Sunflower Farm

If my in-laws (Jon and Sue) are reading this, they may remember the day at the Pennsylvania farm show when I got it in my head that I wanted to start a farm that simultaneously grew sunflowers and raised sheep. I even thought maybe we could start our farm somewhere in South America and turn it into a second phase Teen Challenge center where we could teach men how to farm. With a little skip in my step, I wound my arm around Josh's elbow and explained my harebrained idea to him adding, "Wouldn't that be wonderful? A whole farm full of glorious sunflowers and some sheep to keep the place well-rounded!"

Josh, always the incredulous one, replied, "I don't know if sunflowers would grow in South America. And besides, you probably couldn't have both sheep and sunflowers on the same farm."

The other day, while driving through the city of Santa Cruz, Roger was explaining to us a little bit about a town out in the countryside. "A couple hours out of the city you come to an area that has miles and miles of sunflower farms."

"Sunflower Farms?" I immediately perked up in my seat.

"Oh yeah," Roger said "Sunflower oil is a big deal out here. In fact, one time I was about to preach to a church out near that area and I was thinking about preaching a message about the good shepherd and how he tends to his flocks when all of the sudden, out of one of the sunflower fields, pops a sheep! Right out in the middle of the road!"

No way, a sheep, out in the middle of the sunflower fields? This is getting weird. So I explained to Roger the idea I had about the sunflower/sheep farm and he reiterated the fact that Bolivia is a major producer of sunflower oil.

"What a coincidence" I sighed as I settled back into my seat.

"I don't think it's much of a coincidence" Roger said.

And it might not be.