The Most Amazing Harvest

Book excerpt: The heartwarming true story of a farmer’s unwavering faith in the face of a tragic prognosis—and how a community came together to help a neighbor in need. In the summer of 2015, Carl Bates and his wife Pam received the devastating news that he had metastatic cancer. The doctors have him just three months to live. As farmers in Galva, Illinois, they were dealing not only with the profound grief of Carl’s illness, but a serious practical concern: who would harvest the crops? Despite the crisis he faced, Carl never lost his faith in God. When word of his situation got out, a group of fellow farmers gathered organized to harvest Carl’s crops themselves. Someone observed that “a farmer can ask for no better crop than a bountiful harvest of friends.” The event was covered by the news and became a viral phenomenon. Now, in The Most Amazing Harvest, Pam Bates and Paula Patty tell the full story of the remarkable farmer who kept his faith, and the small town community whose selfless act of kindness was nothing short of a miracle.