Gratitude

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Heavenly Father, as you know, I have been serving you now for more than fifty-five years and I just want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart for every year you've given me. I suppose, in the back of my mind I have always thought I had given those years to you, but today as I consider them, I am overwhelmed with thankfulness because I know that by comparison I have given you nothing at all. I have only received.

I received the privilege of being a part of creation's most powerful army—the Army of the Lord. There I learned to use your holy weapons of love, compassion, gentleness, kindness, self-control, to name only a few, weapons to be used against those spiritual enemies that war against our souls. I am amazed at how effective they are, but also at how difficult it has been and sometimes still is to learn to, and remember to, use them.

You, Lord, have given me strength in my times of weakness, wisdom in my perplexity, guidance when I had lost, or was about to lose, my way, and through it all a sense of joy at being a beloved child of God. You never made me feel guilty for being less than perfect and you taught me that when guilt and condemnation were heaped upon me it was the enemy, not You, who dumped on me, and it was you, Lord, not the enemy, who restored me to confidence and joy in your Holy Spirit.

This is not to say it has always been easy. There were times when I felt like quitting, but acting on those feelings was never a real consideration. Even in the difficult times I knew you were with me and that made it all, not only worthwhile, but the source of a great satisfaction. To be a servant of the most high God, the only true and living God, makes any hardship insignificant.

These many years of serving you Lord, have been to me, a blessing beyond words. In the distant past I thought my service was my gift to you, but through the years I have learned that my service was really your gift to me. You didn’t need me. You could have done it all without me, but you gave me the gift of your marvelous Presence, allowing me to serve with you and thus have a significance far beyond my own ordinary abilities.

I can only ask that for all the remainder of my life, whether it be lengthy or brief, that I might have the high privilege of serving you God, in every moment that I know, with every breath that I breath, and with every ounce of my strength. If I can do so, that will be my inexpressible joy. 

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
       

Birthday on Tower Hill

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

Last month we celebrated Carol’s birthday.

If I told you which one, Carol would not divorce me, because we don’t believe in divorce, but she would definitely kill me. Let’s just say, we’ve been around a while but we try to keep in shape with regular walks through the woods of Lake Michigan sand dunes and along the shore from Weko Beach near our Bridgman home south to the Warren Dunes Beach or sometimes north toward the Cook Nuclear Plant.

One of the great fun challenges of Carol’s life is climbing Tower Hill, the highest dune in Warren Dunes State Park. The challenge isn’t to do it—we’ve been doing it for years, sometimes several times a year—but she is determined to keep on doing it for many years to come.

The dune reaches 240 feet above Lake Michigan and it is pure sand, so climbing it isn’t easy, but the view is absolutely marvelous. A few years ago we climbed it on our anniversary and at our fiftieth anniversary celebration held last year there at the park, some of our more adventuresome family members climbed it that day, so they know what a challenge it is.

Local legend has it that the Wright Brothers wanted to use Tower Hill to get their first plane in the air, but the powers that be wouldn’t allow it so they went to the Atlantic Seaboard instead and Southwest Michigan lost a heritage of aviation history. According to Wikipedia, Octave Chanute did gliding experiments from Lake Michigan dunes in 1896 and he advised the Wright Brothers to go elsewhere because too many reporters who had followed him had turned the area into a circus like atmosphere that would interfere with their work.

Anyway, this year on her birthday Carol wanted to take our annual walk to Warren Dunes beach to climb Tower Hill. When we do this we prepare a picnic lunch to eat on top of the dune and plan for it to take about five hours because it includes walking five miles and climbing this monster dune that overlooks Lake Michigan, eating a picnic lunch under the shade of a scrubby tree at the top and then walking back home again. If the sun is hot and the lake water isn’t too cold, we sometimes take a swim or two on the way down and back.

After we climbed the dune, we came down a few feet from the top and sat under a shade tree where we ate our picnic lunch as we looked out over the lake and felt superior to all those who were struggling to make it to the top. One baby-boomerish gentleman who passed our picnic spot on his way up stopped a moment when we offered words of encouragement. He commented that he was impressed we could climb it and when Carol told him we lived five miles away and at least once a year we walk to Warren Dunes and climb to the top of the dune he was more than a little amazed. At first I thought he was thinking we looked too old to do it—and then I realized he was amazed that anybody would walk five miles!

