It is exciting to be able to say the rebuilding is in progress. We are rising from the ashes and new things are happening. The barren landscape is starting to change.
I love sitting in my store office and watching the progress out of my window. Benson Construction from Jetersville is our contractor. They are one efficient team and the work they can accompolish in a day is amazing. The farmer’s market pavilion was built in three days.
The pavilion (stage 1 of the building process) was built the beginning of June. This is an important first step in the larger scope of things. After the fire, we put up two large tents to quickly get the market up and running. Later this summer the market will have a new permanent building (stage 3 of the building process) but for the short-term the pavilion is better and safer than the tents. While we are in the temporary stage, the market is open Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 12 noon. When the permanent building is built, the market will be open Monday-Saturday and the pavilion will be available for pop-up or temporary vendors on Saturdays.
Currently the farm shop (stage 2) is being built. The shop is an intregral part of our farming operation for tools, maintanence, repairs and a place to work on our equipment. A farmer has to have a shop! Fortunately, when the shop burned, we did not lose our tools as the fire was up in the ceiling. We had a metal drop ceiling and the fire got between it and the metal roof. The building and round baler, that was in the back of the shop, were destroyed. They had just finished doing $3,000 worth of spring maintanence on the baler the afternoon before the fire, getting it ready for the hay season. The baler was insured, but somehow the building was not on the insurance policy.
Life has settled into a comfortable routine, we are no longer functioning in stress or emergency mode. Plans are falling into place, change is happening and life is moving on. The incredible financial, emotional and physical support from our friends, family, church and community has been our lifeline. Through it all God has been faithful and we are so grateful. We are seeing so much good come from such devastating loss.
Recently our Sunday School lesson focused on the story of David and Goliath. The giant loomed menancingly large before the Israelite army and the soldiers were in panic mode. Suddenly David shows up. He was just a lad bringing food from home for his brothers and a gift of cheese for the commander of the army. After David evaluated the situation, he basically said, my God is bigger than that giant! I have rescued a lamb from a lion’s mouth and killed a lion and bear with my hands. That giant has defied God, and God will bring him down. David did not have a sword, gun or tomahawk missile, but he had the well-used tool of his trade-a sling shot. He carefully collected five small stones from a stream as he crossed the valley betwen the two armies to meet the giant. He used what he had; a smooth stone and a prayer. That stone precisely aimed sank into the giant’s forehead and he crumbled at David’s feet.
What are you facing in your life? Can you trust God to help you overcome? What tools of the trade do you have in your hand? Can you use the opportunity to show the goodness of God and his divine intervention? For forty days the whole Israelite army, including the king, had listened to the threats and taunts of this haughy giant of a man as he stood on the mountain every morning yelling his mocking words across the valley. They could not see past the giant and trembled with fear. They almost missed what God wanted to do, it took a lad to show them. Our challenge is to allow God to help us see past the giants in our life. To fight them in our own strength is overwhelming, but with God, all things are possible.
I was recently reminded of the verse in Deuteronomy 33:27 that has ministered to me often through the years, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He will thrust out the enemy from before you…” You have literally been His arms lifting us up. We are trusting Him for our future. God is faithful.
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