I apologize for not "blogging" for awhile, but I do plan on getting back in the habit. I will try and bring some insights or little ancedotes that you might find interesting. Certainly my next entry qualifies:
I love helping churches! My work with Church Stewardship Development allows me the opportunity to encourage churches to experience God's best for their church. Presently I am working with Ottawa Community Church, Ottawa, Kansas. I have started the training with the church and I always look for folks who have interesting jobs or stories. I found such a gentleman in Ottawa. His name is Melvin Jamison. Melvin is 72 years old and his family is very active in church. Melvin looks like he stepped out of an Amish community. He has a white beard that graces his chin, and you can tell he has lived a full live. I asked Melvin about his life and he told me that he spent most of his life as a dairy farmer. Now he delivers milk from dairy farms to the production plant. In my conversation with Melvin I asked if it would be possible for me to go with him on his route one day. He was kind enough to allow me the privilege.
I left Wichita at 6:30 am to meet Melvin at the lot where the trucks were parked. When I arrived I helped Melvin "crank down" the stand of the milk trailer that was not going to be used, so we could attach the other trailer. We prayed for the day and began our journey. I wasn't sure what to expect or what we would do. Melvin told me that we could be late (I thought that meant 6:30 or 7:00), but I was excited for the day as we prayed and asked God to guide us. We drove to our first stop (a small dairy farm just outside Ottawa). We arrived and backed the trailer back to the storage building (a small 15 x 20' building where the storage unit was held). The farmer had already hooked up his cows to the milking machine (where each cow can give up to 8 gallons of milk per day). The attachments to the udders look like fingers with rubber sections on the top. The storage container can hold up to 400 gallons of milk. This unit had a motor that keeps stirring the milk until it can be transfered. We hooked up the hose and in just a short time the milk from the storage center had moved to the trailer. After transfering the milk we needed to clean the storage container and the hoses. Then we were off again. Melvin informed me that the trailer was already almost full and we were off to the production plant. I thought the day was going to be short until I learned that we were taking the milk to Monett Missouri (South of Joplin - almost four hours away). So, along the way Melivin and I visited about how things have changed on the farm. Upon arriving at the production plant there were a number of other milk trucks that seemed to be ahead of us. Thankfully, most of those were waiting until later! I did see how they pumped the milk from the tank into the milk silos. This plant made cheese exclusively and they gave me a sample of cheese that is used by SUBWAY and other fast food stores. It was a fascinating trip and I felt that I was able to make a connection with a life that I was completely unfamiliar with.
I was also mindful of what the Bible tells us about how we should desire the "sincere milk of the Word". I thought as I contemplated how sometimes it is difficult to get the udders to work, it is difficult at times to really "squeeze" out the truth of God's Word.
I have made it a challenge to try and find more "field trips" to learn about how people work and what they can teach me. I could "milk" this story more, but I think it might become to "cheesy". I believe that education is a "life long" experience, and this one was "udderly" fantastic.
Pastor
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