I'm Rick Blumenberg, and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
    

The Day of Miracles

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

If any one of us were to see a person whom we knew to be both blind and mute, healed so he was able to see and speak, we would be amazed, even though, if it happened today, it would be by the power of that same Jesus of whom scripture speaks. To read about such a happening almost 2,000 years ago just isn't as remarkable as if we were to see it with our own eyes. The people of that day were no different than us, except that it was possibly even more astounding to them—after all most of them had never see a miracle—while to us miracles are common, everyday occurrences.

For instance, it is common for us to see people speeding around in automobiles, racing across the water in powerful speedboats or even out of them, (not merely walking on the water, but skimming on top of it at break-neck speed), and we don't even think about the miracle of flight because we are so thoroughly accustomed to seeing airplanes flying that none of us doubt there are people in them, flying over our heads.

If you went to any modern hospital, with proper clearance to enter the operating rooms, you would see miracles of surgery taking place every day. Doctors routinely remove infected tonsils and appendixes, as well as repairing other organs and in so doing, restore people to health. If most of you reading this lived under similar conditions as the people of Jesus' day, some would be blind, others would be deaf, possibly some would be mute, others lame, and probably some would not even be alive, but most of you are relatively healthy! If you think Jesus had nothing to do with this—that these are merely the miracles of modern medicine—you couldn't possibly be more wrong. The problem is not that we no longer experience miracles, but that miracles have become so commonplace we forget to thank God for them.

It was not Jesus' plan to stay forever on this planet healing sickness and diseases and casting out demons. Neither was it his plan to simply go away and leave us hopelessly in our pain and suffering. It is his plan—always has been, always will be—that every living person should throw off the bondage of Satan, bind him securely with the power of self-sacrificing love, and work together with the Lord Jesus Christ to set the human race free to be the people of God.

God is fulfilling this plan by giving unique abilities to men and women. It is our responsibility to use and develop those spiritual gifts and special abilities to do God's work. Some have the gift/discipline of healing through medicine. Some heal through prayer. Some do both, and both are gifts of God, given in different ways for us to use and thus accomplish the marvelous work of God.

I'm Rick Blumenberg and that's "My View...from Tanner Creek".
    

More Heavenly applause—when Nancy got home!

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

I thought it was interesting that about the same time I was posting "The Applause of Heaven" to my blog, Nancy Barker, one of the great saints from First Church of God in St Joseph, MI, went home to Glory.

In Psalm 116:15 we're told "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of the saints". So I believe this is another time when the applause of heaven breaks out—when one of the saints finishes their time on planet earth and goes home to the eternal family.

I think when Nancy got home the applause must have been deafening. We're sure going to miss her, but I know there is a multitude that Nancy helped to get safely home and when she arrived I think they were all there to greet her.

Nancy loved Jesus with a joyful exuberance that was contageous. During years of battling cancer, she never lost her joy. And even while she struggled with her own cancer, she was helping others to deal with theirs.

My best memory of Nancy will always be when she told us at prayer meeting one night about meeting this really neat young lady who worked at the mall. As I remember the way Nancy told it, the young lady was reading a new age book and Nancy said, "That won't do you any good. You need to know Jesus." The young lady looked up, closed the book and said, "Well why don't you tell me about him." All of you who know Nancy know how quickly she did just that.

That night at prayer meeting Nancy told us about this meeting and we prayed for a young lady named Ann Drea. Within a year, she was a member of that prayer meeting and soon became a prayer warrior like Nancy. Now, several years later, her son and husband are also mature, committed Christians and their family is an amazing blessing to our church and to everyone they meet, exuding the love of God just like Nancy did. Ann Drea now leads that Wednesday night prayer meeting, and her husband and son are also active, vibrant, Christians.

As long as Nancy's converts are alive and serving the Lord, she will still be around. And all of us who knew her are better because of her presence in our lives. Earth is richer because she lived and especially because she lived for Jesus, and heaven is richer because she died—but she didn’t really die. She just laid aside her worn out, cancer riddled body and put on a new, celestial body that will never know decay. She is probably sitting now at the feet of Jesus and still praying for the salvation of everyone still on earth.

Nancy also left a wonderful personal family and there again—as long as you all are alive, Nancy will still be with us, and then someday, when each of you are through with earthly life Nancy will be there to greet you when you cross over. More than anything else she wants all her siblings, her two “wonderful” sons and all her family to join her on the other side. I know it is difficult to say goodbye, but I hope you’re all making plans now to join her when your time on earth is done.

