Aloha Dearest Family,
Today we will look at the life of a man some of us may have heard of back in our grade school days. His name was George Washington Carver and is considered to be one of the greatest scientists and inventors of the twentieth century. He is also known as the “Father of Modern Agriculture”. The life of George Washington Carver is impossible to sum up into a one-page sharing, so I will just cover some notable points of interest.
-George Washington Carver was born a slave in 1861(or 1865: no one really knows which) to a family owned by Moses and Susan Carver. After slavery was abolished, Moses and Susan Carver adopted George and his brother James and raised them as their own. George was encouraged by his adopted mother to study and George excelled in the study of botany. He attended Iowa State Agricultural College where he taught and earned his master’s degree.
-In 1896 he received a letter from the President of Tuskegee Institute, Booker T. Washington, who asked him to come and teach the students farming. George accepted and taught methods of crop rotation and introduced several alternative cash crops for farmers that would also improve the soil strongly depleted from the continual growing of cotton.
-He started a laboratory on wheels called the “Jesup Wagon”, where he would go to small farmers and teach them about better methods of farming. He also published works consisted mainly of 44 practical bulletins for farmers. It has been said that George Washington Carver single-handedly saved the Southern Crop Industry by his experiments with Peanuts, Sweet Potatoes, Cow Peas, Soybeans and Pecans.
-George Carver invented more than 300 uses for the peanut (and 115 uses for the sweet potato), including adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish and paper.
-He was invited to speak in front of Congress as the country’s leading expert on agriculture and was allotted just ten minutes to speak. The Senators were so impressed by his speech that George was allowed to speak for two more hours about all the uses for the peanut and other southern crops.
-In 1916 Carver was made a member of the Royal Society of Arts in England, one of only a handful of Americans at that time to receive this honor.
At the very root of his work and experiments was always his Faith in God. Being saved when he was just eight years old, he began an intimate walk with God. He loved to go into the woods early in the mornings and talk with God. "All my life, I have risen regularly at four o'clock and have gone into the woods and talked with God. There He gives me my orders for the day. Alone there with things I love most, I gather specimens and study the great lessons nature is so eager to teach us all. When people are still asleep, I hear God best and learn my plan." This is where God started showing him the “secrets of the peanut.” He often prayed, addressing God as ”Mr. Creator”. One night he walked into the woods and prayed, “Mr. Creator, why did you make the universe?” He listened and God said, “Little man, that question is too big for you.” The next night he prayed, ”Mr. Creator, why did you make man (mankind)? God replied, “Little man, that question is still too big for you.” The third night he walked into the woods and prayed, “Mr. Creator, why did you make the peanut? God answered, “Little man, that question is just your size. If you will listen I will teach you.”
To George Washington Carver, science was not at odds with the Bible. In fact he believed science and the Bible went hand in hand and that true science was discovering how God designed nature for us to utilize. In fact he called his laboratory, “God’s little workshop”. George W. Carver said that he based all of his work and experiments off of Genesis chapter one.
So why are we studying about George Washington Carver instead of reading a lesson from the Bible? In Psalms 37:37 is says,
“Mark (or observe, study) the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.”God instructs us to observe and study the upright. George W. Carver was this man. In our study of George Carver we learn that no matter what field we are involved in, we can succeed when we let God guide our steps.
“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:6)
The life of George Washington Carver should be studied and used as an example of how far a man (or woman) can go when he or she walks and talks with God as his constant companion.
Love Always, Ray
“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station, through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” George Washington Carver
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