2026 Pastured Pork Savings Event NOW LIVE until Feb 20... Shop Pork Deals while they last!

They Missed Him

written by

Edwin Shank

posted on

December 26, 2012

They missed him, the inn keeper and his family did. But you can't blame them, really. They were flat-out frantically busy! Town was full! Thousands, even millions, were traveling from all over the world for the special decreed taxing by Caesar Augustus.

I can identify with the inn keepers; in fact, my heart goes out to them. I'm familiar with that pressure! This flood of travelers must have seemed like a heaven-sent blessing. When again in their lifetime could they expect 100% occupancy every night, for weeks on end? 100% occupancy even at the inflated prices of a sold-out inn! 

So they missed him that first Christmas Eve. He was at their door, but they turned him away. Their inn was full and their life was busy. Their inn, their family inn at Bethlehem, came so close to being forever remembered as the birth place of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the Living God... But they turned him away. Instead, all the honor, even 2013 years later, goes to the stable and the manger. We only remember the inn from this unfortunate line, "There was no room for them in the inn."

Deep irony here, friends.

"Important busyness" distracting us to miss a visit from God himself? This touches a tender spot with me and I suspect you feel it, too. I'll not flesh out my meditations since I don't have much time to write and you don't have much time to read and you get the point.

But please stick with me for just a bit... This is not all historic.

Thirty-three years after the inn keepers missed him, Jesus, as a teacher, warned his inner circle of students that the same "missing" is very likely to repeat when he returns to earth the second time. Here are his tender words to his closest friends just before he died, "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you unexpectedly." (Luke 21:34)

The cares of this life. The simple cares of this life. Take heed! The absolutely-important-must-be-done cares of this life are just as insidiously damaging as carousing and drunkenness if they cause us to lose focus and miss him.

Think about it... every day!

May God bless all of you this Christmas and New Year's season.

Your Farmer ~ Edwin Shank



More from the blog

Pork now CORN-FREE as well as free from all Soy, Chemicals, GMOs, Antibiotics, etc.

Pork now CORN-FREE as well as free from all Soy, Chemicals, GMOs, Antibiotics, etc.

Good morning, Farm Family! This month feels like it has been a flurry of activity as I finally get to share the many long-awaited announcements we've been working on all throughout last year. Today brings this news: Our Pastured Pork is now CORN-FREE as well as Soy-Free! :) Soy-free has been our standard for years. Since we've had so many folks express appreciation for allergen-friendly pork, we decided to push even harder to reach the next level. Our family set a goal to bring you the Corn-Free status without raising pork prices. The task was daunting but the effort worth it. We are committed to raising our own grain to verify our livestock feed is always Chemical-Free & GMO-Free. It would be much easier and cheaper to buy organic grain on the open market but we believe there is too much risk of organic grain fraud considering that around 50% of the organic grain in USA has been imported. So now we not only had to face the hurdle of formulating a new Corn & Soy-Free diet but it also had to be ingredients that we could grow on our regenerative, organic farm in southern Pennsylvania. Thankfully I have two talented brothers, Winfred and Roland, who are dedicated to the difficult work of raising the specialty grains our chickens, turkeys, and pigs require. They also grow the hay to supply our grass-fed cattle during the winter. In a future post I'll share more of the grueling farm challenges they face so you can enjoy foods guaranteed chemical-free & GMO-free every time. After much experimentation to learn what does or does not work we finally settled on a feed blend we've proven over the last year.All our pork inventory is now officially Corn-Free & Soy-Free! As planned, your pork prices remain the same although it does cost us more on the farm... It's our pleasure to do this for you. Our freezer is now stocked with pork raised on lush fall pastures so we are prepared to fill all orders. In fact, February we plan to offer our best deals of the year for all who want clean, pastured pork. The new Corn-Free protocol is exciting, but of course, all our other top-notch standards are still in place as well. Our pastured pork is always Humanely Raised & Harvested, Chemical-Free, GMO-free, Antibiotic-Free, Soy-Free and now Corn-Free so your family can eat nutrient-dense pork with confidence. A picture is worth a thousand words. Because we also run our own butcher shop, this meat is NEVER exposed to Citric Acid, Nitrates or Nitrites, MSGs, preservatives or any kind of fillers! All of our bacon, sausages and ham uses super clean recipes and the butcher shop smokehouse uses real Hickory Wood and NEVER liquid smoke.Order now to enjoy clean, nutrient-dense Pastured Pork direct from our family farm to your family table.Your Farmer,Wesley ~5th generation on the farm God Designed it... We Respect it... That Explains it!   P.S. Grocery store Industrial Organic foods aren't truly pastured. And sadly, too many small pastured farms allow chemicals in the animal feed.Your family deserves chemical-free AND truly pastured foods so you can eat every meal with confidence.That's why our farm is dedicated to only high integrity foods... that taste amazing. We are committed to raising our Pastured Pigs with zero antibiotics or artificial growth hormones. Everything they eat is Chemical-Free, GMO-Free, Antibiotic-Free, Corn-Free, and Soy-Free. We even grow the grain to verify these high standards.It's our goal to treat you like friends and feed you like family.

Read more
Beef Price Freeze for 2 weeks

Beef Price Freeze for 2 weeks

Good morning Family Cow family! The last week here on the farm has been more like spring than early January, so we are enjoying every minute of it. :) It's the start of a new year and a new season of life for me. I haven't done very well with sharing farm stories in 2025 and so I plan to carve out more time to make it happen this year. A lot of exciting and crazy busy days over the last 12 months, but that's not a valid excuse. You trust us to grow nourishing food for your family and we will do our best to repay that trust by sharing as many farm life details as possible. Be sure to stay tuned for regular farm emails from me or maybe even my dad, Edwin, over the coming weeks... We have a lot of exciting news on the horizon! Today this email brings the one hard fact to announce... Seems the year shouldn't start like this, but I want to get it out of the way so we can save the best for last in coming emails. And this truly is the only negative point of what I plan to share. The next weeks are all full of exciting news and fun farm announcements. :) As we reviewed our 2025 financials, the niggling fears were sadly confirmed. Our beef margins have not kept up with inflating costs.Regenerative, 100% Grass-fed beef farming is beautiful and plays a key role in restoring health to our rescued farm land.But that's not enough. It must also be financially sustainable for family farms to continue from one generation to the next.Beef prices need to go up nearly 5% on average. Some items won't move at all but others, like burger and steaks, will bump more.Our family does not take any price correction lightly.In an effort to help make the change easier for everyone, we will freeze all beef prices at the current rate until January 27. Now is the chance to fill your freezer with 2025 Beef prices.Our family and team truly appreciates your understanding of the need to keep our cattle farming sustainable!All the best of food and blessings, Wesley~ 5th generation on the farm Real farmers. Real Caring. Real Food.YourFamilyFarmer.comP.S. Our frozen meats will easily last a year or more in your freezer. We recommend stocking up now. If a package becomes unsealed just use it first to avoid freezer burn taste.

Read more
Return To Top

The Family Cow

  • 3854 Olde Scotland Rd
    Chambersburg PA 17202
  • (717) 491-4004


God Designed it...   We Respect it...   That Explains it!

Genesis 1:31 & Revelation 4:11


"We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it."

– Numbers 13:27


Privacy Policy