All of us who knew Nancy miss her greatly already, but we wouldn’t wish her back. She’s earned her promotion—no one deserves it more.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

The Applause of Heaven

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

It was a beautiful summer day in central Indiana, the sun was shining brightly, but it wasn't too hot. It was a perfect day for the beach. Carol and I took Kathy and Twyla our two daughters—then in elementa­ry school—and went to Missisinewa Reser­voir for a picnic and a day of fun.

The beach was crowded that afternoon when the head lifeguard made an announcement over the speaker system that a little boy was lost. He was five years old, with blonde hair and was wearing blue shorts with white sailboats on them. She said if anyone should found him to bring him to the lifeguard tower.

I noticed a small boy who somewhat fit that description playing in the sand nearby— but he was sitting beside his parents, so I thought no more about it.

A few minutes later the announcement was made again. The boy's name was Jimmy. I still wondered about the little boy sitting there, but again I dismissed the possibility it was Jimmy. Another few minutes and the lifeguard blew her whistle and ordered everyone out of the water. She asked some of the swimmers nearby to join hands and wade through the water—they were looking for Jimmy's body. Almost everyone on the beach was watching the scene play out. It was as if we were all collectively holding our breath. The beach was totally quiet.

Again I noticed the little boy and just at that instant, the couple sitting beside him, who seemed to be the only ones on the beach who were not paying attention, got up, took their blanket, and walked away.

The little boy continued to play in the sand. He didn't even glance up when they left.

I walked over to him and as I got closer I noticed his trunks were blue with small white sailboats.

"Is your name Jimmy?" I asked.

"What?" He asked as he looked up at me.

I repeated the question and he answered yes.

"Your parents are worried about you", I said. "Let's go find them."

One of the life guards was standing nearby watching the frightening scene with her hands over her mouth, as if trying to muffle a scream. I took Jimmy to her and she, too, ques­tioned him. When she realized he was the missing child, she took his hand and they raced across the beach toward the lifeguard's tower. They ran so fast Jimmy's feet just barely touched the sand.

I watched as Jimmy's parents welcomed him back with open arms and hugs. I heard the lifeguard announce joyfully over the loud speaker that everything was ok. Jimmy had been found. And I smiled and joined in as spontaneous applause broke out up and down the beach.

 I remembered then what Jesus said, "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."  Now I can imagine what that is like when one of God’s lost children comes home to God’s love.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
 

A Prayer on the Highway

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

It was late on a Sunday evening in the early seventies and we were traveling home after a week at Anderson (Indiana) Campmeeting.  Carol was driving, with Kathy and Twyla, our two young daughters sound asleep in the back seat as we drove through the darkness toward home. It was a dark and stormy night, (sorry about that Snoopy) with wind whipping the car and rain pelting down. The highway had recently been resurfaced and was not yet painted with warning stripes so it was difficult for Carol to see.

I offered to drive but she said no, it was alright, so I leaned back against the seat and the window on the passenger side of the car and as we drove through the darkness I felt more than a little apprehension, so I began to pray. I asked God to be with us as we traveled, to watch over us and keep us safe from harm. Next I prayed for the other motorists on the highway, those we met, with bright lights that almost blinded us and those who followed behind. I prayed he would keep them alert and careful in their driving and bring all of us safely to our homes.

As I prayed, I sensed God's Presence there in the car with us and with it came a genuine sense of assurance. I allowed my mind to expand from the highway on which we were traveling to other highways and other places and ask God to watch over them all. Then I pictured God in my mind as a loving Heavenly Father who was looking down on our world from heaven. As I prayed I asked him to encircle our entire globe with Divine love and blessing. I prayed for the troubled areas where people were fighting and asked for peace. I prayed for famine stricken regions, that food would be provided until the rains would come and the crops could grow again and that there be bountiful harvests.

I prayed that God's love might be experienced by every earthly creature and that God's kingdom might indeed come and that God's will might be fully and joyfully done throughout our earth just as it is done in heaven.

