “Ya’ll come!” family custom, two 12 year old and a 5 year old grandkids plus their parents filled 5 more seats in the Mazda towing our paddleboat for the 40 mile drive thru the countryside . . . hi-speed gravel roads and all. The Memphis Nebraska State Recreation Area is beautiful. Centered around a pristine 100 acre lake with an island in the middle.

  During the steam era Memphis lake was one of the largest ice making locations in America. Silver Creek feeding the lake. Frigid winter making the ice. Men cutting, hauling, and packing the ice in sawdust for warm weather use.

  Together; discussions, reminiscing, canoeing, paddleboating, lazy floating, delicious goop soup, photo ops, lawn games, exploring, roaming, running, cattail fun, watching. Our expert fisherman friend teaching angling while catching fish.

  The maintained road ended at the park. After I unhooked the utility trailer to leave it for their return hauling, I ventured beyond the maintained road to the limited maintenance lane. The one I ventured on is about 5 miles long ending at Ithaca. (NE has 100’s of miles of such used by farmers, ranchers, hunters, and off-roaders.) Being in drought condition I confidently drove my 2-wheel powered vehicle down the rough some places heavily rutted lane. I passed a closed old road, a shutdown 2 lane iron bridge, both the result of depopulation and consolidating farms and ranches.

  Among the endless cornfields I came upon one being harvested. Going on until finding a safe place to turn around. I then went back to watch the harvesting. The combine was one of those humongous John Deere machines churning along quickly. Nearer to me was an even larger grain wagon hooked to a huge John Deere tractor.

  Suddenly the tractor cab door opened and a man swung to the ground. He then easily walked to me thru the tangled cornstalks.

  The covering of field grime didn’t diminish his friendly smile, handshake, with “Hi, I’m Nick.”

  We had a pleasant conversation that included exchanging contact info and his inviting me to revisit and ride along in the machinery. I hope to. Today I’ll write him a thank you for contributing to my life.

  The ride home in the dark was uneventful. As expected, little man fell asleep exhausted.

  Enjoy your days. I hope you enjoyed my yesterday in God’s fields.

EBB4