Camping 2014!!!

By now, I think you know our yearly vacation amounts to an entire week-long camping trip to Indian Boundary, and we set-up, read, take walks around the lake, ride bikes around the lake, take loads and loads of pictures, visit the camp store, get rained on, yes it's normal, sit around the campfire, some may knit, others play some games, walk to different spots to read, and then we sit and rest, and rest, and rest.  You can check out our other camping posts by clicking on the camping link at the bottom of the page...

We have delicious breakfasts: bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, or pancakes, and yes, cereal some mornings; then, lunch may consist of sandwiches, and we have real meals for dinner, such as beans, macaroni, cornbread, hamburgers, spaghetti, and of course, hot-dogs over the fire.  

Enjoy our pics of the time we spent camping...it wasn't as cool as we would have liked; we were so ready for all sweater weather!

Enjoy the beauty of God's earth He created, such amazing beauty!

"He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters."

Psalm 23:2

We were blessed beyond words at the scenery God allowed us to partake in.  The sunsets, the storms passing by, the stars and clouds were breathtaking.  Breathtakingly beautiful...

"When I see the beauty of a sunset's glory
amazing artistry across the evening sky.

When I feel the mystery of a distant galaxy,
It awes and humbles me to be loved by a God so high.

"What Can I Do But Praise Him
What can I do but give my life to You.
                                                        Halellujah..."

Such a time of worship, of being in awe of the One who created all we see, and for giving us the sight to be able to take in all He gave us.

"As for man, his days are like grass;

As a flower of the field, so he flourishes."

Psalm 103:15

"You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever."

Psalm 16:11

"For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life,

and there are few who find it."

Matthew 7:14

"Yes, there is a story to this picture below!  The twins and I had been caught in the drenching rains, with a towel over our heads, when Steve met us with an umbrella near the camp store and we stayed on the porch until it slowed.  It was a drencher!  Check out the little video on my instagram!!!  (Click the instagram on the side bar)

When we got back to camp we found Sarah sitting on top of the refrigerator!  She had been running around trying to keep everything dry and was having to keep the canopy clear of water, so this was the spot where it kept pooling the worst, so she sat up there and just kept dumping the water off.  She is telling us about the rain, and "Whoosh!"  Oh my goodness, it was too funny!

This tiny little fellow had made Steve's shirt his home, til we found him.

The clouds came, some stayed, some passed by, and some brought rain, and they reminded us of, 

"Oh, misty eye of the mountain below, 

keep careful watch of my brothers' souls, 

and should the sky be filled with fire and smoke, 

keep watching over Durin's son."

The Hobbit - Desolation of Smaug

(you need to hear Julia sing this :) )

Family came to visit us one day, so lots of activity for an afternoon, hikes, swimming, rafting, flower and mushroom looking...and K fell asleep on his Daddy's back.

Always Julia's perch on the raft.

Jenny swam across the lake almost every day and normally made 3 trips.  One day she held a mini-triathlon, by herself of course!  She ran around the lake, then we biked around the lake and then, she swam across the lake!  Made me tired just typing it!  The hike is 3.6 miles around on their papers, but the signs say 3.1 miles...

"Yummmm-o, de-li-shioso!!!  Some good home-country-cookin' breakfasts!

And as the sun sat each day, we remembered Who had blessed us, where our joy comes from, and all the goodness He surrounds us with.  Even in sorrow, we can choose joy, even in pain, we choose loving Him, when death comes knocking at your door, we choose life, because that is what God gives to those who trust His Name, the Name of Jesus.

"They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs;

You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy."

Psalm 65:8

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody

The Storms of Life

When the storms come, when the wind blows,

 and the rain pours,

 He is still God. 

When the waves of this world come from every direction, 

He is still God.

When what we see doesn't look as it should, 

He is still God.

When life is uncertain, and division arises, 

and friends leave, 

He is still God.

God is still on the throne.  

God is still the same.  

He does not change.

He will not change.  

He can not change, 

for He is God.

The same yesterday, today, and forever.

The One Who Is, Who Was, and Who Is To Come.

