Goodbye, Uncle Rod!

My mother emailed on Tuesday to let us all know that our Uncle Rod had passed away Monday.

Uncle Rod has been in our lives for as long as I can remember, and about thirty-six years longer than that. Born seven years before my father, Uncle Rod lived to be 92. He would have been 93 in July. 

An accident he endured at age 11 would leave him with a stiff leg for the rest of his life, but he did not let that keep him from a fulfilling life. 

 

When we children were small, we loved Uncle Rod. When we were visiting our grandma and grandpa, he might show up at their big house on Broad Street in Grove City, PA, where we children were playing outside. He would swing my little brothers up in his arms, while the rest of us screamed and ran! I would run up onto the porch thinking that would be a safe place behind the porch railings, but he would run over to the porch and before I knew it, he would swing his stiff leg up over the railing, and I was caught! That stiff leg simply did not stop him at all! Those merry chases were a happy sort of terrifying!

 Later when my grandma moved into a high-rise, while Mom and Dad were finishing visiting her, we children would be outside where Uncle Rod chased us all around. I remember hiding somewhere behind a dumpster, but even monstrous dumpsters couldn’t keep us from being found by Uncle Rod! 

 

Rod loved horses, and the horses loved Rod. Rod loved dogs, and the dogs loved Rod. What animal didn’t love my uncle Rod? (Unless it was the deer that raided his corn fields!) Rod loved to go hunting up in what he and Uncle Warren called the “Big Woods,” and Rod seldom if ever came home empty-handed. 

My brother Elon remembers that Uncle Rod named everything–even his tractor and car! The tractor was named “Alice” because it was an Alice Chalmers, and the old car he got from his parents Rod named “Maytag”! Rod had a gorgeous collie which my sister Dorcas remembers as being named Mr. Chips, which Uncle Rod had trained so well that it would never go across the road unless Rod told it to! Uncle Rod had a horse named Prince GoGo, which Rod got for therapy for his leg. The leather bridles and saddles hanging neatly in the barn had such a wonderful smell when Uncle Rod and Cindy put saddle blankets on the horses so we could all have a ride. We might stop for a moment in the fields to observe a deer or two grazing along the edge of the cornfield. Uncle Rod loved to watch the deer. It seems like his life was full of peace as he found happiness and value in the simple things around him. Plants as well as animals responded to Uncle Rod’s love. I remember the cabbages growing near Rod’s greenhouse and the field corn across the road. Uncle Rod would harvest whole grocery bags full of sweet peas.  

It was never boring to visit uncle Rod! If he wasn’t already in his shop making intricate wooden lamp decorations such as miniature covered bridges, windmills, and outhouses, he was out with his dogs or pygmy goats. He could grow the most beautiful roses! 

The best part about Uncle Rod was the stories he always had to tell. Sometimes it was about his fellow workers at Cooper Bessemer, the factory where he worked; sometimes it was a hunting story. Uncle Rod’s zest for life took him all the way to Alaska for several years. I tried to keep in touch a little bit a couple times a year, at Christmas and at his birthday in July. Uncle Rod liked to tell how the July 4th fireworks are actually a celebration of his birthday! Uncle Rod was an incredible gentleman whose positive attitude, despite many difficulties in life, made him a friend to all. His sense of humor was second to none, and his friendliness and interest in people around him endeared him to all. He was not just loved; he was beloved. We will cherish his memory. Our prayers are with his daughter and family who will miss him most of all.

Rooster Strings--and Tied Up in Knots

 We could get all tied up in knots about the vote being held momentarily in the Senate today to confirm to the Supreme Court "the most activist judge" in the history of America in the highest court of our land.

 

We could be in big knots and strings like I unwound and cut off the claw of one of our beautiful roosters one day.  

I was about to call some phone numbers as suggested by an email post, but then I couldn't find my handwritten list of phone numbers, and I realized I only had ten minutes left before the vote, and the senators would be in the chamber and wouldn't get to hear my amazing opinion on the voice messages that probably only secretaries hear anyway.

And so, while I have tried to email over and over about many issues, this time I just turned to God in prayer.

As I read in Psalms this morning, "When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" 

They can pray. 

Like a small girl turning to a big brother or cousin to tell her troubles and concerns, 

we can pray. 

I prayed through this little devotional this morning while the senate is taking its vote, and perhaps you will find  a moment to pray along.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-it-means-to-pray-for-your-enemy

When Life Hands You Lemons

 A few weeks ago, Carrie worked for someone who has a greenhouse in which they grow lemons!

Lemons were running out their ears, so they shared some with Carrie, who in turn shared them with our family! 

When someone gives us lemons, there is just one thing to do! Make lemonade! 

We took lemonade to Jonathan's dad in town one evening when we took in supper.

We also took in peanut butter pizza fixings. 

Because when you have peanut butter, you make peanut butter pizza. 

