Author Archives: Ellen

The Martyr’s Hymn

 

The Martyr’s Hymn

All human progress up to God
Has stained the stairs of time with blood;
For every gain for Christendom
Is bought by someone’s martyrdom.

For us he poured the crimson cup,
And bade us take and drink it up.
Himself he poured to set us free.
Help us, O Christ, to drink with Thee.

Ten thousand saints come thronging home,
From lion’s den and catacomb.
The fire and sword and beasts defied;
For Christ, their King, they gladly died.

With eye of faith we see today
That cross-led column wind its way
Up life’s repeated Calvary.
We rise, O Christ, to follow Thee!

Words: Dr. Francis Rose

“During World War II, eleven missionaries were martyred on the Island of Panay in the Philippines. One of these was Dr. Francis Rose, who had penned these poignant and challenging words in what is commonly called “The Martyr’s Hymn.”

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary 2 Timothy.

 

Summertime Bible Verse Challenge

Two more Thursdays for our Summertime Bible Verse Challenge. Thank you for leaving your verse/verses in the comments so I can add them below.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

From Vera:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.”
‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19‬ ‭ESV‬‬

From Libby:

“May the Lord be praised! Day after day He bears our burdens; God is our salvation. Selah

Ps. 68:19 HCSB

From HappyOne (Karen):

Isaiah 40:8

The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

From Maristella:

Matthew 5:15-16

“Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven”.

Up and Down Hodgepodge

We drove down to Spokane for my last eye exam on Tuesday and once there the skies were not as smoke filled. This photo below is of the Spokane river looking west. Spokane is about 70 miles south of us.

Jo From This Side of the Pond has given us the Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions for the week.

1. Monday, August 16th was National Roller Coaster Day. Are you a fan? Did you celebrate? Last place/time you rode a roller coaster? 

Not enough of a fan to mark this day with any kind of celebration. Last place I rode something that resembles a roller coaster was at Disneyland in 2009.

2. Tell us about a time in your life where it felt like you were figuratively riding a roller coaster. 

The first thing that comes to mind is when we lost all the equity in our ‘dream’ home in 1996 because of a landslide. This was the first home we purchased in Washington State with our California equity in 1988. The period of time from 1996 until 1999 moving from rental to rental was a rollercoaster for many reasons including having all of Dear’s mother’s belongings to move, too. Moving a baby grand piano 3 times in 3 years was not ideal. We thought we’d never be able to get another home loan because of the fact that we gave our home back to the bank and our record would be marred for life but when we sheepishly applied for a loan in 1999 to purchase our Kenmore home we were shocked to find out there was nothing in our history to show we defaulted on our loan. God erased that bad mark in our home buying history.

3. Favorite treat to eat at an amusement park or state fair? 

Fair Scones! Our county fair is happening at the end of August this year after being cancelled last year. Looking forward to attending it.

4. Are you easy to get along with? Elaborate. 

Yes, I think so. I try to give people including myself enough slack to be comfortable. Is that elaborate enough?

5. Something on your calendar to see-do-read-accomplish or just enjoy before month’s end? 

Our oldest and his dear wife celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary before month’s end!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We got rain on Tuesday, lots of rain and we are thankful to God for that. We hope this will help with the fires in our area.

Mid August

On August days when the skies cleared of smoke Addy and JJ enjoyed activities outside. They are really mastering their bicycle skills.

Our daughter-in-law and four of our nieces enjoyed several days in Maui celebrating Melissa’s 40th birthday in style. She’s a beach girl through and through so this was an appropriate destination for the celebration. An amazing ‘cousin’ time.

Addy’s week of VBS culminated with a short program Friday night for parents and Addy thinks that VBS was great!

Our daughter Katie and Andrew were in New York over this past weekend for the wedding of one of Andrew’s Marine buddies. Andrew was in the wedding. This wedding was supposed to happen a while back but then the you know what postponed it. They had a wonderful time celebrating outside of Albany, New York.

My last follow-up cataract appointment is on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to ordering some glasses on that day. The other thing we are looking forward to on Tuesday is a major cooling down and some rain in the forecast, too. Hoping for clear skies on Wednesday with some new fires getting contained.

What does your week look like?

