As an aside, I had a bit of a problem with our district office manager. She was not happy about me putting my valuable collections in the office freezer. I tried to impress on her the importance of what I was doing, but all she could think about was that my collections were sharing space with food. Talk about being narrow minded; I showed her that the stuff was stored in specially sealed containers, and nothing could leak out. Can you believe it? She was still skeptical.

Later, once frozen, I would take my samples to the Post Office, where I would loudly proclaim: "I have some really important stuff here. Really important."

The clerks would always smile when I handed them the refrigerated parcels.
They knew what I was sending to Texas and I could see that they were pleased.
After all, this was one of the few times that we in Oregon, instead of being on the receiving end, could actually send, "YOU KNOW WHAT" to Texas.

I was so inspired by this aspect of my job that I wrote a short Soil Stewardship sermon for our church on manure.

"The lowly waste product of a cow."
A cow can produce over two cubic feet of manure a day. God created life. God created plants to grow upon the earth. A cow will eat plants and convert them into milk and meat. A cow's waste products will, in turn, return to the earth and nurture other life. Small animals will live on them, microbe communities will flourish, and these waste products will be broken down to form humus, a major part of topsoil. Acids created by microbes will release nutrients for other plants growing in the topsoil. Plants will grow, animals will eat the plants, and the cycle continues.

The droppings of a cow can create mulch. The droppings can also store water, insulate the ground, fertilize, protect, and help the formation of soil and more new life. I called it Cow Poop Theology. God gave us a self-sustaining system. All things in this world are important, the mighty redwood, a worm, or an unseen microbe. All are important to the substance of our life, even something as common as cow poop.

Yes, I used to collect cow poop. It was a great job, and I am pleased be able to share it with you.