Somehow I knew that my prayer was, at least partially, being answered. I felt a sense of awe that the Creator of the heavens and the earth was not only willing, but eager, to work through my prayers and the prayers of a multitude of others, to accomplish his good will throughout all the earth. What a privilege to pray and thus work together with God.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
 

The Power of a Smile

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg 

Have you ever noticed the power of a smile? A stranger who smiles at you or one you greet with a smile becomes, at least for a moment, a friend and neighbor. If the situation is tense, a smile relieves the tension and replaces it with companionship.

As far as I can tell, smiling is a universal language understood in every culture. I read once about a tribe of people who never smiled because showing your teeth was a sign of anger and ferocity, but I’ve never met anyone who felt that way and I’m not sure such a people really exist.

Here is a poem I wrote that tells how I feel about the power of a smile.

The Power of a Smile

  By Rick Blumenberg

What is a smile but a magic carpet?

Lifting a broken heart from crevices of loneliness

To a high place in the sun!

What is a smile but a mountain of strength?

Supporting the weak

And making them strong

But where shall I see a smile?

Where, but in your eyes

And on your face and with your lips!

And for whom do I beg the smile?

For whom, but the weary, and forsaken

And the stranger who is in your midst.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
 

Grandma’s Prayer of Relinquishment

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg 

A book that touched me deeply many years ago was Beyond Ourselves, by Catherine Marshall.  (Fleming H. Revell Co, 1994.) Especially helpful was chapter six, entitled “The Prayer of Relinquishment”. In it she told of a time in her life when she was ill and did not begin to get better until after she surrendered her health to God and agreed in her heart and mind to trust him for the outcome and not worry about the future. It was definitely a turning point in her life.

Perhaps, however, I came to understand the concept most fully many years later when talking with my paternal Grandmother as I worked on our family genealogy. She told me of a painful time in her life—the illness and death of her youngest son as a small child. It illustrated to me that the prayer of relinquishment had been around long before I had heard about it.

Fifty years later my Grandmother could still vividly recall that difficult experience. She said,

"I did everything I could to help and prayed for the Lord to heal him, but when he kept getting worse, I just gave him to the Lord and said that whether he lived or died, I wanted God’s Will to be done.  One of my neighbors asked me how I could do such a thing, but I knew God always does what is best."

Clarence died of pneumonia in March of 1938, about four months before his third birthday. I don’t know why Clarence died and I don’t know why God didn’t do anything to prevent his death. But I do know Grandma was right, God can be trusted, whatever happens.

We don’t, however, want to make the mistake of thinking that every time we surrender fully to God something bad will happen. Usually the result is good, whether we see it immediately or later after the perspectives of time and later life events give a better understanding. Most of the time surrender is necessary so God can remove something from our lives that otherwise precludes something better. Surrender to God often brings our greatest freedom and joy whether or not it brings what we think is best for us (or what we desire) at the time.

To be in a loving and intimate relationship with Almighty God is a blessing beyond description. He cares about your situation and wants to help you to experience life that is full, abundant and filled with his blessing. I hope you have that kind of relationship with God and if you don’t, I hope you soon come to know him. Here is a prayer that may be helpful to you:

God, help me to always trust you so completely that no matter what difficulties I face in life, I can know it is safe to surrender them completely to you. I know that whatever you want to do is always what is best for your kingdom and I know it is also what is always best for me.
  
I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
 

A Media Manufactured Malaise

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg 

Long before there were any indications of an economic downturn the television people were talking about a recession. I’m sure they didn’t think about the repercussions, but creating a recession by talking about it incessantly is a cruel thing to do to those who are mere pawns in the process.

In one example a network newscaster asked a gentleman interviewee—businessman, economist or politician (I don’t remember which), don’t you think we’re headed for a recession? She asked in about three different ways and every time he answered something like this, “There is no indication of a coming recession”. Finally, in apparent exasperation, she asked “But doesn’t it feel like a recession?” (Precise quote, emphasis hers.) And the gentleman to whom she was talking, hesitated, but finally said, “Well, yes, I guess it does”. It was obvious that was what she wanted to hear, so, with resignation, he capitulated and said what she wanted him to say.

This was just one of many I saw, as the constant barrage of recession by repetition from ABC, NBC, and CBS finally began to create faith in a recession and eventually thus created the real thing. The more businessmen who believed a recession was on the way, the more there were who hesitated to buy needed equipment for fear a recession would make it unnecessary at best and a future forfeiture at worst. Others hesitated to hire needed workers for fear of the fomented recession and finally there were those who laid off workers because no one was buying their machines.

