Pen Pulpit

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Galatians 5:22, 23
January 30th, 2000


“For the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, against such there is no law.”

PEACE

Peace, like joy, is seen in several aspects.

1. Peace with God (Romans 5:1). This is a peace relationship established between sinners and God through the crosswork of Christ.

2. Peace of God (Philippians 4: 6, 7). Tranquil peace of heart. An experiential peace that comes through prayer and faith. This peace surpasses our ability to understand it.

3. Peace is multiplied (II Peter 1:2). The greater our knowledge of Christ, the greater our peace.

4. Peace with others (I Thessalonians 5:13). God expects this of His people.

5. Christ is our peace (Ephesians 2:14; John 16:33). No real peace apart from Christ.

6. Peace rules in our life (Colossians 3:15). We are to LET it rule!

Peace = harmony. In Christ we are in harmony with God. There is harmony within our life. There is harmony with others. Harmony is the ruling factor in the Christian’s heart.

No religion can produce this. No brand of philosophy can do it. Only Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit can bring this wonderful peace.


Love to you all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

Flag Waving

We were out again this evening waving flags on the corner. There were not as many of us this time but we still really enjoyed getting out there and supporting our troops. I got some video of Gabriel waving his own little flag. You can see how well Hannah is doing. Her trust in the Lord is unshakeable. She knows that He is there with her and she wants so much to bring glory to Him with her life. The verse for today at the top of my blog says "Look to the LORD and His strength; seek His face always." Psalm 105:4. Gabe and Hannah lived this verse out daily and Hannah continues to do so even through this difficult time.


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Proper Blog Etiquette

I have noticed on some of the blogs I frequent, the person who writes the blog always responds to people's comments in the comments section. I have not been doing this. I am wondering if perhaps I have been being "rude". So from now I am going to respond to the wonderful people who frequent my blog in the comments section. :)

Pioneer Cemetery

I just read a post on my mother-in-law's blog FlitzyPhoebie about her mother and how the world is sometimes a lot smaller than we think. You can read it here. She also shared some pictures of cemeteries on the prairie in Montana. It reminded me of right before I got married two years ago and Hannah, some girls from church and I went camping at Sunlakes in Eastern Washington.

In a nearby, secluded, town we saw a sign leading to a pioneer cemetery. We decided to try and find it. We turned down a bumpy dirt road and headed off into a golden grassy field. We got to the end of the road and saw nothing. We thought perhaps we had missed it so we turned around and headed back continuing to look. We still saw nothing. We drove back and forth a few times and just as we were about to give up I saw a metal gate overgrown with grass and dangling on its hinges. Then I saw the tip of a headstone sticking out of the grass a short distance away. I exclaimed that there it was. We stopped and walked through the old broken gate.

We really had to search for headstones because the grass was so tall. Many of the headstones were flat on the ground. We all spread out and with our heads focused on the ground we searched. When one of us would find a headstone we would call everybody over and we would read it together. After a few headstones we realized we had only seen infant graves. Everytime we came across a new one it was another infant grave. They all had died in the 1800's. We did find just a few adult graves. The oldest person who was buried there had been in their 70's. All of the rest of the adults were middle aged. There were a few graves as well that were marked but had no names or information on them.

We thought about who these people might have been and the fact that their graves seemed to have been forgotten. The grass had grown over and they were left in the middle of the prairie. We thought about all the babies that had died and were very thankful that we had the medical knowledge that we have today. It was a nice little adventure but also a touching experience as well.

Ruhiyyih's Camping Joke

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Pen Pulpit

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Galatians 5:22, 23
January 23rd, 2000

“For the Fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, against such there is no law.”

JOY

Joy is viewed in several connections in the Bible.

John 15:11 - This is Christ’s joy in us.

“These things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.”

Note: Joy is associated with the Word. Jesus said, “the Holy Spirit (Who operates in the realm of written truth) would take of mine and show it unto you.” John 16:13, 14

Psalm 16:11 - “In Thy presence is fullness of joy.” The Holy Spirit leads us into the presence of Christ. In Christ we are in the presence of the Father.

Jesus prays to the Father in John 17:13 -

“But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”

The people in Nehemiah’s day had tried many substitutes for God to be strong. They discovered that joy was the source of their strength and God and His Word were the source of their joy.

Nehemiah 8:10 -

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Nehemiah 8:12 -

“God’s people rejoiced greatly when they understood The Word read to them.”

Bottom Line: Jesus is our joy. We have none without Him.