(Jody Dake)                              

"These things I have spoken to you, 

so that in Me you may have peace. 

In the world you have tribulation, 

but take courage; 

I have overcome the world." 

John 16:33

Always Experiencing Him,

Jody

Church and the Family

"Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in you town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law.
Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live..."  Deut. 31:12-13

"There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them."  Joshua 8:35

Church wide call to prayer; what a wonderful opportunity for the entire church to pray together, to come together as one, to let the younger see, hear, learn, to watch their parents in prayer, to see other families praying together, encouraging one another, yes, together. 

                               Dividing the family at every turn was never His will, but unity, ONE voice, ONE family, ONE church, The Church of Jesus Christ, together, working to bring glory to His Name.  Teaching the ones coming after us, the older teaching the younger.

I am so burdened, and have been asking God to help me see, truly see, what the answer is to my aching heart.  We hear the statistics of young adults leaving the church, Christian children from Christian homes.  I believe it is troubling to all who hear, and since it is a well known fact, we ask, "What do we do about it?"

Here are the facts:
88% of children raised in Christian families leave church at the age of 18, never to return. (SBC)
An estimated 4% of the bridger generation, or Gen Y, will be Bible-believing Christians when they reach adulthood. Their grandparents' generation, 65%, their parents' generation, 35%. 

Unless we do something and do something NOW, the 3rd chair, the 3rd generation will be--is--a generation of UN-believers, and can you see what will happen to THEIR children, that 4th generation?!?  We are the Israelites, we have forgotten, we have left God behind to satisfy our own desires, our own wants and wishes, we have left the God who brought us out...

"You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him."  Deut. 13:4

So...what do we need to do?

"All Judah was standing before the Lord, with their infants, their wives and their children."  2 Chron. 20:13

I have been bringing my concerns and burdens before His throne, and I heard Him say to my heart, that yes, sometimes change is good, and yes, we need to be equipping parents, and teaching absolute Truth.

Then, I heard something I had not heard before, and it was this, we as adults and church leaders have become the disciples.  Remember the account in Mark 10:13-14, "And they were bringing the children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, 'Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Verse 16 goes on to say, "And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them."

We, as the disciples, are pushing the children away, into their own places away from the older men and women.  Church is where we should come together corporately to give God the praise He is so deserving of, and it is where we gather to worship and be in awe of the One true God, Jesus Christ.

“Behold, my eye has seen all this,
My ear has heard and understood it. 
 Job 13:1

To watch, listen, pray, hear, and see ALL people together, in prayer. With one voice.  Calling on God our Father.  Crying out His Name, the Name of Jesus.  Bringing our requests before the throne.  Falling on our knees before our Heavenly Father!  Oh, how we miss many opportunities for unity in Christ, in teaching the younger men and women, simply in not calling Holy assemblies, men, women, and children!

If Jesus Christ Himself physically walked into our church and took a seat, what would we do?  We would run to get our children so they could see Him, the Son of God Himself!  We need to remember we are in God's House and He is there.  Do we really believe He is there?  Forgive us, O Lord!

"Now while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly."  Ezra 10:1

We wonder why young adults are leaving the church?  Check out your church bulletins to see how many activities are age or gender segregated and how many are family oriented. . .Throughout Scripture they called for assemblies, men and women and children and infants.  What have we done?  We are reaping the consequences of division.

As I think about this and when the statistics began, where we began losing young adults, it happened about the same time as the large "children's church" movement, when we thought "bigger was better," and when we wanted the services to be so well organized we left no room for the Holy Spirit to move us.

Al Mohler has said:

"Churches in many ways have actually, I think, added to the problem. They promote the idea of the church as a full-service entertainment and activity center, where you take children away from their parents and just put them in a different peer culture. Now it’s a church peer culture. What happens when they grow out of that?

Kids are spending a very small amount of time in church activities, and many of those activities have very little theological, biblical, or spiritual content. As a result, we have a generation of young people who believe that there is a God, but they don’t have any particular god in mind.

We should be exhorting each other, helping each other, equipping each other. Christian young people should be drawn into the church, but not in a way that isolates them with other young people."

