Miles and Miles and Miles (Days 17 - 19)

Miles and miles and miles of beautiful, rich farmland passed by the windows of our van as we trekked across Nebraska and South Dakota. When you live in Southern California, even though there are some agricultural areas there and some rich farmlands in Central California, you do tend to get used to mile after mile of metropolitan morass. What a change it has been to drive through miles of fields of corn, soy beans, and a multitude of other crops! It's also been great fun to see the new generation of animals, little calves nuzzling their mothers and baby horses standing on tall, spindly legs.

It's been so good to be able to gaze out the windows and see multiple miles of farmlands, with the fields laid out so neatly across the lush rolling hills, precise squares and rectangles of multitudinous shades of green -- the breadbasket of America! We tend to forget where our sustenance comes from when living in the big city. We simply expect that what we want will be in the grocery stores whenever we want it. We take way too much for granted!!


We also had the treat of seeing many miles of yellow as we passed field after field after field of sunflowers. What a gorgeous site!

At the end of our two days in Nebraska, we came to the home of two of "our kids". I know, I know. Most of you think we only have two children, but in a different sense, we truly have many "children", seminarians or Fuller student wives whom we've been privileged to support and mentor over the past ten years of our ministry at ABTC and Fuller.


Two of those "kids" are Anissa and Craig Huffman. What a joy it was to be with them again, to meet their little son, Graham, and to see where they minister in Christian camping there in Nebraska! The picture shows the Huffman Three and Neil, as Craig drove us around Calvin Crest Christian Retreat and Conference Center where they work and live.

Craig, Graham, and I went for an early morning walk the next morning and saw wild turkeys with their little turkey babies running after them and beautiful deer bounding across the fields and into the woods at our approach.

Neil and I are soaking up God's beauty -- the beauty of nature and the beauty of relationships!