For the first time since 2010, the city is back in charge of the Hesston Municipal Golf Course.
It had been run by Hesston-based Excel Industries under the Blue Tee LLC, but the 18-hole course is now back in the city’s hands. Hesston will soon be seeking a new golf superintendent.
We live in a culture saturated with unrealistic messages about body image. Americans are almost desensitized to the word “diet” because of the overwhelming amount of diet plans currently on the market. The diet-related industry is a 50 billion dollar a year enterprise. Unfortunately, 80 percent of American women claim to be dissatisfied with their appearance and shape. In addition, 1 in 2 Americans are on a weight-loss diet. The most common behavior that will lead to an eating disorder is dieting.
Eating disorders, like anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder, include extreme emotions, attitudes and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues. Eating disorders are widespread and affect people of all ages and sexes — about 9,000,000 Americans suffer from one. Eating disorders are not just a fad or a phase, they are serious, potentially life-threatening conditions that affect a person’s emotional and physical health.
It’s important to avoid thinking of eating disorders in simplistic terms, like “anorexia is just a plea for attention,” or “bulimia is just an addiction to food.” Eating disorders arise from a variety of physical, emotional, social and familial issues, all of which need to be addressed for effective prevention and treatment.
For more information about the different types of eating disorders and recovery, see the full version of this article at http://missourifamilies.org/
A reader whose younger sister recently died wrote me to ask how I endured, during the time of my daughter’s sickness and death, the silence of God. It’s something I’ve written about here and here, and in my book. I’ve talked about “saudade,” a Portuguese word meaning “the presence of absence,” which is how you feel, every day for the rest of your life, when you have lost someone you love. Their absence is a weight, it is a presence. You carry it with you everywhere. As I’ve written before, October—the month she died—still lays me low, so that I can barely function at times.
Yes, that’s exactly what I want him to say.
In truth it’s not the silence that crushed me, that enraged me, it was his refusal to give me what I wanted, which was to see my little girl grow up, to hear her voice like music in our house, to watch her married and to cradle her children, to go before her.
To go long before her.
He wouldn’t even give me what I begged for at the end, which was an easy death for her. Let the pain pass into me, sweet Christ, just ease her suffering.
Some of you know how I came unraveled in the years after, and what it cost the people around me. I told myself God was silent, and perhaps he was, though there were times, I realized later, when he spoke through small graces: a nap when she needed it most, the sweetness of an apple, her finger pointed to whatever she saw dancing about the ceiling, be it light or angels.
But maybe other times he really was silent, and maybe the reason is because I could not bear the answer.
Sometimes, after all, the answer is No. And when we ask why, the answer is little better: It is not for you to know. “May God give you grace…” said Israel to his sons as they took his youngest child into Egypt. “If I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” And Job, after hearing that all his children have died: “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. As it seemed good to the Lord, so also it came to pass. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Holy men looking heavenward to declare: Whatever I have was not mine, and so who am I to charge God with wrongdoing when he allows it to be taken?
This is a hard thing to hear, especially as you watch your beloved suffer. As you hear her try to draw breath, for in this she too is asking God, only to receive silence, and to join that silence with her own. The Lord gave her, yes, but how could he take her away?
How could you? I wept this at him. I spat it at him. How could you?
It is not for you to know. This is the truth behind much suffering. Far better people than me have written about what to make of this, and how to bear up under the burdens of this broken world, and I have no wisdom to add to theirs. I can only tell you what I think I have learned about the silence of God, which is, first, that I have often mistaken what I did not want—small mercies when a miracle is in order—for silence, and second, that sometimes silence is all we receive because we cannot yet bear the truth, which is that none of us is any more special than the other. We all of us labor in a sundered world and in it we are allotted our joys and our sufferings. Our deliverance often comes not, as Oswald Chambers noted, from these sufferings, but within them.
If nothing else, suffering lifts our eyes from this shattered plane to the world that is coming, that already dwells within our hearts, at least sometimes, and which will be written out in new flesh, in a new heaven and a new earth. We are sojourners through suffering and through mercies, not always in equal measure. But we are sojourners, which means this is not our home, yes, but which means also that we have a home to which we are going. We are stumbling homeward and we are battered but he carries us, make no mistake, even when he is quiet. Perhaps especially then.
Spending money is easy. Keeping track of it takes more time. The time, however, is very well worth it as it will help you manage your finances, your stress level and your life. In this fast-paced world of automatic withdrawals, credit cards, debit cards, quick buys and online purchasing, people do not always realize where their money is going. This holds true for adults, teens and youth.
Tracking your expenses gives you a better picture of how you spend your money and helps you decide what you want and how you can reach your financial goals. It is the first step in creating a financial plan for you and your family. It is so important to involve kids and teens to teach them to track their money, too!
After tracking your spending, you can make a budget for how you want to spend and save your money. When you know what you want to do (get out of debt, save for a trip, save for college, buy day-to-day items), you see more clearly what is important to you and what is not. You will be empowered to make better decisions, to avoid impulse buys and to save, so that you can have and do the things that are important to you.
Where to start?…
Before you sign up for a money management system, find out the following…
Remember that it can take several weeks or months to get into the full swing of tracking your expenses…
For a simple system, use four categories as a starting point. This is all it takes to start tracking where your money is going and how/where you can make changes. Here are four basic categories…
There is a lot of helpful information, tips and resources in the full version of this article at http://missourifamilies.org/
By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau
Agriculture is losing producers.No one will argue that point, but larger, more efficient producers are replacing those lost in this highly competitive industry.
While this is not necessarily a desirable trend, it is one that has continued for decades – maybe since the beginning of this noble profession. That said, it is also a trend that is not confined to agriculture but has affected nearly every sector of the U.S. and world economies.
Regardless of this ongoing change, care for the land continues to improve. Today’s farmers are increasing the amount of organic matter in their soil. With the advent of no-till and reduced tillage farming, farmers continue to build organic matter and improve the soil. There is no reason to believe this practice will be discontinued.
Today’s modern farmer is not exhausting the land. Just the opposite is true.
Without question scarce water is always a concern, especially in Midwestern states where rainfall is limited. Farmers constantly chart rainfall amounts and monitor weather conditions.
In Kansas, agricultural producers are aware of changes in the Ogallala Aquifer. They understand the navigable waters issue because of its wide-ranging impact on farmland and farming. They understand the importance of clean water and have long supported the need for clear jurisdictional lines and a common-sense approach to wetlands.
Farmers are very much tuned into water conservation. But agriculture has its naysayers.
Some are concerned about the potential of long-term climate change and its impact on food production.
Others believe crop yields will not keep up with population growth.
There is nothing to suggest yields will not keep up with population growth.
Even countries with marginal soil and more severe climates than our own are growing crops today. We have better yield potential and better food value today and with new genetics and technologies coming on line, there is no reason to believe the world won’t be able to feed itself in the future.
The United States farmer and rancher can compete with other nations, if they aren’t shackled by government regulations that cause production costs to soar.
Even the most efficient farmers in America can’t make it with regulatory restrictions. Any regulations must be science based and uniform across the board for producers around the world.
If there is equal opportunity for everyone, where all producers have the same health and safety restrictions, U.S. agriculture will compete. Give farmers and ranchers the same opportunity, as others around the world and bountiful, wholesome food will continue.
Winston Churchill said many years ago, “Give us the tools and we will get the job done.” The same can be said for agriculture in this country.
John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.
– See more at: http://www.kfb.org/news/insight/index.html#sthash.Tmo1yH9s.dpuf
© Rural Messenger
