“Quite the sermon today!’” Bea Leever remarked during coffee fellowship.  “Pastor said all the troubles in the world these days may be a sign that the Final Days and the Rapture might be here any day now.  Seemed like he was almost looking forward to it.”

        “You aren’t kidding – the pandemic, war in Ukraine, our polarized society. We’ve got boatloads of troubles.  Pastor said the Book of Revelations describing the Final Days was written a long time ago, somewhere toward the end of the first century.  So I wonder if there were other times in the past 2,000 years when our ancestors thought the End of Days was just about to come,” Maeby Knottsosoon pondered.
 
        “Just think of someone living around 1350 A.D.  Their ancestors had survived attacks from the Huns and Visigoths.  The Little Ice Age was just ending when the Black Death (bubonic plague) blasted them.  Yikes!  I bet some of those folks thought the End of Days had arrived.

        “Or what about during America’s Civil War?  The country was torn apart; brother was fighting brother.  Golly, and think of what the folks living in 1918 went through.  World War I was still going on when the flu pandemic struck.  Eleven years later the Great Depression began; the dustbowl and another world war soon followed.  Seems like there may have been more than a few times when the Final Days seemed likely to be right around the corner.”

        The following Sunday – “So… did you like today’s sermon?” Bea Leever asked. “You bet!” Maeby beamed. “John Calvin’s* quote about the creation story is terrific.  Here, it’s in the bulletin. ‘Let everyone regard himself as the steward of God in all things… (and) not abuse those things which God requires to be preserved.’

        “You know,” Maeby continued, “the Final Days might be here soon but maybe not for generations to come.  Meanwhile, we’ve got this beautiful Earth to protect and preserve.  I’d like to think my grand and great-grand kids will know I’ve done my part to care for God’s creation.  After all, it’s what’s expected of us.

        “Let’s pray that, like us, they’ll be blessed with a bountiful and healthy planet right here on the only home we’ll ever know where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”
*Reformation theologian

        Ima Mookow had just regurgitated a particularly tasty wad of cud.  As she languidly chewed, she heard a muffled voice, “Would ya shove over?”  Ima stood up.  “Ahh…that’s better,” the voice said.  Now, Ima recognized the voice of her old pal Hugh Muss.  (You know - the stuff that remains after organic litter from plants and animals has decomposed.)

        “Sorry for squishing you,” Ima apologized. “What’s new?”

        “To tell the truth,” Hugh said, “I’ve been worried about our friend Loamy Soyal.  He’s just not what he used to be; I’m afraid we’ll lose him altogether if we don’t do something.  Did you know that worldwide, erosion has reduced him to half of what he was 150 years ago?  I’d hoped to be just like him someday - part of a healthy topsoil community.  But I don’t want to do that just to be washed away!”

          “Maybe the STARs will save you,” Ima replied.  Ima went on to tell about the STAR (Saving Tomorrow’s Agricultural Resources) project.  STAR encourages farmers and landowners to use management practices that reduce nutrient and soil losses on their fields.  The program assigns points for “best practices” in cropping, tillage, and nutrient application. Farm fields earn a STAR rating of one to five STARs.  The most common 5 STAR practices include:

• Applying phosphorus at or below runoff rates
  
• Planting a winter hardy cover crop
• No-till or strip-till management
• No additional nitrogen added to corn fields in the fall

           Farms that earn high STAR ratings have healthier soil, cleaner water, and less nutrient loss.  They also suck in higher amounts of atmospheric carbon.  These farms are recognized as soil and water conservation models, and that potentially leads to premium prices for their products.  “If we get enough STAR farmers, we just might revive Loamy Soyal back to his former glory,” Ima concluded.

         “Golly,” Hugh offered, “seems like your farm, Ima, should also be able to earn some STAR points for practicing rotational grazing.  After all, that pasture management system also builds healthier soil, reduces run-off and promotes deep-rooted forage plants that suck carbon out of the air and bury it in the soil where it’ll do some good.”

           “Gosh!” Ima cheered, “then I would become a STAR-Grazer!  Just think; Loamy and me – helping build a better world right here on the only home we’ll ever know where we’re all forever… Earthbound.”