The Farmer's dilemma

Yes, I know, I should be starting school right now, but another half hour of the kids building farmhouses and equipment with their lego won't hurt anybody.  In fact, it's probably a part of the required curriculum for a well rounded child at this age:)
  As I look outside at the overcast skies and unusually cold weather my thoughts drift to the farmers in our area.  Last year this time it was actually quite hot and they hadn't gotten enough rain, but ended up bringing in the crops and doing really well.  We prayed for rain most of the summer and did get a fair amount towards the end that helped the crops to get closer to the expected height.  This year, however, has yielded so much rain that there were ponds and rivers in many of the fields.  Creeks that had dried up were flowing again and we had seagulls!  It would have been okay if we'd had a fair amount of sun, but it seemed to rain about once every 3 days or less. Being from an island I didn't mind the extra rain and lack of heat, until I saw the devastation it caused for the farmers.  Then came the early frost. Most are just trying to rescue what little they can.  I didn't truly understand how much they had to lose until this summer.  Many farmers invest thousands and thousands of dollars for the seed to plant.  The paycheck doesn't come until the harvest is brought in and sold.  No paycheck til the next harvest, which is a whole year away,.  That is a looooong time to wait for a paycheck.  The thing is, last summer I was amazed at how much they could earn in one year when the crops were in excellent condition.  Some were making $400,000 or more!  When you factor in the cost of their equipment, gas to run it for at least 6 weeks a year, almost 24 hours a day, taxes, seed and maybe the cost of hiring a field hand or two, a person starts to have questions.  Where have the Little House on the Prairie farming days gone?  I think they were starting to address that near the end of the series, where it was harder to pay taxes and more people were moving to the city.  Kind of sad in some ways.  We've become such a global economy.  We ship our foods to so many different countries that just can't produce enough to feed their populations.  Places like Russia have had crop failure, due to lack of moisture and it looks like it will happen again because their winter crops aren't getting enough moisture.  Some of the farmers hold back part of their previous year's yield for times like this and it goes at a premium, but will there be enough.  It makes me wonder if this is just another part of what is necessary to lead up to the Antichrist being given the power to merge so many things into a one world order.  A move of necessity because so many are starving.  We live in such exciting and scary times.  I'm not in the scared crowd, but have more of the excitement about the Lord returning and a sadness because there are still so many people that are not saved.  They reject the Lord without even getting to know much about him.  Others reject him because they fill up with what the world offers and think they need nothing more.  Then there are those that claim He doesn't exist.  Some would say, "Well, I'm looking forward to being there when they find out differently", but that's a pretty mean way of thinking. I'm thinking it will be a great day of sadness as we have to watch so many people, (friends, family and neighbors plus strangers, that God has to turn away, saying, "Depart I never knew you!"  How that will grieve the loving heart of God to send so many people away because they didn't accept HIS free gift of salvation.  To any who read this that are saved, please let it be an encouragement to tell any and all that you can about the Lord.  Time is short and the laborers are few.  To any that may stumble upon this blog and have any questions, feel free to write and ask as many as you want.  The Lord wants all to be saved and it's not something to put off.  No man knoweth the day nor the hour when our Lord returneth.  It could be today!  It's going to be a wonderful day:)  It's always a good reminder to be doing what the Lord wants all the time too! We wouldn't want to be caught wasting time or doing something He wouldn't approve of.  He's always with us from the day that we get saved, if we always remember that,I believe we will be more careful about what we say, do and watch.  Til next time...