A Mighty Fortress is Our God ~ Hymn

Broadway Day 7 031

A Mighty Fortress is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and power are great,
And, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side,
The Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim,
We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Through Him who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also;
The body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Words and Music: Martin Luther, 1529.

This song has been called the great­est hymn of the great­est man of the great­est per­i­od of Ger­man his­to­ry, and the Bat­tle Hymn of the Re­for­ma­tion. It was sung at the fun­er­al of Am­er­i­can pre­si­dent Dwight Ei­sen­how­er at the Na­tion­al Ca­thed­ral in Wash­ing­ton, DC, March 1969.

Summertime Bible Verse Challenge

Good day everyone. If you have a verse/verses to share today add them to the comments and I’ll post them below. Thank you in advance to all who come by to read and to share.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (ESV)

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.

From Vera:

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭22:12-13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

From Maristella:

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

‭‭From Willow:

Isaiah 33:6

And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; The fear of the Lord is his treasure.

All in the Family Hodgepodge

Jo From This Side of the Pond posted some questions for Wednesday Hodgepodge this week even though she has a busy houseful. She picked the appropriate theme. Thank you Jo!
1. What’s something you would say ‘runs in your family’?
Our firm foundation in Christ runs in our family.
~
2. A book, song, tv show, or movie you love that is centered around family. 
Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle all 5 hours and 23 minutes of it.
~
3. Family matters, family ties, family tree, family man, family fortune, black sheep of the family, family values, one big happy family…choose a ‘family phrase’ that applies to your life currently and explain. 
One big happy family. With half of us on the west side of the Cascades and half of us on the east side visits usually have us all together and we do have happy times. Our next big happy family time will be in the fall when we all gather for a family wedding in North Carolina. The 10 of us will be staying in a home we rented on Lake Hickory for 4 nights.
~
4. Last thing you fixed for a big family dinner? If you’re not the cook, last thing you were served at a big family dinner? 
The last thing we served for 6 of us here in Colville was flat iron steak, baked potatoes, roasted cauliflower, corn muffins and a blueberry buckle for dessert.
Some of our family do not appreciate fish so when Josh was here a couple weeks ago we took advantage and served the 7 of us a yummy Cioppino as an appetizer full of mussels, clams, shrimp, calamari, in a flavorful broth (we bought that at Costco and just warmed it up). Then we had Tilapia, jasmine rice, salad, maybe broccoli, and good crusty bread. We had something for dessert but I can’t remember what. Whatever it was I won’t make it again since it was so unmemorable. Oye.
~
5. What are three words you would use to describe your family. 
Team
Supportive
Fun
We work well together as a team to get things done and we are supportive of each other and we like to make things fun.
After all the good times we have together we also enjoy being back home alone in our own space.
~
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Addy has two new experiences she’s enjoying this month. This week every evening from 6-8:30 she is attending Vacation Bible School at our church. The halls and gym are thundering with boys and girls from 3 years old to 6th grade enjoying a good time learning about the God that created them. Next year JJ will be able to join in.
The whole church is decorated in the Island theme. Very colorful!
~
Addy’s also learning soccer skills on a team a couple days a week. That’s bringing back some good memories of all the soccer we enjoyed when our kids were little.
Our dear mom and pop left us with an encouragement before they died to love each other and stay together, I’ll leave that with you, too.

Refreshing

In the last week we have had a couple of refreshing rainfalls that our yard soaked up. There was lightning and thunder which always brings the threat of starting more fires so everyone is on edge with these events.

The cool down of the weather made it so enjoyable to walk about and to take these photos. Taking advantage of the under 90 degree day we tackled some weeds.

The bunny trio are unaffected by changes in the weather.

We’ve enjoyed cooler temps the last 4 days with Sunday being the coolest into the 70’s! Woohoo. Today we are heading up again to the 90’s and later this week we will be over 100 degrees. Time for me to start watering again.

This past week we’ve had a doe and fawn visit. That’s always a treat. I’ll be sharing some photos soon.

Our Pastor has been preaching out of the Psalms this summer. Sunday was Psalm 46. God is our refuge, river, and ruler. He covered the whole Psalm and here are just the two beginning verses.

Psalm 46:1,2

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Enjoy the 10th day of August friends!