So they talked about this “media manufactured malaise” (my term, not theirs) until enough people believed it and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The problem is, now that they’ve manufactured a malaise (or recession) with the power of the tube, they don’t know how to turn it off. It was easy enough to start. It only took about three years of babbling about it until people began to believe it, but now the recession has spread all over the earth. Everyone wants to blame someone else and I guess that includes me because I don’t think I did it and I do blame the TV media.

The TV media is not to blame for the greed and hypocrisy in the banking and investment field, nor for the deliberate “misappraisal” of properties by bank and appraisal experts who collaborated to finance properties that were over-valued, to say nothing of selling properties to people who obviously could not afford to buy them. Both of these fields (banking and real estate) needed to be corrected. So should we thank the media who manufactured this current malaise? Not! There are better ways to handle such abuses if we would just do it.

There is no way to measure the pain and suffering such broadcasts have caused. All I’m asking for is real news rather than broadcast bias to create news. And I repeat, what we are experiencing is a media manufactured malaise. They should not start bad things, but especially not bad things they don’t know how to stop.

I’m Rick Blumenberg…and that’s “My View from Tanner Creek”

    

Life and the Mississippi

By Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg 


I grew up around the Mississippi River in Southeast Missouri. At one time our family owned a farm on Wolf Island—a Kentucky Island on the Missouri side of the Mississippi. We never actually lived on the island, but we farmed the land for several years and during that time my siblings and I helped to work the land and care for the livestock and played in the woods that surrounded our fields and visited the Mississippi River that flowed less than a mile from our land.

This amazing river begins as a trickle in Northern Minnesota, but by the time it passed our island it was more than a quarter mile wide and a highway for huge caravan-like barges that carry the goods for America and the world. From Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana, this river drains water from 31 states and pumps an average of 593,000 cubic feet of fresh water per second into the Gulf of Mexico.

As a boy, it was the most exciting thing in my life, from the unique sound foghorns late on a rainy night to the excitement of seeing huge barge fleets that I watched while dreaming of a future as a riverboat captain. Our island was just a few miles south of where the huge Ohio River entered the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois, and many miles farther down this great river disappears into the gulf.

In so many ways the Mississippi is like life, so here’s my poetic take on Life and the Mississippi

Life and the Mississippi

   by Rick Blumenberg

Turned aside by pebbles in its infancy

and easily cut off.

Racing over boulders

in youthful excitement.

Grown to maturity

with burdens not it's own,

Perpetually moving

into the gulf stream of eternity. 

Who can possibly know

the destiny of a trickle?

 I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
   

A Sunday Morning Prayer

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

It was five o'clock on a Sunday morning and I was wide awake in my sixth floor hospital room. The view from my bed overlooked the city of Elkhart, Indiana, and I could see the faint hint of dawn in the east.  Between my window and the horizon stretched the lights of the sleeping city below. I felt a keen sense of the presence of God as I thought about the day ahead and the many ministers who would rise early to begin a day of ministry to their various flocks throughout the city and in the surrounding countryside.

I wouldn't be in the pulpit this morning but my long habit of rising early to pray each Sunday must have brought me awake because I was totally alert with a sense of anticipation for the day to come. I began to pray for my associate who would preach in my place and for the other leaders in our congregation who would carry the ministry much more than adequately in my absence.

I prayed for each Sunday School teacher, each music and worship leader, for the choir and the musicians, asking God to bless every effort and every person involved in either the giving or the receiving.

Then I began to pray for fellow ministers, friends throughout the city, and for their various congregations. As I prayed for each one I also asked God to bless all the churches in their denomination and finally, when I had run out of all the ministers I knew, I prayed for all the others, ministers and congregations of God's people throughout our community and in the surrounding area.

As I prayed I think I began to understand, at least in a small way, how our heavenly Father feels as he looks out over his diverse peoples. I felt a sense of love and appreciation for them all and for the effects of their labors in our community. I asked God to encircle all his people with love and to draw into that community of faith all those who were alienated and alone and who felt so far away from him.

What a privilege it is to be a child of God and to be a part of this marvelous spiritual family where God is Father, Jesus Christ our elder brother and the Holy Spirit binds us all together with his perfect love!

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.
  

What to Do When You Need a Miracle

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

When Jesus did a miracle his disciples were usually astonished. Even though they had spent much time with him they still were not accustomed to miracles. He tried to tell them that, as his followers, they should be able to count on miracles any time one was needed but it was not easy to accept.