But back to the lemons.

Lemons aren't exactly a favorite food of many people.

Because they are sour, and they take work to juice and turn into something tasty.

Nothing like doughnuts which you can pick up at the store for a couple dollars when they are marked down.

 

But life doesn't always hand us doughnuts. 

Often it hands us lemons in the form of trials and tribulations which are downright sour and painful.

But Jesus had something to say about that.

I just read it today in my devotions.

"These things I have spoken to you, that in Me, you may have peace. 

In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer,

I have overcome the world!" 

I'll be honest. I haven't been able to get past this verse which I've read every day for three days.

Jesus promises three things:

peace in Him;

tribulations in the world;

victory in Him!

Lemons were promised right along with the doughnuts.

Tribulations are just as surely promised as peace. 

But victory and cheer are promised as well.

So let us be of good cheer!

The Blessing of the Ordinary and Routine

 In the middle of headlines about war and rumors of war, 

in the middle of news of one funeral after another,

ordinary life goes on,

complete with many colors of veggies for pizza toppings!

Saturday morning, Crystal (in the sky blue jacket above) attended Rev. Bob Thompson's funeral, in a gymnasium that was packed out. Bro. Thompson had spoken every week for chapel at Mt. Zion school where Crystal is supervisor at the lower learning center, and she and the students will miss him. 

The same day as the funeral, the mother of the upper learning center supervisor passed away as well! 

That will be the fourth funeral Crystal will attend already this school year. 

Crystal sat with Linda Lee Goodwin and enjoyed seeing Tonya Sickler Poe and Bud there after Bro. Thompson's funeral, and then traveled to Salem to help relatives and friends prepare about 60 Mom-n-Baby kits for Lifeline Gifts. 

 

Even my mother was able to take part that day, as they packed diapers, baby clothes, things for the mother, and a toy inside quilts that my sister-in-law Anita has sewed. Here is the website, if you'd like to learn more about Lifeline Gifts.

Lifeline Gifts | www.lifelinegifts.com

A happy thing to happen after a sad service. 

Then we learned that a family friend, Bro. Raymond Zeigler, went home to be with the Lord last weekend as well. My brother Gabriel plans to attend his funeral tomorrow near Tyrone, PA.

 And Jonathan and I choose not to watch typical news about Ukraine because they capitalize on the atrocious and horrible and don't say anything about the special miracles that God is doing,

like providing milk and bread and produce for villagers

and causing a wind to blow Rus si an paratroopers back to Russ ia instead of landing in Ukraine as was the plan! 

 We read of one pastor or ordinary person after another choosing to drive to neighboring countries and take humanitarian aid across the border to Ukraine.

Our pastor friend sent a little video clip of tables surrounded by people having supper, probably many of them refugees. 

 

While I put on a crockpot of our own meat for Sunday dinner, along with potatoes and carrots and green beans. 

Feeling thankful for the blessing of ordinary tasks like peeling carrots and planning a Sunday meal. 

But then a need hits me, too, when I discover that my outdoor work boots that I've had for I don't know how many years, are suddenly coming completely apart!

Jonathan and I stopped at Walmart a few days ago, and to my delight, I found boots marked down to $9! I got two pairs.

Lord, You provide not just for the refugees from Ukraine, but for a country mom out on the prairies of Colorado! Thank You! 

(Photo sent by my sister Dorcas of a spring tulip at her place back east.)

Over and over, as I am hit with bad news and sad news, I am grateful for the blessing of just being able to chop vegetables for borsch, or put clothes into the washer and take them out warm from the dryer on cold or snowy days.

Thank You, Lord, for the blessing of days full of the ordinary and routine. 

Vase of Daffodils for Stormy Days

Last week on Wednesday on my way to run errands and take lunch in to Jonathan's dad, I hoped the city streets would not be as busy at midday as they are in the evening. 

But it was the day before a storm, and traffic was heavy and stores were busy.

At Safeway, I couldn't help myself.

I went over to the corner of flowers and looked at the daffodils.

Discovering a bunch of still-in-bud daffodils for just $2.99, I went ahead and picked up a bunch. 

They started to bloom the very next day after I had put them into a vase on the kitchen table.

Meanwhile, snow came down most of the night and covered everything. 

 

There were drifts that had to be shoveled through to get into the barn gate.

 

Icicles hung from the bottom of the propane tank a day later. 

It was a wonderfully wet, heavy snow which we so desperately needed.

More icicles hung by the next day on the chicken coop--slanted from the wind.  

Someone shoveled a path to the chicken coop. 

Birds just flew over the snow and landed in snowy branches.

Black grackles in the white snow, like sin ruining everything beautiful that God ever made.

And so it snowed, and grackles sat in it, along with the juncos and finches and sparrows.

And daffodils, unconcerned and unfretted by the war in Ukraine, the massacres of Christians in Yemen, the power-grabbing of politicians in our own country and state, and all the many atrocities all over the world. 

