OK Solberg: 00:00

Break, guys. Wednesday, nice and warm out there. Chilly this morning, but warming up now. I need some shade. Get your cup of coffee, glass iced tea, or bottle of water. Let's see what's happening.

OK Solberg: 00:11

Spring wheat $5.17 a bushel, 550lb steer calf $4.77, and a butcher hog in Iowa 68¢ a pound, and a 100 pound fat lamb in Billings not changing much. $2 and a penny. Well, guys, there's more, much more.

OK Solberg: 00:31

Back in 2023, I used this little story, and I said back then. This is what I said back then. I used it before, and I'll use it again, and I'll use it today. A delightful little short story by George Saunders and I'll share that little ditty after a bible verse for today.

OK Solberg: 00:52

Our little story has to do with a person growing old. Our bible verse will stick with that theme. Listen, therefore, we do not lose heart though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2nd Corinthians 4:16

OK Solberg: 01:15

Oh, yes. Time marches on. And the reason I share this today is because I was down at KMMR studio this morning for devotions with Frank, and Frank played a song and it was titled Time Marches On by Tracy Lawrence.

OK Solberg: 01:33

You remember it? Listen. Sister cries out from her baby bed, Brother runs in, feathers on his head. Mama's in her room learning how to sew. Daddy drinking beer, listening to the radio, and flash to the last verse.

OK Solberg: 01:53

Now sister calls herself a sexy grandma. Brother's on a diet for high cholesterol. Mama's out of touch with reality. Daddy's in the ground beneath the maple tree as the angels sing an old Hank Williams song, time marches on. Time marches on.

OK Solberg: 02:16

You know, guys? My dad used to say that exact thing. He really did. Time marches on. Now listen to time marching on in this short little story by George Saunders, and it's titled sticks.

OK Solberg: 02:35

Every year, Thanksgiving night, we flocked out behind dad as he dragged the Santa suit to the road and draped it over a kind of crucifix he built out of a metal pole in the yard. Super Bowl week, the pole was dressed in a jersey and Rod's helmet. And Rod had to clear it with dad if he wanted to take the helmet off. On the July 4, the pole was uncle Sam. On Veterans Day, a soldier.

OK Solberg: 03:10

On Halloween, a ghost. The poll was dad's only concession to glee. We were allowed a single Crayola from the box at a time. One Christmas Eve, he shrieked at Kimmy for wasting an apple slice. He hovered over us as we poured ketchup saying, good enough.

OK Solberg: 03:34

Good enough. Good enough. Birthday parties consisted of cupcakes, no ice cream. The first time I brought a date over, she said, what's with your dad and that pole? And I sat there blinking.

OK Solberg: 03:55

We left home, married, had children of our own, found the seeds of meanness blooming also within us. Dad began dressing the pole with more complexity and less discernible logic. He draped some kind of fur over it on groundhog day and lugged out a floodlight to ensure a shadow. When an earthquake struck Chile, he lay the pole on its side and spray painted a rift in the earth. Mom died, and he dressed the pole was death and hung from the crossbar photos of mom as a baby.

OK Solberg: 04:42

We'd stop by and find old talisman from his youth arranged around the base, army medals, theater tickets, old sweatshirt, tubes of mom's makeup. One autumn, he painted the pole bright yellow. He covered it with cotton swabs that winter for warmth and provided offspring by hammering in six cross sticks around the yard. He ran lengths of string between the pole and the sticks and taped to the string letters of apology, admissions of air, please for understanding, all written in a frantic hand on index cards. He painted a sign saying love and he hung it from the pole and another that said forgive.

OK Solberg: 05:35

And then he died in the hall with the radio on. And we sold the house to a young couple who yanked out the pole and the sticks and left them by the road on garbage day. The end. I greatly appreciate that short story. I hope you did also.

OK Solberg: 05:57

It's kinda sad, and you might be thinking, we're getting older, Orvin. You don't have to remind us. It's like we're drowning here and you're describing the water. Oh, wait. That old rocking chair don't scare me anymore.

OK Solberg: 06:13

Listen. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Philippians 3:20-21. So until next time, as you go out there, remember now, don't be bitter.