by Ron Herrold

We started raising seed corn in 1992. One time, I was interviewed by the local newspaper, and I shared that when growing seed corn, you need to be able to pray.

Seed fields almost always look inferior to commercial fields. One of my neighbors said that raising seed corn is like raising a runt pig. Any stress will set it back.

We are on a one-four pattern — one row of male corn and four rows of female corn. The four female rows are detasseled (tassels removed). The male is normally planted twice to extend the pollination window. The goal is to have kernels on the ears.                                                                   

In 2001, we planted early, and the weather turned cold and wet. We received 3 inches of driving rain. The soil became like concrete — very hard! We rotary-hoed the field, but the seedling didn’t want to come through the hard soil. I was getting very discouraged. I thought, will this field ever come up? The seed had been in the ground for almost three weeks.

I went to a funeral that week for my great aunt. At the funeral, the soloist sang, “What a friend we have in Jesus.” In the second verse, the words spoke to me. The words were, “We should never be discouraged.” Wow! “Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

Here I am worrying about a field of seed corn, not my cousin’s loss of his mother. I felt pretty ashamed and foolish. In my Bible reading that night, I was in Jeremiah 32, and verse 27 jumped off the page: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” I knew the ground was way too hard for my seed corn and that I had done all I could do. The only thing for me to do was leave it in the hands of a sovereign God.

Often on the farm, I put pressure on myself. Some things I can control, but most things are out of my control. What a balancing act to know the difference. To realize, “What a friend we have in Jesus, oh the peace we often forfeit all because we do not take it to the Lord in prayer.” 

The Christian life is a daily walk. Is anything too hard for the Lord?

Herrold is a past board member of Fellowship of Christian Farmers International and resides in Westville, Ind.