I remember growing up, singing in our children's choir every Sunday, and later leading the children's choir, singing in our "adult" choir from before I can remember, singing "special music," I even tried to begin a youth choir because I thought it important for them to sing His praises.  I remember holding my babies as I sang in our choir, and I believe it is there where they developed their love to sing His praises.  I also remember beginning a BYW, our Baptist Young Women's group because I thought it would "draw" others in, that were not participating in our WMU, Women's Missionary Union, but in doing that, I separated ourselves from the older women, the Titus 2 women, we should have been learning from.   God showed me where I was wrong.

This is happening in the Church as a whole and I believe it is time we stop trying to initiate new programs with all the hype and chaos which ensues.  God is NOT a God of chaos, and if  He were, we could believe in the big bang theory, no, God is a God of order and amazing design, a God who loves each and every person, a God who is not a respecter of persons, but a God who commands respect, The God who instituted the family at the beginning of time, The God who wants to be glorified and lifted up, The God of unity not division, The God who expects obedience, not out of force but out of love for who He is, the Almighty Father, who gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins and gives us salvation and everlasting life. 

"Blow a trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
Assemble the elders,
Gather the children and the nursing infants.
Joel 2:15-16a

"'Do You hear what these children are saying?'  And Jesus said to them, 'Yes; have you never read, 'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself'?'"

"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?  And how will they hear without a preacher?  How will they preach unless they are sent?  Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!'"   Romans 10:14-15

Is all that we are seeing the church's fault?  No.  We live in a fallen and sinful world; we see it in our separated and divorced marriages, in couples who do not worship together, in families with rebellious children, but we should be teaching what God's Word says in ALL circumstances.  "Teaching them to observe ALL that I commanded you."  Matthew 28:20a

"Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; 
you shall not add to nor take away from it." 
Deut. 12:32

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Another Work Day

After the storms, come the work.  Our driveway and tile at the creek needed some extra rock which the heavy rains washed in the yard and on down the creek.  

My dad and Jamin were moving the large rocks with a chain and the front end loader, up to the tile.

It always pleases my heart to see my children so willingly working with their grandparents, and working hard they do.  My dad really calls on them quite often to help him, and they enjoy it.  They love the time they can spend together.  This time he came to help us.

The younger cousins came as well, and there had to be some play time in the creek because it was extremely hot and humid; that water felt wonderful!!!

All those creek rock and gravel you see are not suppose to be there, that is what washed down and away.  We had to shovel some in buckets and carry back and dump in the driveway.  Water is such a powerful force, it's amazing to see what it can do.

After they placed the large rocks, then we filled back in with all the smaller ones around the tile, hoping they will hold through several more years.  

My silly Jenny was getting the shovel for Jamin, yes, with her feet, not wanting to jump back down; she's too funny!

Max even got in on the fun with the cousins.  He's so loveable.

Hope all's well for another 10+ years.  We have been here for 22 years and have replaced that whole portion over the tile, after the driveway completely washed out a few years back. 

I rejoice every time we are out working, playing, or simply being together, it does my heart good, like fine medicine. 

"A joyful heart is good medicine."

Prov. 17:22a

"Shout joyfully to God, all the earth;

Sing the glory of His name;

Make His praise glorious."

Psalm 66:1

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Another Storm

A couple of storms ago we had a tree fall across the road and the fences on both sides.

We ran down and met mom and dad and my sister's family to hurry and get the tree out of the road and fix one side of the fence because the cattle were in that field.  

This tree was also used as a fence post.  We were not very sure what kind it was.  Dad thought it might be cherry and the leaves on cherry trees are poisonous to the cattle, so we were trying to get as much of it out of the field as possible.

My dad and his trusty power saw.  So, as he sawed we moved the brush to the other side and stacked firewood to get later.  We fixed the left side you see and, thankfully, the storm was just finishing when we got down there.  We had a couple neighbors stop by and help; that sure was nice.

Just another days' work on the farm, well, an evenings' work.  It keeps one on their toes, and there is never any boredom.

God is so good, and we are so blessed, all 8 of my parents' grandchildren and both, my sister and I and our dahhling, hard-working husbands all live on our century farm.  

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody