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God is kind, but he’s not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.

Romans 2:4 (The Message)

Birds ~ Highway News ~ A Cemetery

Photos From This Week

These three finches looked pretty on Tuesday morning when the dogwood tree branches were icy.

Ice crystals on a sparrow’s tail.

I think feather patterns are so interesting and pretty.

Wednesday morning Rachel and Glenn Fahnestock and John and Arlene Heisey were here to help label the individual Highway News & Good News.

We are so grateful for their help.

It doesn’t take long when six people work at it – just over an hour and a half.

If Cerwin and I did it alone, it would take almost five hours.

The cemetery where three of the four boys will be buried this weekend is about a mile away from us. (See yesterday’s post about the accident.)

I took this picture from our house.

It made me sad to drive by the cemetery because men were working at the grave sites.

Pray for the families as they say their final goodbyes during the next two days.

This morning there was two more inches of snow on the ground, so the birds had to work to reach the seeds.

The late morning was sunny, but cold and windy.

After watching me enjoy our daughter Deb’s 75 to 300 power lens while my 18 to 200 is at the repair shop, Cerwin decided to buy me another lens for my birthday. It came this afternoon – a Nikon 55 to 300.  

I know I am going to like it!

Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. [Jesus]

Matthew 11:29 (The Message)

The Weekend

January 15-16

We were up early on Saturday morning to attend a prayer breakfast at Yoder’s where Cerwin was in charge of the devotional and a TFC update.

We enjoyed visiting with those who braved the cold weather.

 I was blessed to listen to the men sharing some of their experiences on the road – and the challenge of sharing the love of Christ with those they meet.

Following breakfast Cerwin shared a short challenge and some of the new things that are happening in TFC.

After enjoying the fellowship, and purchasing a few groceries at Yoder’s, we stopped at Class 8 Parts for some LED lights. These lights are used to design crosses for truckers who wish to have a lighted cross on their grill.

I have never gone inside, but decided to look around. I wasn’t there long before a trucker touched my elbow to get my attention. I was so glad I went inside, because when I asked how he was doing, he told me that his truck was in the shop from a recent accident when another driver slid into him on an icy road. I love God’s timing. Now I know to keep him in my prayers. 

Our next stop was the retirement community where Cerwin’s mother lives. She made lunch for us, while Cerwin sorted through mail on which she had questions, and I balanced her checkbook.

After lunch we went to Lancaster Rehab to visit Nan Schock who was here following surgery on vertebra in back of her neck. (These are photos from the Internet.) We visited Nan in the rehab room above.

Nan’s husband, Jay, is employed by TFC as a chaplain and chaplain trainer.

After getting home, Cerwin was pleased to get this picture of a cardinal just outside our window. They are difficult to photograph because they notice every movement inside the house.

Our Amish neighbors going away

It was a nice weekend…

…until we received the tragic news that four of our local school’s young football players were killed in a late Sunday morning car accident. Two were fifteen and the other two were sixteen.

Three of our teenage grandsons were here after lunch to watch football, and began receiving text messages long before it hit the news. It’s had a sobering effect on our whole community, as football is a big deal for our school, and many of us know the Friday night scores and the names of the top players.

There is a public viewing for all four of them tonight (January 20) at a local mega church where the crowd can be handled, and another viewing and memorial service tomorrow. (The local news is reporting that there were 5,000 at the viewing tonight.)

There will be private services for each one this weekend.

May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 (The Message)

More Winter Stuff

January 12

More pictures from the snowfall during the night of January 11 and the early morning of January 12.

These pictures were all taken through a window or open door of our house.

By noon the birds had worked their way through the snow and reached the seeds.

Cerwin decided to use a shovel instead of the snowblower.

I love the 300 power zoom

I chose to stay inside and study for an upcoming Women’s Day of Refreshment at our church.

You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well.

Deuteronomy 4:9 (Contemporary English Version)

The good life begins in the fear of God—do that and you’ll know the blessing of God. His hallelujah lasts forever!

Psalm 111:10 (The Message)

Hershey Family Bible

From the 1800’s

One of my distant cousins is working on a Hershey heritage that involves the nine siblings of my grandpa, Milton Lutz Hershey.

She wants information about the homestead where the ten children grew up – which is also where I grew up, and where my youngest brother Steve lives today.

One of the questions she asked, was, “Does anyone have an old family Bible”?

I knew I had one here, but wasn’t sure who was the original owner, so pulled it out of its storage place.

The writing inside the cover said it was given to my grandpa by a John Lienard in 1949.

It seems that at one time it had been owned by a Dr. Joseph Hershey in 1852.

This Bible even includes some of the books of the Apocrypha, which I am not sure that I ever read. I’ll have to read this sometime.

The Apocrypha are documents that were not accepted into the canon of the New Testament by the orthodox church. The New Testament Apocrypha are those writings that were written by ancient Christians that were not accepted into the New Testament, while the Old Testament Apocrypha consist of Jewish documents that were not accepted into the Old Testament.

There are only two names on the birth record – John R. Hershy and Joseph R Hershy.

Hershey is spelled like this sometimes – Hershy, but it appears that the “e” is in the earlier spelling and in the newspaper articles that are included in the pages. So this may have been misspelled by the person who did the calligraphy.

From what I can discover by reading through our direct line of Hershey’s these two are not in my lineage – other than distant relatives.

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It would be fun to know if any of my readers know if these two men were in their lineage, because I know that some of you have “Hershey” blood in your veins.

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