Thoughts & Prayers for My "Flyover State"

My “Flyover State”

The flooding in Nebraska has hit close to home. I was born and raised in Nebraska. The state slogan, “Nebraska-The Good Life,” could not be more true. I can't even imagine growing up anywhere else. The wide open spaces, the gorgeous sunsets, baby animals every spring, the flower and vegetable gardens my mom so lovingly tends to, riding my horse in the hills around our family farm. Sounds picturesque, doesn't it? I had the BEST childhood ever!! My parents still live on our family farm.

The devastation caused by both the flooding and the blizzard in the western part of the state is nothing short of catastrophic!! It will take years for our nation to recover.

Nebraska produces 27% of the nation's beef. It is calving season. Hundreds of calves have been lost to either drowning or freezing to death...hundreds!!

If you don't know a farmer, I can introduce you to several. They aren't thinking in terms of last finances. They think in terms of loss of life. The loss of life of any farm animal those farmers take to their very hearts. It takes a special man to want to be a farmer. A man who put in incredibly long hours caring for the land and the animals he raises. A farmer's heart is undoubtedly larger than other human's. He is the caretaker of God's land and it's animals. That takes a big heart.

Nebraska is also a leading producer of corn...the ethanol that you all put in your gas tanks, the food on your table. All of this has been dramatically compromised! Your produce prices are sure to go up. That's the process of supply and demand. It's not what a farmer thinks about. A farmer is concerned about feeding his livestock, of being able to care for those animals who count on him every day. If you have never fed an orphan calf from a bottle or let a calf such on your fingers with it's rough tongue, you are really missing out!

 

Then there are the roads and bridges. Nebraska's very infrastructure has been decimated! Bridges that have withstood waters for years have been completely washed away. Highways are half to mostly gone.

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Do you know that if I wanted to go back to the farm today, I couldn't get there from here in Kansas, unless I flew in to Sioux City, IA and came back into Nebraska from the north, and maybe not even then, but that would be my best bet.

The farmsteads that have withstood centuries of families who want nothing more than to work the land and care for God's creatures are gone. Yes, gone! Washed completely away! Centuries and generations of family farmsteads just gone. The pictures do not tell enough of the story. So many people are displaced. So many people have lost everything. (That's ice chunks in the photos below)

 

It's hard for me to even wrap my brain around.

I can't begin to tell you how sad I am for the good people in my “flyover state.” There are no words.