Daffodils, not at all worried about Pastor Bob Thompson's heart attack and death at Mt. Zion Saturday, where Crystal teaches. 

He speaks for chapel each Monday, and now he is gone at just 72 years old.

 

It's no wonder I wanted to buy some daffodils. 

The snow falls, the daffodils bloom, the dogs cuddle up near the fire, and we Christians learn to lay down our heartaches at the feet of Jesus Who cares for each one of His children. We read of God supplying many loaves of bread for a Christian missionary family in Ukraine to distribute to villagers; of another Ukrainian pastor who is visiting someone in the hospital, bringing humanitarian aid to his village, and leading a service Wednesday evening in which someone repents! Yes, there are still flowers pushing up through the snow! Daffodils still bloom even in the storm!

Skiing--and Singing

The young people who had spent several long days with the Mission Helps team working or serving up in South Dakota afterward spent a day skiing in the Colorado mountains. 

Carrie has managed to find some skis and ski boots on Craigs list, so everyone was outfitted without having to put out the expense of renting skis, etc.

 And this was one time Jonathan went along, too. 

My sweetheart!

 Even the boys helped put food together for the day of skiing.

Ezra determined that what he was doing was really "grating" on him! 

(These cousins have the biggest time making puns, especially Rose, who is also good at deciding which puns are good or bad, depending on her mood that day).

I wasn't able to take the bitter cold or go skiing, so I enjoyed a quiet day at home with extra time to pray, even if I did have a HUGE stack of dishes to do and lots of cleanup around the house, plus a big supper to make for us all. 

After a very late supper, we decided to simply choose a favorite verse of Scripture instead of reading a whole chapter, and poor tired Ezra decided that verse would be "I laid me down and slept."

Then I had one request of the tired skiers. 

Would they sing me one song with the cousins here? 

I think Ezra picked that one, too. 

"Day is Dying in the West"

I told the family how I had read today about four pastors in a country where extremists had attacked in their villages, and all four pastors had experienced losses in their families. Some of the pastors didn't know what had become of their wife or other family member as they had been separated while fleeing. 

Yet after the pastors had shared their heart-breaking stories with the American contact, 

one of them began to sing.

I told my family how right in the middle of their terrible heartbreaks, these pastors began to sing a song of worship. At the end of a long day when we were stiff and tired and when Ezra even had a twisted knee and Carrie had a twisted neck from falling splat in the snow,

the story of our persecuted brothers in Christ put our discomfort and weariness in perspective.

They sang in the middle of the worst kind of loss.

And so with that and them in mind, we sang.

 

"Lord of life, beneath the dome

Of the universe, Thy home,

Gather us, who seek Thy face, 

To the fold of Thy embrace,

For Thou art nigh

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God of hosts! Heav'n and earth are full of Thee,

Heav'n and earth are praising Thee, O Lord most high!

 

When forever from our sight

Pass the stars, the day, the night,

Lord of angels, on our eyes

Let eternal morning rise, 

And shadows end!   

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God of hosts! Heav'n and earth are full of Thee,

Heav'n and earth are praising Thee, O Lord most high!

 

Acoustic Panels for Church Walls--and How God's Love Quiets Us

At the church at St. Francis, SD, one of the things needing to be done was to hang acoustic panels on the back walls of the church to absorb sound, especially since the new pastor has a booming voice.

Jonathan is always good at making things look nice, even acoustic panel arrangements. 

He wanted those panels to look nice and not distract the pastor who sat up front and would be seeing those panels the whole time if they didn't look nice!

Instead of just putting those panels up in squares, he arranged them diagonally, first arranging them on the floor. He had to measure and figure a lot because the door in the back of the church is not exactly in the middle between the restroom and sound room. 

To make matters more complicated, the exit sign was not centered over the door, either. So he had a lot of figuring to do to try to get the panels arranged to look nice.

These panels will help tone down the noise from either dozens of noisy Sunday School kids or the distracting echoes from a big, booming preacher's voice.   

 

Acoustic panels--to absorb sound in a pre-fab concrete church (built so to protect against arson). 

Just like our quiet times with God--devotional moments or hours spent before Him,

when the noise 

and din

 and distractions

 and worries 

and fears

can stop clanging around in our mind

and instead be absorbed by the place and time and quiet of our coming to Christ.

Yes, even in the middle of the din

(and being in the middle of a very busy Mission Helps trip means a lot of extra work, extra noise, less quiet time)

we can have those "acoustic panels" of quiet moments when as an individual, as a couple, as a group, or as a church

we allow our problems and needs to be absorbed into God's strength and care.

We rest all the wounds and worry and wars in His arms,

for He cares for us.

"He will quiet you with His love." (Zeph. 3:17)

Thank You, Lord, for how Your love becomes our acoustic panels!