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Brrr! It's a cold windy day! One week ago we were in Orlando, Florida. The temperature was a balmy 81 degrees. A church in Winter Haven was so gracious to allow us to park our motor home there until we return in January to begin services in Florida. The morning we flew out, the birds were singing, flowers were in full bloom, and there was a clear blue sky with the sun's brilliant rays shining down. While loading the last suitcase in the car, I told Larry, "Honey, do we really want to go back to the Midwest leaving this beautiful weather?" We both chuckled, "No, but we are going. Only family could bid us back!"
A week ago Sunday, we held two morning services at the United Brethren Church in Hillsdale, Michigan, with Pastor Les Smith. What an energetic pastor with a vision for souls! He had just hosted the Power Team for the youth a couple weeks ago and they saw over 300 make decisions for Christ. Then, we came and ministered to families. The altar call was precious with the decisions totaling over 40 from people of all ages and walks of life.
En route to Shell Lake where we had the privilege to attend a Missions? Conference, we stopped in Spooner, WI, and held a Sunday morning service at Cornerstone Church. We were warmly greeted by Rev. and Mrs. Tom Kelby along with a loving congregation. There were many young families in attendance. We loved seeing young couples bringing their children to Sunday School and church. The church was definitely filled with expectation and excitement. God fulfilled their desires and many responded to the altar call. Some of the responses included those making first time commitments to Christ.
We are currently home in Sisseton. I am sitting in my chair and the rain is softly falling. The fall breeze is gently shaking the leaves off the trees. It is a beautiful sight! I love this time of year...except...living in the Midwest, we know what is soon to follow....a long, cold winter! Well, today, I am not going to dwell on that. I am going to enjoy every day of this scenery and weather.
There is an old song that says "I've been everywhere, yes, I've been everywhere, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, etc." That is the way I feel at this point. In the past two weeks we have cris-crossed the prairie lands of South Dakota twice. After the Seniors' Retreat in the Black Hills, we dashed back to Sisseton to pick up our guests for the Fun and Fellowship tour to the National Quartet Convention and headed off to the hills of Kentucky.
What a beautiful drive through the prairie lands and badlands en route to the breathtaking Black Hills of South Dakota!
Destination: Camp Judson, which is nestled next to the historic, small tourist town of Keystone. The retreat center is located just four miles from the world famous Mount Rushmore.
Reason: We got an invitation to speak at the Senior Adult SD A/G Ministries State Retreat. Hmmm...seems like just yesterday...okay, actually 50 years ago...the Lundstroms were invited to the Black Hills area to conduct teen camps and family camps.
Destination: Camp Judson, which is nestled next to the historic, small tourist town of Keystone. The retreat center is located just four miles from the world famous Mount Rushmore.
Reason: We got an invitation to speak at the Senior Adult SD A/G Ministries State Retreat. Hmmm...seems like just yesterday...okay, actually 50 years ago...the Lundstroms were invited to the Black Hills area to conduct teen camps and family camps.
You just know it's not going to be a good day when the doorbell rang, Larry answered it-and a chipper salesman pipes up, "I'm here selling headstones for the cemetary...are you interested?" There was a couple seconds pause...I hollered down..."NO!" There was complete silence, sheepishly and a bit embarrassed at this voice coming from afar, Larry consoled him, "Can you come back in November? I just got home off tour last night and I'm covered deep with office work." Meanwhile feeling a bit under the weather and looking like I had been run over by a dump-truck, I didn't need to hear that he was going to return so I hollered down again, "NO! NO!" At that moment Larry broke out in hilarious laughter, I heard him say, "As you can tell, this is not a good day to talk about head stones."
After our appointments, we headed back to Waterloo, IA. The Iowa cornfields are absolutely breathtaking. God is so good! I pleaded with Larry to stop so I could get this picture of how tall the corn is. Larry is 6' 3" so that gives you an idea of the actual height of the corn. Just seeing these luscious corn fields all over definitely whet our appetite for a good meal of corn-on-the-cob! We had another two weeks filled to the max. We wove back and forth between Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota.
Our hearts go out to the hundreds of parents we meet who lament tearfully, "What went wrong? We raised our children up in a good, God-fearing home. We took them to church, taught them about God, read Bible stories to them, did our best to show them a Godly example and still, after all of that, they turned against God and rejected our faith."
With Easter fast approaching many of us are out buying baskets, grass, candy, and all kinds of "goodies" to surprise our kids with on Easter morning! It is fun to get caught up in the bright colors and cheery decorations that Easter has to offer, but, please do not let this holiday slip away without recognizing its true meaning and passing it on to your children.