February 2016 Articles

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Just Rambling February 2016

Just Rambling:
We enjoyed another very good Ag Expo sponsored by the North Louisiana Agri-Business Council. What a great event for Agriculture and Agri-Business. This year’s event had so much to offer—Stock Dog Trials, Horse riding techniques, Farrier demonstrations, Jr. Livestock Show, Drone operations, Basic gardening techniques, Bee keeping demo, Chicken chat, Healthy horses, and Ag Alley for the kids to learn more about where and how their food and fiber is produced. It appeared to be a sellout in vendor space with all types of vendors and the Luncheon on Friday honoring the Ag Award Recipients was another successful event enjoyed by all. I would like to commend Sandy Lyons for the great job she does as Director of the Ag Expo and the North Louisiana Agri-Business Council for all the work and planning they do during the year preparing for this event. Final tally showed over 12,000 people attended the event and I was impressed by the number of young farm families that came by our booth. These young farm families give me great hope for the future of agriculture in our nation. Again, Thank You to all involved with putting on the Ag Expo—it was a great event. If you missed it you missed a lot. Everyone make plans to attend the Ag Expo on January 20 & 21, 2017. You’ll be glad you did.

While at the Ag Expo I went by the Angus booth to answer a couple of questions about Angus cattle even though I am a Charolais breeder. While there I met Mr. Lee Robbins, son of Mr. & Mrs. Don Robbins. It was a pleasure talking with Lee—such a personable young man. I didn’t realize that he was President of the Louisiana Angus Association until I read through some of the literature he gave me. I would like to commend the Angus Association for electing such a fine young man as President (he will increase your membership and sell some Angus cattle for you) and the Robbins for rearing such a fine young man.

Can You Imagine?
In Matthew 26:36-54 it tells of Jesus entering the Garden of Gethsemane and telling his disciples to “sit here while I go and pray over there.” I have often thought about how Jesus must have felt. It tells us in verse 37 that He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.” 39 He went a little farther and fell on his face, and “prayed”, saying “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with me an hour?” Can you Imagine? Our Father God loved us so much that he gave his only begotten Son to die for our sins. Love beyond measure for mankind! Can you Imagine the distress our Savior, Jesus Christ, experienced? He lived as we except he lived a perfect life. He experienced pain, he experienced sorrow, he experienced joy, and he was tempted just as we are but he didn’t yield to Satan. He knew he had to suffer and to die on the cross to cover the sins of mankind but that knowledge didn’t make it any easier—it made it more difficult hence the distress and sorrow in Verse 37. In Verse 53, He tell us “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with “more than twelve legion of Angels?” 54—”How then could the Scripture be fulfilled, “that it must happen thus?”

Are we like his disciples that were sleeping in the Garden of Gethsemane rather than watching and praying with Jesus. Let us not take our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and God’s Inspired word, the Bible, for granted because through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and by obeying God’s Holy Word we can received that eternal life in Heaven. Can You Imagine what It will be like? Revelation 21:4—”He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away.” Van Bennett