JOY is Jesus (J) and you (Y) - with nothing (O) in-between.


Love to all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

Lake Wenatchee Camping Trip

After Taraz and Megan's wedding the Dannells family headed out on another camping trip. We went to Lake Wenatchee. I was so excited when we pulled up to the campsite and saw that it was on the lake. It was a nice big campsite with plenty of room for two large tents, three one man tents and one camper van.

Here is Lake Wenatchee at sunset.






Ruhiyyih was home from Washington D.C. visiting for the wedding. She is definitely the life of the party!


Rue's and my cozy tent. I took a cue from Bonita and brought soft comfy blankets and some down pillows. It was so nice at night to climb into a comfy cozy bed. My parents let me borrow two of their fancy air mattresses. They even lent me a fancy electric air pump that plugged into the car to blow them up.


Rahmat first thing in the morning. Note the cup of coffee. :)


The first night Rue made some yummy kabobs. He put them all together at home the day before we left. He even put together everything we would need for fajitas the second night. He loves to put together all of the food for camping and then do all the cooking. Ruhiyyih, Melanie and I did the cleanup. We had a great system.


Uncle Frank!!


Our very own tree hugger. :)


Hike up to Hidden Lake


Bonnie


Bonita and Melanie


Rue and me


At one point Rahmat decided to wander off on his own despite the warnings of George. For a while we thought we had lost him and it started to get pretty scary. We decided to head back down to the camp to see if perhaps he had made it and if not then Rue and George would hike back up to look for him with supplies. When we got back to camp there was Rahmat. For a while he was lost but he just kept walking until he hit Lake Wenatchee. He ended up having to wade through part of the lake in order to get back to camp. Needless to say he got an earful when we got back.


Rue decided to take the opportunity to give Rahmat a wedgy while Rahmat was squatting by the fire. But he pulled so hard he ripped a huge hole right into Rahmat's underwear!


The Twins Bonnie and Bonita


The last morning we woke up to an amazing rainbow across the lake. It was so breathtaking you had to just stand there and look at it and soak it in.



"O LORD, our Lord how majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens." Psalm 8:1

Taraz and Megan's Wedding

photos by Katherine Hall Photography
www.katherinehallphotography.com

Michigan Memorial Service

Here is a link to a news video of the memorial service held for Gabe in Michigan this last week. Hannah and her mom and sister Ruth traveled there to attend.

News Video

We are heading off to go camping with Rue's family for the next two days. There will be lots of wedding and camping pictures when we get back! :)

Congratulations Taraz and Megan!

The Newly Weds
Taraz and Megan Dannells

Feeding the Chickens

Remembering 9/11

Yesturday we went back out to the intersection in Gig Harbor and waved flags again. There were probably double as many people as were there on Friday. We went out there to remember 9/11 and those who were killed. There was a large flag that was hung up on some piping. At the end we all gathered around and the flag was dedicated to Gabe.

Supporting Our Troops

Every Friday from 5-6pm a group of women called the "Women in Black" go and stand on the corner in protest of the war. On the opposite corner there is a group of people who come out wearing red white and blue and waving American flags in support of our troops and our country. My best friend Hannah read in the Gig Harbor paper that most times there are more "Women in Black" than the supporters. So she really wanted to get out there and show support. She called me earlier today and invited me to come along. When we got there there was only one woman on the corner for supporting the troops. We introduced ourselves to her and Hannah explained that she was the wife of a soldier who just died. The woman was so sympathetic and thanked us for coming. She gave us some flags to hold. Shortly after we arrived Hannah's mom Nancy arrived with three of Hannah's brothers and some of their friends. Hannah's sister Ruth came as well. They had brought some nice big flags to wave. Then another man showed up with a sign saying "Support our Troops". Lucy and Kathy came from our church and then Pastor Mark and Marty Simons showed up. My mom, dad and my brother Ben came as well. My dad brought his camera. My brother decided to get creative by tying one of my mom's patriotic dish towels to his head because he didn't have a patriotic bandana. Leave it to Ben. :) We had such a wonderful time waving and cheering whenever someone honked and waved to us. It was so wonderful to see how many people really do love America and our troops. I was so happy for Hannah to be there. I know that it must have been a real encouragement to her. Even little Gabriel got his own little flag and loved waving it around.





Gabriel with his Grandma.





Gabriel with his Auntie Ruthie.

In the House of Mourning

Here is a link to a post that Hannah's brother-in-law Caleb Suko posted on his family's blog about mourning.

In the House of Mourning