Life Quote

“If we look externally there is a difference betwixt the washing of dishes and preaching of the Word of God;  but as touching to please God, in relation to His call, none at all.” 

~ William Tyndale

White Unto Harvest

 

"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

~ Matthew 28:18-20

To finish off our trip, we headed to the NCFIC White Unto Harvest Conference at Ridgecrest, NC.  What an incredible three days we spent being spiritually fed, instructed, and convicted by the Word, fellowshipping with other believers, and growing in our faith.

“Just before His ascension the Lord Jesus Christ delivers His last command. His last command ought to be our first priority. It’s a life-altering commission. If you get involved with Jesus the whole course of your life is shifted. You are not your own. He puts a mission upon you to go out and make disciples of all the nations. He delivers you from the smallness of your own dreams. He delivers you from yourself; from wasting your life in the way that you think you would like to live it. He changes your heart and he puts His mantle of authority upon you in the same way that He did Elijah and Elisha. This is what the great commission is all about, and it is truly a great commission.”

~Scott Brown

“Here is a large secret of why the Puritan evangelistic method was so successful: The Puritans were living transcripts of their sermons. They lived the way they preached. It was said of the Puritans they were as holy in private as they appeared to be on the pulpit.”

~ Dr. Joel Beeke

Diligently taking notes.

“Our mission is to advance the faith. We are to go to the four corners of the earth. We are to declare the lordship of Christ; His Kingship. We are to make disciples of nations. We are to teach all things, whatsoever God has commanded. We dare not stand with those men in either extreme of the precipice of presumption – the one declaring the end of nations and the imminent destruction of the earth, or the other, heralding the restoration of the righteous rule of Christ over the nations within this generation. We’re in this fight for the long haul. We’re in it to the death. We’re here as long as God requires, be that one generation or a thousand! We’re not blind to our place in history. We’re not blind to the great commission work of the past. We’re not blind to the building of Christendom; to the gospel commission that was given our forefathers. That’s why we embrace the obligation. Ours is a gospel mission that brings the only message capable of piercing the heart and transforming the man. Ours is a great commission mandate that seeks the discipleship of nations. Ours is a dominion cause that reminds us that the earth is the Lord’s and that we are duty-bound to subdue it for His glory. To these ends we purpose to be about the business of building the church and the new men of the 21st century.” 

~ Doug Phillips

“One day you will be exposed for what’s in your heart and all the manners and all the morality and all the historic virtue and classical living will not help you when you stand before God. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse you. You must run to Him. You must run to Him. You must run to Him.”  

~Paul Washer

Our family really enjoys the panel sessions at the end of most conferences.  The final panel for this conference included Doug Phillips, Paul Washer, Kevin Swanson, Jesse Saint, and Dan Horn.  In this picture, Mr. Saint (Nate Saint’s grandson) shared how the Lord saved him while serving with his family as a missionary to the tribe that murdered his grandfather.  He shared that the same hands that speared his grandfather, baptized him as a follower of Jesus Christ.  It was not the same murderer, for the old man had been transformed into the new man in Christ.  What an amazing story demonstrating God’s sovereign power over all mankind!

Meeting with some sweet friends we met through blogging.

On Saturday evening after the conference was over, many families gathered together for an informal time of singing hymns.  It was such an appropriate response after all we had learned about our Great God.  After an hour of singing, over 100 had gathered around a piano with violins and continued singing until 11 p.m. Clara is waiting with her friends for the singing to begin. 

Next year’ s conference is entitled “The Worship of God.”  To learn more go here.

Pumpkin Recipes!

Pumpkins are certainly one of the symbols of the autumn season.  This year we were blessed to receive many “slightly” rotten pie pumpkins from a local corn maze.  Our house has recently smelled of baking pumpkins, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, pumpkin butter, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin oatmeal.  Delicious!
We were asked to post a few of our recipes, so here are two delicious ones we have enjoyed this season.

Pumpkin Bisque

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced bacon or turkey lunchmeat
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
peel of 1 lemon, finely grated
1/3 cup half and half or plain yogurt
~Melt butter in a medium pan.  Add onion and bacon and saute until bacon is lightly browned.  Add white wine and cook until reduced, 4 to 5 minutes.  Add chicken broth and pumpkin puree.  Stir in thyme and grated lemon.  Add half and half and simmer 5 minutes.  Do not allow to boil.  My mom made this recipe (tripled) in the crockpot which worked great.  Very delicious with chunks of cheese in it:)

Pumpkin, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups flour
2 1/3 cups oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup yogurt or applesauce (if flaxseed is available, I use about 1/2 cup of it and cut the yogurt or applesauce down to 3/4 cup)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar (I usually use honey)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
~Combine all the dry ingredients.  Cream yogurt or applesauce and all sugars.  Add the pumpkin, egg, and vanilla and mix well.  Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Chill dough for 30 minutes.  Form dough into golf ball size scoops and bake on an ungreased pan at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes.

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for one more post about the best part of our trip.

Friends and Amish Country

Puzzling over riddles at the other end of the table.

The ping-pong queen and a sweet friend.

Another sweet friend who happens to be a great cook!

The Penny Game, I’m stumped:)

We encountered  many buggies a few miles off the freeway in Lancaster County, PA.

Harvesting time by horse-power.

The view behind the local thrift shop!

One room Amish schoolhouses were scattered every few miles.  It was fun to drive by them during recess and see bare foot girls playing outside, while foot scooters lined the fence.

We stayed in an old farmhouse on a dairy farm run by a Christian farmer and his sons.  The milking process is automated and interesting.

Farm kittens.

The calves were our favorite farm friends:)

“Here kitty, kitty.”

Salty fingers, “Yum, yum!”

Milk mouths.

A newborn calf.

Good to the last drop!

Learning about the components of the feed.

We certainly had fun with the camera.  It was hard to take a “bad” scenic picture.

The view from our front porch.  Yes, those are calves in our front yard, smell and all:)

The view from the kitchen window.

Exploring the abandoned barn was great fun.

“Do my stockings go with my earrings?”

Hello from the hayloft!

That people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.

~ Isaiah 45:6

Looks like a postcard!

We walked down the street and met our Amish neighbors.  We enjoyed taking a ride with our neighbor’s grandson Samuel and talking with him.  Kyle enjoyed driving!  Yikes!

The day before, my parents saw three girls riding in this cart with the miniature horse.  The next day, it was parked in the schoolhouse.

This was definitely one of our favorite parts of the trip.  We enjoyed the farm and being surrounded by God’s creation in so many ways!

Washington’s Mt. Vernon

"No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this."
- George Washington

Peeping into the slave quarters.  They were much nicer than those displayed in our area.

When I first saw the house, I was surprised by how small it looked compared to what I was expecting.  We enjoyed the tour and seeing many pieces of original furniture.

The view from the house is magnificent.  It sits on a hill overlooking the Potomac River and rolling wooded hills.

Behind this handsome man are some longhorns lost in the shadows.

The color was beautiful!

Amen.

The museum was quite interesting and informative.  Our family has enjoyed reading about and studying the life of Washington.  God certainly worked mightily in him in the midst of seemingly hopeless situations.

The sword Washington carried during the Battle of Monongahela.

Commander in Chief at Valley Forge.

Enjoying a farewell of color before we head to some friends house.

“Remember that God is our only sure trust.  To Him, I commend you … My son, neglect not the duty of secret prayer”

~ the parting words of Washington’s mother

“But by the all-powerful dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectations; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!”

~ George Washington