Strawberries!

Tuesday, we had our second strawberry picking with two gallons of strawberries! Since our first picking was enjoyed via yummy strawberry pies, we decided to put these up in our family's favorite way: strawberry jam.

Mom had plenty of eager help from Naomi and Joanna.

Ashlyn didn't want to miss out on anything, so she became full-time spectator.

 It is always so rewarding to see jam poured out into jars.

It is even more rewarding to taste that jam! And no, we were not patient enough to wait until it "set." We ate runny strawberry jam on biscuits for supper. Nothing beats fresh strawberry jam!

It is such a blessing to see how God has blessed the efforts of our hands and allowed us to successfully raise strawberries this year.

~*~*~

"If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit."

Leviticus 26:3-4

Fellowship and Fun

This past weekend, we were able to spend extra time with the Cleghorn family. They arrived at our home Saturday morning and stayed until Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning, they joined us at Old Paths and we had a very special service. The family shared about their calling to Indonesia and Bro. Cleghorn preached. You can definitely see their heart is towards God and following His will. Please keep them in your prayers as they follow God's calling to Indonesia.

We had a lot of fun fellowshipping and playing games with the Cleghorn family throughout their stay. As we shared stories and family incidents, we often heard, "You do that too!?" It was fun to find similarities in two families who live so far apart.

A "friendly" competition :)

Instruments were again part of our time

Happy times

~*~*~

"And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."

Colossians 3:10-22

Fear

By Amanda

“What is happening to my America?” This was a question posed by a lady who feared the changes that have been made in our country. Many Christians ask the same question, with the same tinge of fear. What is happening to our country? What will happen to us? What freedoms are going to be taken away? The result is a lack of peace. Why? Because we are all fearing instead of trusting.

What is fear? The Webster New World Dictionary defines fear as “a feeling of anxiety and agitation caused by the presence or nearness of danger, evil, pain, etc.” but for the Christian,  God’s Word gives a much better definition.

Fear is not from the Lord:

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Romans 8:15)

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7-9)

Fear is lack of love:

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. I John 4:18

Fear is lack of trust:

What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Psalm 56:3-4

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Psalm 27:1, 3

God’s remedy for fear is found in His Word. When we spend time in God’s Word, it causes our fear to come crashing down. Our Heavenly Father has given us many promises to hide in our hearts to combat the devil’s weapon of fear.

God is always with us:

Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Deuteronomy 31:6

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. (Hebrews 13:5b)

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Isaiah 41:10

The Lord is always ready to help:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Psalm 46:1-3

The Lord will watch over us:

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

The Lord will protect us:

The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? Psalm 118:6

Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Proverbs 3:25-26

The Lord does not intend to do evil to us:

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11

How can there be peace with fear? There cannot. The peace that comes by simply trusting and loving God will displace any fear that arises in our lives.

 ~*~*~

I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.

Psalm 4:8

3 Families = 33 people

Yesterday, we loaded up and headed over to visit our cousins, the Carpenters. Also at the Carpenter's were the Cleghorns, missionaries to Indonesia. To do some simple addition, our group of 13 (Jessica wasn't able to go) plus the Carpenter's group of 10, plus the Cleghorn's group of 10 made a total of 33 people.

It was a beautiful day, so we spent most of our time outdoors playing volleyball and other games.

After our playing was done, we headed indoors and dragged out the instruments. Guitars, banjos, violins, and a mandolin were joined with our voices to sing praises to God.

The little kids even took out spoons to play

Ashlyn discovered an empty guitar case to make her seat

The Cleghorns shared a song

It is always such a blessing to meet and spend time with large families and to fellowship, play, and sing together.

~*~*~

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

Experiencing the Peace of God - Part Three

A study on Philippians 4:6-7, by Christopher Tero

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

VERSE SEVEN

Verse seven shows us the results of placing our worries and anxieties in God’s hand; He gives us wonderful peace. Paul tells us that we will experience “the peace of God, which passes all understanding.” I know that there have been situations in my life when it seemed as if my entire world was crumbling around me. However, when I turned to God asking for His peace and completely placing the situation in His hand, I experienced an overwhelming sense of peace that I cannot describe. It was as if I suddenly realized that God is in control of the situation, and there was no need for me to worry. Did the situations always turn out the way I wanted them to? Often they did not, but sometimes they did. Looking back, I can see where “Jesus led me all the way,” working things out for my benefit (even though I didn’t realize it at the time). There are still times when situations come up that threaten to bog me down. However, I have learned from experience that when I place the situation in God’s hands, I can rest assured that He will work it out as it needs to be worked out. It is so wonderful to be able to rest in the peace of God, even when I don’t know what to do or how a situation will turn out. I know He will guide me in His timing. I hope that everyone who reads this can learn to rest in God’s peace that He desires to give them.

The end of verse seven tells us that this peace “shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” It allows us to rest assured in what Christ Jesus has done and will do. The word “keep” here means to guard. God’s peace guards our hearts and minds from things that otherwise would wreak havoc upon them. God does not want us to be open to attacks from Satan or others that would break us down. Thus, He offers peace for those who earnestly entreat Him for it. Sure, we might not know what will happen in a given situation, but we can know that God is in control, and that He will work it out in a way that will bring the greatest benefit to us and glory to Him.

