Amarillo Sky

I think I may have told you before about something that my wife and I enjoy doing on a Friday afternoon.  We're simple, no-frills type of people, but this is something we really enjoy and is the highlight of our week.  We have a 2000 Toyota PreRunner with 251,000 miles on it.  I can't tell you the number of people that have asked me if I'm interested in selling it.  It's not for sale.

We get in the truck and turn west and travel slowly down gravel roads that are surrounded by cows grazing on green pastures, boats slowly crawling across crawfish ponds, rice in fields swaying in the afternoon breeze and rural landscape untouched by "progress".  The sun is sinking toward the horizon.  We just let (like Jerry Jeff Walker sang) "the truck just wander around."  Our destination is a gas station where we purchase a couple of boudin balls.  The cashier uses tongs to pull them up off of the steam table.  If you're not familiar, a boudin ball is a big scoop of boudin, battered and deep fried.  It's Cajun comfort food at its finest.  

We get back in the truck and Tricia distributes each of us a boudin ball wrapped in a greasy napkin and we slowly take the road back home, enjoying big bites of the deliciousness.  Our top speed might be 35 mph, but there's not a lot of traffic.  We're not in a rush to get home.  The truck never takes the same road back home.  While driving, we listen to a country music playlist of some of our favorites - Glenn Campbell, Tracey Walker, etc.  We sing loudly to "Big Green Tractor" and "I Shoulda Been a Cowboy.  And then we sing along with this one: Amarillo Sky.

Amarillo Sky is a song that evokes great emotion.  I don't know if the proper word to describe it is an elegy or rhapsody, but it's a song that makes you bang on the steering wheel as the story is told.  The story explains a hardscrabble farmer facing adversity at every corner, yet he does everything within his power (while depending on the power of God) to keep his farm operating.

You feel his pain.  You understand where he's coming from.  You're rooting for him to survive.  At the end of this post, I'll link the video.  It's a must watch.  In the beginning of it, several young men are interviewed and tell of their love for the land and the desire to farm.  I pray that those young men are still on the farm.  The family farm is a dying entity in our country.  They've been pushed out by government policy of "Get big or get out."  Sadly, to make it, you must have thousands of acres which requires capital investment that is out of reach for most. 

First verse:

He gets up before the dawn
Packs a lunch and a Thermos full of coffee
It's another day in the dusty haze
Those burnin' rays are wearin' down his body
The diesel's worth the price of gold
It's the cheapest grain he's ever sold
But he's still holdin' on

Farming is not for the lazy.  It requires early mornings, late nights, heat and exhaustion that does take a toll on you physically and mentally.  The cost of inputs for your crop and of equipment is a mountain that most can't climb.  On the other side of the ledger, the price you get for your crop often doesn't cover those costs.  John F. Kennedy once said, “The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.”

Second verse:

That hail storm back in '83
Sure did take a toll on his family
But he stayed strong and carried on
Just like his dad and granddad did before him
On his knees every night
He prays, "Please let my crops and children grow"
'Cause that's all he's ever known

In addition to being at the mercy of prices you have no control over, you are vulnerable to the vagaries of government policy, pests, and the weather, among other things.  The profession humbles you.  You realize you can't control things, that the Lord is Sovereign.  You learn the importance of prayer.  You rely on the support and love of your family.  You give it do God and trust the results to Him.  President Dwight D. Eisenhower wisely noted, “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from the corn field.”

Chorus:

He just takes the tractor another round
And pulls the plow across the ground
And sends up another prayer
He says, "Lord, I never complain, I never ask 'Why?'
Please don't let my dreams run dry
Underneath, underneath this Amarillo Sky"

At this point the boudin balls are a distant memory.  Tricia and I are singing to the top of our lungs as we tap on the dashboard to keep time with the music.  The farmer doesn't give up.  He sends up another prayer.  He has dreams, dreams that he doesn't want to die.  He loves the Lord, the land, and his family.  “Agriculture…is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”  President Thomas Jefferson

Here's the link to the video I promised.  Press the arrow.  It's a must-watch.  You won't be sorry.  Tip your hat to the local family farmer.  God Bless the family farm!