In His Image

Ok, it’s my fault I haven’t posted in a while, but let me fill you in. We had about 600 people at the funeral and ended up feeding about 500 of them. It was a moving service with her brother Dawson leading the singing and her other brother, Nolan, giving a short synopsis of her life. A good friend of our church, Keith Yates or affectionately known as “Bear,” shared two songs. Bear is blind and was rejected by his family as a baby and grew up in a bunch of homes. It was so neat, to see the joy on his face when he came to the last verse of looking forward to heaven, even after he struggled so much with his emotions the first few verses. My father brought a message on the fact the “Precious in the eyes of the Lord are the death of His saints!” Click in the picture for a larger view. Afterwards, the pall bearers loaded the casket into the back of our van for the trip out to the cemetery. It was a drive of almost 30 miles since we had to use the largest church in the area. We had c...

This evening as we had the viewing for Krystal, Val told me that he almost feels bad cause here we are weeping our eyes out and he is just so drained from all the crying he’s done that he has no tears left.  I assured him that we understood and felt no hard feelings whatsoever. In some ways it is so tough to have two funerals.  Yet this one is sure to be the harder of the two because of tomorrow.  Here at Kitchi, the graveside service is different than any other service I was ever at before moving here.  First of all, we dig the grave by hand.  Then when the casket is lowered into its wooden vault, the lid is screwed or nailed down and then they fill the grave back in by hand.  A few years ago when Krystal’s daughter Kayla was buried there, each of the children and Val helped to fill in the grave.  They were not told to do this, it was simply done by them. I watched as the family struggled with their emotions and wond...

Today was a little different for me, I did something that I had never done before, I helped dig a grave by hand.  A lot of thoughts go through your mind when you do work like that.  And no, I am not superstitious and feel all creepy and crawly, but it really makes you think. This wooden casket holds a body and someday will be indistinguishable from the ground around it which we are digging out now.  The wood will rot and man will return to the form that he had at the beginning of time, dirt.   I asked myself why?  Why didn’t God make us to disappear completely, body and all when we die?  Why the cruel and harsh reality of how disposable we are?  And the only thing I can come up with is this.  God uses death to remind us that this life is only for here.  We came into this world with nothing and we most assuredly will take nothing with us when we leave.  Life here is final.  There...

The service in east is going to be held at Gateway Minitries 11017 Kemps Mill Rd, Williamsport, MD 21795 at 10:30 Wednesday, January 11 Here is a map Map of 11017 Kemps Mill Rd Williamsport, MD 21795-3129, US For the service here in Minnesota, there will be a viewing Friday evening from 4-6 and from 7-9. We are not absolutly sure where yet but we will know tommorrow. The funeral service will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, January 14, at the Evengilical Covenant Church in Bemidji. The doors will open 1 hour prior to the service for early arrivals. There will be a meal following in the church's fellowship hall. There is a lot of food being brought but if you want to bring a dish for the meal, or for the family in the days to follow, that is fine. The church is located just west of Bemidji on Highway 2, past the Bemidji Airport and beside Dave Walters Mobile homes.

We have some news as far as the dates for the services in memory of Krystal Yoder. In Pennsylvania, they are planning a service for Wednesday, January 11. They do not know the time or place yet as people have been hard to get a hold of. I will post it here on my blog with directions, once we find it out. Here in Minnesota, we will be having a service on Saturday, January 14 around 10 am.Internment will follow the service. We also do not know the place but I will send it out once we know. Please pray for the family and the host of people traveling for these services. As of this morning, Krystal's mother and step-father, Ron & Fannie Mae, Krystal's brother, Dawson, and Val's mother Clara Mae, have started driving towards Pennsylvania with the casket and with the snow, I know they would appreciate your prayers.

Today God Saw fit to take another of His gems home. We received word this afternoon that Krystal Yoder, wife of Val Yoder, was ushered into the presence of her beloved Savior. She has had a long battle with her heart and today it gave out on her while attending a wedding in Lancaster Pennsylvania. Her brother who is a medical doctor was there with her and said that she could not have been revived even if she had been at the best hospital. It was her time to go. Please pray for their family! Their oldest son is in Thailand doing prep work for the whole family to move there next year. This also happened at the same time that Val was attending a meeting to plan the development of a Bible school for Asians in Thailand. Pray for the family’s strength in all of this!!