According to Webster's New World Dictionary (1966) a miracle is "An event or action that apparently contradicts known scientific laws." So how do we go about finding such a miracle when we need it? That's the first step to receive a miracle—it  must be necessary to accomplish something God wants done. It can be a personal miracle. For instance, God wants his people to be fed and if you cannot possibly feed yourself God can supply your needs the same as he did for the Israelites in the wilderness. Or, it can be a corporate miracle—perhaps a church that has a need that cannot be met with God's normal sustaining help. However, there is no reason for God to supply a miracle for something we can do in our own strength (even if we don't think we can do it.)

The next requirement for a miracle is "asking faith". God can't say yes to prayers we don't pray and it takes faith just to ask. In a typical congregation many would find it difficult to pray for a miracle from God to supply a particular need In theory many Christians believe God is a God of miracles, but few of us realistically believe God will provide a miracle for me. It takes faith just to ask.

All too often we are like independent children who want to do it ourselves. We don't want help. And that can be good. We shouldn't sit around and wait for God to supply everything with no effort on our part. But when we have done our best to obey the Lord, have given time, talents and treasure for work we genuinely believe God wants done, and it is still impossible for us to do, then it is time to ask for (and expect) a miracle. I'm convinced it pleases God when we ask. For us to refuse God’s help when we have done our best and are unable to do more, doesn't please God any more than it would please you, as a parent, if you had a child who, after doing his best to finish a task, would rather be defeated than allow you to help.

When our younger daughter, Twyla, began her sophomore year in college it was the rage to have a "deck" in your dorm room. The rules were if you built it, it had to be removable and could not be fastened in any way to the walls of the dorm—no nails, bolts, etc. She designed the deck she wanted, saved the money for the materials, but couldn't build it alone, so she asked for my help. We had fun building it and at the end of the year she sold it to another student for the next year and got her money back for the materials.

I'm glad she asked! I would not have built the deck for her while she was out having fun, but when she was willing to work at it, I enjoyed helping her. Just thinking about it brings back good memories of the time we spent together on that task. I think God is also like that. Our heavenly Father wants to help and is happy when we ask.

God said to the Apostle Paul (and to us all) "...my power is made perfect in weakness." (II Corinthians 12:9^(NIV))  Does that mean God's power is ever less than perfect?  In one sense, yes. God's perfect power is often limited, but not by any lack on his part. We limit God’s power when we don't ask for Divine help. It is also limited because we don't attempt great things God wants done that require his power. We are too easily satisfied with a mediocrity we can do with our own ordinary strength.

God's power is limited and cannot be perfect unless it is being used because that power must be let loose in the world to accomplish God's will! The reason many of us never see a miracle is because we never do anything God wants done that requires his miraculous help.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.

God Bless the Farmers!

We live in Berrien County, Michigan, where the primary economic activity is agriculture. Apples, peaches, cherries, grapes, and many other fruits, plus almost every vegetable imaginable, and some of the most beautiful flowers you have ever seen are all grown here by hard-working men and women on the beautiful rolling hills of Berrien County.

This evening Carol and I drove home on the St Joseph Valley Parkway and I saw two pickups and a tractor out in a field working with their lights on. The sun had already set, and it was still twilight, but dark enough they needed pickup truck headlights to finish their long day’s work. It reminded me of my growing up days on the farm. I remember more than a few days like that, when we worked hard and long to get the work done and then would go home for a late supper, quick bath and longed for bed, then get up the next day and do it all again.

Farmers, orchardists, and vine-growers make our world a wonderful place to live. All around the globe they work in plots of one acre or less, all the way up to plantations with thousands of acres. We all eat well because of what they do. We drink marvelous juices and other drinks, and we enjoy the flowers they grow. Thank God for farmers!

As we passed those folks working out in the gathering darkness, I said a prayer of thanksgiving for them and asked God’s blessing on them and all agricultural workers around the globe.

It always amazes me, but it also excites me to think that in that brief moment of prayer, I was able to unleash blessings beyond anything I could comprehend. I have no idea how many farmers and agricultural workers there are in the world, but God does. He knows each one personally—knows them by name. He gave us this great gift of prayer that enables us to work together with God to be a blessing to each one even though we cannot even comprehend how many there are. God bless the farmers! 

 

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.