While it is true that I do enjoy researching tractors,
talking about them, and going to shows,
I am happy to say that the importance of old tractors in my life has dwindled somewhat.
The things of this world have become increasingly less important and less interesting to me
since I found my way back to God and back to Christ;
I am now a member of Christ's church, and I now consider
my role as a Christian to be the most important role in my life.
Some might find it rather interesting that I have become so religiously-minded recently.
I say that despite the fact that, in today's world, it seems as if more and more people are professing to love God and to be Christians. I, however, doubt that many of the people in this world who profess to be ardent Christians really are, or at least it seems that they aren't striving to be the best and most obedient Christians that they can be. That fact troubles me.
In the future, I plan on making a page on my website discussing exactly what my religious views are. In short, though, I must say that I myself claim to be the member of no denomination; I am simply a member of the church, Christ's church. Feel free to go ahead and visit my webpages that I have set up thus far, which provides a little more information plus some links to some websites that you might consider looking at:
There are a number of you out there who have gotten to know me over the years. Those of you who've gotten to know me should know that I have long had a passion for helping people, and that certainly hasn't changed. (Indeed, all my life I've striven to do the right things and to help people as much as I could. I was raised in a loving home, and I did attend church in my younger years, but only recently has church become an important part of my life again.) I remain dedicated to The M-M Registry and its intentions, and I still highly value all the friendships I have gained over the years because of the registry and other such things. And I respect each and every one of you, as well. Tractors and tractor people are still very much a part of my life.
Even though religion and spiritual issues are exceptionally important to me, I still have interests in a number of things in this world. It's just that those things aren't as important to me as they once were
(I use to define myself almost exclusively by those worldly things).
Here are some of my other interests:
Of course, tractors are one of the earthly things that I enjoy most. But, again, I am not just a fan of Minneapolis-Moline and its predecessors. Please allow me to explain:
I was first introduced to the antique tractor hobby by my father, who had worked many years
as a tractor mechanic. For some reason, two-cylinder John Deere tractors first grasped my interest. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that my great-grandfather's
first tractor was a 1943 Model "B" John Deere.
Moreover, basically all my life I have enjoyed the era in history from around 1920 to about 1950 or so, and my interests include many things from that era.
Here is a list of just some of the things I am interested in besides old tractors:
-Brian Rukes
Some of My Other Favorite Links
The National John Deere 2-Cyl. Tractor Expo Homepage
303rd Bomb Group Assn. Homepage