CONCLUSION

The peace of God is a wonderful thing. Those of you who are reading this and have experienced it can testify of it. This peace is available to all who name the name of Christ. All one must do is to completely place the situation in God’s hands, and ask Him for peace in the situation. It is one of those things that is so simple, yet often so hard to do. It is hard to let go of worry and anxiety, but once you let it go, you will wonder why you ever held on! We may not know what tomorrow holds, but we can have peace and assurance in knowing who holds tomorrow and that He is intimately concerned for our every need. It is my prayer and desire that all who read this may be able to enter into the peace of God in whatever circumstance you may be dealing with. “The LORD…give thee peace” (Numbers 6:26).

Experiencing the Peace of God - Part Two

A study on Philippians 4:6-7, by Christopher Tero

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

VERSE SIX

This brings us to the main passage, where Paul begins by saying “Be careful for nothing.” The word careful here means anxious; thus we are told to be anxious about nothing. In essence, Paul is clearly telling us “Don’t worry!” This can seem almost impossible at times, especially if we are dealing with a tragic situation or making a life-changing decision. But, no matter how desperate the situation, no matter how bad off things may appear, God is right there and wants to help us.

The second half of verse six tells us “But in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” There are several key elements in this verse. First, Paul tells us that this applies to everything. There is not a single thing in our lives that God cannot help us with. Not only can He help us with them, but He wants to help us with them. Just imagine, the Creator and God of all the universe earnestly desiring to help us in every situation that we face! This is vividly illustrated in Romans 8:31b; “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Compared to our Helper, whatever opposition we face is next to nothing.

Another element in this section is “by prayer and supplication…let your requests be made known unto God.” While God is always right there for us, He does not simply dictate what we do. He does not merely head off our worry so we don’t have to deal with it. Why does He not do this? Because it is only by being attacked by the worries, doubts, and fears that we will realize just how much we need Him. He longs for us to cry out and earnestly entreat Him for help at these times. Also, He wishes us to realize that we can be free from worry because of what He does, and not because of our own abilities. Thus, God desires that we pray and make supplications to Him, specifically naming our requests. This is more than just a “God help me!” While He can and sometimes does answer such a request, He desires us to earnestly plead with Him for his mercy, grace, and help. The word “prayer” here implies the idea of worship, while “supplication” is dealing with petitioning God. Even when going through difficult times, we should still have an attitude of reverent worship for God. We should worship Him both for what He has done in the past and what He will do in the future. We should also just worship Him for who He is. It is in this manner that we should lay out our requests before our loving and merciful God.

The final element of this section is actually in the middle of the previous element. It tells us that our prayers, supplications, and requests are to be made “with thanksgiving.” We can be thankful for how God has worked in our lives in answering prayer in the past. Also, however, we can be thankful for how He will answer the requests that we are currently entreating Him for. We can be assured that He hears our earnest requests and desires, and that He wants to answer them in a way that will benefit us and glorify Him.

Experiencing the Peace of God - Part One

A study on Philippians 4:6-7, by Christopher Tero

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)

INTRODUCTION

How many times do we deal with worry and anxiety in our lives? Most people deal with them quite a bit! In these verses, Paul is encouraging us not to become bogged down with worry, but to turn our worries over to God through prayer. God does not want us to be continually worrying over the different things that come our way in life, whether great or small. He wants us to be able to rest in His peace, and for our hearts and minds to be calm in Christ.

BACKGROUND VERSES

Leading up to this passage, Paul exhorts us in verse four to “Rejoice in the Lord alway,” and, just in case we don’t get it, he continues “and again I say, Rejoice.” One of the first things that a person needs in order to have peace is to have a heart that rejoices in God. According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, the Greek word translated as “Rejoice” means to be cheerful or calmly happy. Everyone who is a Christian should be able to have this attitude because of what Christ has done for them. When are we to rejoice? Always! We should at all times have an attitude of rejoicing in Christ.

In verse five we see Paul presenting two more points that can help us understand verses 6-7. First, Paul says “Let your moderation be known unto all men.” This would be dealing primarily with having a mild, gentle, and patient attitude. God has dealt this way with us, and this is how we should deal with others. Secondly, Paul states “The Lord is at hand.” This means that God is right there alongside of us, desiring to help us along in life. He is not, like some portray Him, an old man way up there in outer space who could care less what happens to us. Rather, He dwells within our heart, and is intimately concerned with our wellbeing.

Fundamentals Music Classes

By Daniel

Elizabeth and I had the opportunity to attend a three-week Music Fundamentals course with Ezekiel School of Music at Trinity Baptist Church, in Covington, Louisiana. The course was from January 16th through February 4th, 2011. We learned a lot, and I will do my best to give the highlights of the course.

Here are the topics that were covered:

Hymnology

We learned about our heritage of hymns from Moses to Modern. This was a very interesting class, as we learned about the history behind hymn-writers from the Bible, on through to modern day hymn-writers.

