✝ Daily Encouragement (7/25/22) "Family Reunion"
Published: Mon, 07/25/22
A daily, Bible-based perspective of hope, encouragement and exhortation. The online Bible teaching ministry of Stephen & Brooksyne Weber.
You are receiving this email because you have signed up to receive our Daily Encouragement messages or it was forwarded to you. Don't forget to add [email protected] to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox! Having trouble viewing this email? Click here.
You are receiving this email because you have signed up to receive our Daily Encouragement messages or it was forwarded to you. Don't forget to add [email protected] to your address book so we'll be sure to land in your inbox! Having trouble viewing this email? Click here.
|
Monday, July 25, 2022
 "The Steincross
Farm"
Click on photo to enlarge "Family Reunion"
Note: Today's message is a bit more personal than most but we hope it will stimulte you to wholesome thinking (2 Peter 3:1). Due to the family reunion we write about in today's message we do not expect to post another daily encouragement message again until Wednesday or Thursday.
Message summary: Today we consider the brevity of mortal life and the vital importance of keeping the main thing (living for Christ) the main thing.
"Generations come and generations go" (Ecclesiastes 1:4). Early this week we will have our 48th annual Steincross family reunion here in Lancaster County. Steincross is the last name of my (Stephen's) grandpa. His German immigrant father named him George Washington Steincross after our first president. He and my grandma passed away in the early 70's. They had six girls, including my Mom, and one boy. They are all gone now but their grandchildren and families still gather annually for a reunion. We expect to have over 50 family members, most coming from the Midwest. We have some experiences we feel the family will enjoy including an evening on the Old Windmill Farm where we will reminisce about our memories on the Steincross farm and other family memories. Tuesday evening we will have dinner in an Amish Farmhouse near Leola. Of course we expect people will enjoy some of our other Lancaster County tourist features like the Sight and Sound, Strasburg Railroad, Central Market and other local
attractions.
These perennial gatherings always bring back my childhood memories of the wonderful times spent with my MaMa and PaPa (as we called my grandparents). Back then we met in tiny Harwood Missouri with all my aunts, uncles and cousins. We didn’t call it a reunion back then; we just all got together and enjoyed laughing together, family stories and always the good food around the table! The old Steincross farmhouse was built in the 1800’s and my grandpa was born there in 1882. It was in the Steincross family for over 100 years. I see it's still there on the latest Google map (location and streetview photo) so they built it well! Interestingly, a lot of Amish have moved into that area in recent years. My aunt and uncle lived there all through my childhood and early adult years. Before my uncle passed away it received the designation, “Centennial Farm”. I have many childhood memories of this farm as well as the small, white frame house in town about a mile away that my grandparents lived in. In my late teens my grandparents died and their children established the annual reunion to keep the family ties, since by that time relatives had scattered all over the country. That entire generation is now gone but we grandchildren keep it going, although we are thinning out now. Indeed, "generations come and generations go". Now the little ones running around at the reunion are MaMa and PaPa’s great, great grandchildren and even some great, great, great grandchildren. Now my generation would be considered seniors, several having reached Octogenarian age. When you’re young you have such a sense of immortality don’t you? But this mortal life so quickly passes. You either know what I mean or you soon will. Reunions are a reminder of how temporary life really is, how fast it goes by and the need to place a focus on what really matters. Today I encourage you to examine both your roots ("generations come") and your destination "generations go"). Use my musings as a stimulus for your own musings. "Generations come and generations go". You have come and you are most certainly going. The vital question for all of us is where are we going and are we ready to go there?
Be encouraged today, (Hebrews 3:13)
Stephen & Brooksyne Weber
 Daily prayer: Father, we’re reminded in the wise words of Solomon that "There is a time for everything, and a
season for every activity under heaven; a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot". You have made everything beautiful in its time and You set eternity in the hearts of people. None of us can fathom what You have done from beginning to end. That everyone may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil – this is a gift from You! What great fulfillment when we are productive people and do good works in Your name. May it bring honor to You, may
it bless our families, and may it be a good model for those who follow. In the precious name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
(See Ecclesiastes 3)
Today's Suggested Music and Supplemental Resources
"Find Us
Faithful" Video
Let There Be Praise Singers A great song reminding us to stay faithful not only for our own testimony but for those who come behind
us!
"Psalm 90" Video Shane & Shane
Here's the newspaper article about our first reunion in 1975 referencing Miss "Brookine"! I sometimes wonder, after being announced in a big-time paper that she was a "soon to be" family member she felt obligated to marry me, since we were only in the dating stage at the time of the reunion! "What Children Believe" Video Gold City A thought-provoking song. Saturday they were harvesting fresh cut flowers on Cramers Farm here on Kraybill Church Road. This is the same farm where our friends Jesse and Anna Ruth lived when we first met in early 2003 shortly after they got married.
 It was a very hot day (mid-nineties) for the hardworking crew who cut the flowers.
 The flowers are sold commercially and many will wind up as arrangements sold in nearby cities.
 This horse and wagon often passes our home now as the Amish population in our area continues to grow.
|
Listen to these messages
