Opinion

As Father’s Day approaches, the rivers and creeks are running high and muddy, which makes all of us happy--except those planning a Father’s Day fishing trip. This summer of social distancing makes camping and fishing the ideal pastime, especially because the fly fisherman has been glamourized and romanticized almost as much as the Gary Cooper/Marlboro cowboy image. Movies like A River Runs Through It have made fly fishing a huge industry in our part of the country, and I am glad because it provides me with a lot of summer amusement!

Each time we cast a vote, we are shaping the future of our country. But never before in my lifetime has a vote been of higher consequence than it will on November 3rd.

​A few days ago, I got a much-needed laugh from a Facebook meme that made some comparison of the first half of 2020 to a bad Stephen King novel. We can probably recognize some ironic truth to that while we also grit our teeth and wonder how the rest of the year is going to turn out. And when you couple the Coronavirus, civil unrest, and murder hornets, with all of the individual trials that we may be facing right now, it may just feel to you like the whole world is coming apart. But let me assure you, it’s not. God is still in control, and the promises He gives us in the Bible are still very much in place.

With Father’s Day coming up, I have a gift suggestion. Laura Nelson is an accomplished photographer and journalist I met several years back when she was my editor at The Big Timber Pioneer. She was recently commissioned to write a book for the Montana Farm Bureau, which she has just completed. The book entitled Legacies: A 100-year history of the Values, Principles, and Purpose of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation is hot off the press and is available to purchase at https://mfbf.org/legacies.