Music Notation

Our purpose in learning music notation was to be clear and precise in our notation, to accurately communicate our message, to teach and admonish others with the truth, and to prepare a written record for future remembrance. Put more simply, this means writing down music.

Introduction to Basic Theory

This class taught the basics of note reading, rhythm, intervals, chords, accidentals, and other things along that line.

Children’s Choir

We learned techniques for teaching songs to children, and had a final project in which we were required to completely plan and teach a song to a specified age group of children (the other class members role played the parts of a children’s choir).

Biblical Music

We looked at what God says about music in His Word, and learned how to discern between the holy and profane.

Song Leading

This was a very practical course, as most churches have singing services and need someone to lead them.  We looked at examples of singing in the Bible, and learned about the qualities that a song leader should have, as well as the technicalities of song leading.

Worship

We learned about the aspects of Biblical worship, and how to prepare and organize a church service.

Song Writing

We were required to write a song with lyrics and a melody. (Maybe some day, we’ll post them on here.)

Here are some of the points we learned:

  1. Scriptural basis for song-writing

  2. Lyric writing

  3. Working with Meter

  4. Working with Rhyme

  5. Melody writing in scripture

  6. The ministry of song-writing

Orchestration

We were required to write an orchestration for congregational accompaniment. We had to write out the conductor’s score, and write out parts for each instrument. This class was a lot of fun, and it was neat to hear how it all came together when the orchestra played the songs.

We wrote for the following instruments:

  1. B flat Trumpet

  2.Flute x2

  3. Oboe

  4. Violin x2

  5. Cello

  6. Trombone

  7. Orchestral Bells (Think of a Xylophone)

  8.Triangle (Percussion)

Piano

We learned about improvising, hymn playing, and accompanying for church and choir.

Here are some pictures:

Students in the "Study Hall"

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We had choir practice almost every day, to prepare for the Ezekiel School Concert on the last night we were there. The school also had a Music Harmony course going on at the same time, so they were part of the choir as well.

~*~

Elizabeth and Victoria at the Piano

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Amanda was taking the Music Harmony class at the same time, and played violin in the orchestra.

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Music Fundamentals Class of 2011

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Ezekiel School of Music Choir

It was a true blessing to be able to attend this course, and we look forward to seeing God work in our lives through music. Please pray that God will continue to lead and guide us as we seek to serve Him in this area, and in every area of our lives!

~*~*~

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Psalm 100:2

Ministry to the Elderly - March 2011

Yesterday, we ministered at Council on Aging and Grace Nursing Home. Because of sickness, we have had to cancel the past two months, so it was extra-special to visit them after a lull.

In recent weeks, we have heard banjo, dobro, and other instruments played in excess the younger children have decided to get a feel for the instruments. It is encouraging to see the younger children picking up on the instruments. It creates variety and even gives some of us older ones a chance to rest during presentations.

Enjoy the video of Samuel (banjo), Timothy (Dobro/resonator guitar), and Rachel (violin) sharing their first instrumental (with a little assistance from Rebecca on banjo and Amanda on violin)! 

~*~*~

I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto Thee.

Psalm 144:9

Tero Family in Cartoon

Sunday night, we had the privilege and blessing to meet Dr. Joe McKeever, the pastor who baptized Dad when he was a little boy. 

Dr. McKeever preached the final message for a "Healthy Church Conference" at Trinity Baptist Church in Pumpkin Center, Louisiana. Before the service, when Dr. McKeever was talking with Dad, he found out that we sing as a family. At his request, the church allowed us to share a song with them.

After the service, we were able to get to know Dr. McKeever as he spent time drawing cartoons. He insisted that he draw "the whole Tero family," so one by one, we filed by, smiling for him to "cartoon us." We had a blast and now have some wonderful memories.

Drawing upside down, Dr. McKeever told the little girls that he was drawing Dad. The girls giggled as this picture evolved:

Here is a look at our family - cartoon-style!

Daniel

This was his second try. :)

So . . . how'd he do?

~*~*~

A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: 

Proverbs 15:13a

In Love, We'll Let Them Fall

By Karen

God, our loving Father,

Gently holds our hands,

As, struggling, we try to walk

Along life’s drifting sands.

The times we sense our weakness,

His strength becomes our own,

Yet when we trust our own strength,

He lets us stand alone.

He yearns to gently teach us,

That He’s our all in all,

Yet in our stubbornness and pride,

Sometimes He lets us fall.

With humility and meekness,

We lift our hands and then

God gently takes them in His own

And helps us stand again.

As mothers and as fathers,

We hold our children’s hands,

As, struggling, they try to walk,

Along life’s drifting sands.

At times when they are lacking strength,

We share with them God’s own,

Yet should they push our hand away,

We’ll let them stand alone.

Above all else we’d have them learn

God is their all in all,

So in their stubbornness and pride,

With love, we’ll let them fall.

When humility and meekness come,

We’ll grasp their hands and then,

We’ll gently take them in our arms,

And help them stand again.

~*~*~

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens.

Lamentations 3:40-41