GOD'S LITTLE ACRE
BUTTERFLY PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
PLAIN VIEW FARM, BRYANT, SD
GOD'S SEVENTH LITTLE ACRE
THE SPIRITUAL SIDE
Our Firm Foundation
Most of all we remember the spiritual life
and atmosphere of our home. The concern for
and dedicated efforts to live a Christian life.
This we remember in our home. The family devotions
each evening and on Sundays if we couldn't make it
to church in town because of road conditions.
This didn't happen very often because if the
roads were too wet, we'd go by horses and wheels.
If too much snow for the car, it was by horses
and sleigh. All week we worked to prepare our
clothes, shoes, lessons, and the conveyance so that
we should be found in our local congregation,
five miles from home.
Sundays for Church and God!
There we received Sunday School training in
which Papa was the superintendent for many
years, Mama and Papa both taught classes and sang
in the choir; Confirmation instruction, Vacation
Bible School (six weeks straight), then of course
with VBS we often had the teacher stay at
our house. This afforded us a ride. Otherwise we
could use a horse and buggy or walk if Papa needed
the horses in the field. Attending the church
services we did! Never did we ask "why?" even if
at times we wondered.
Christian Education--More The
Better
The trip to Bible Camp at Lake Geneva when
Papa fixed up the truck made over into a bus by which twenty people (family,
friends, relatives) got to attend, gave spiritual
assurance to several after the week. After grade
school we were privileged to attend Augustana
Academy, a trip which we took mostly by train
over a hundred miles from home.
A Sacrifice Reaps Lasting Gain
Always tears were shed as we left home.
Before Papa started the car, as we sat ready to leave,
and the younger ones with Mama standing by,
the finale was to sing "Praise God From Whom All
Blessings Flow!"--an unforgettable doxology hymn.
It left a deep impression and a long-remembered
tradition. Not only did the nine of us receive
Christian education, but somehow Papa and Mama put
aside monies so that even the grandchildren could
take advantage of the oportunity of attending
a Christian high school.
Thank God For A Christian Father
A Christian respect for the nation was
instilled in us, and Papa especially stressed Christian
leadership and gave tribute to Abraham Lincoln. We
thank God for parents who loved the Lord Jesus, read
the Word of God to us, practiced its teaching, being
faithful, and taught us to do the same. We thank God
for all Papa did for us.
Thank God For A Christian Mother
We thank God for Mama."The godly shall
flourish like palm trees. Those that are planted
in the house of the Lord are under His personal care".
Their Example Never Fades
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age
and be vital and green."(The Psalms) Mama
and Papa, your children, grandchildren, and great-
grand children and even those who follow, all need
God the Valiant, the Champion of the energetic, Who
can save from the mediocrity of a wasted life, the
emptiness of sin and the horror of misdirection.
Their Savior Never Fails
There He stands! The available Savior Who
is the understanding Friend and the competent
Counselor. Your children and children's children, Papa and
Mama, will become middle-aged, then old.
The living will become the dying. The strong will become
weak. The dreamers will become realists.
The process will never go in reverse, for the old
will not become young again.
A Golden Heritage Forever
Therefore, the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers
not only a frame for beauty, but offers beauty for the
hour when life has been rubbed naked of its luster. The
Grace of God is the sufficiency that makes the joyless hour
throb wth glory, that puts the glow of heaven on the fading
page of earth and makes even your children, grand-kids, and
great-grand- children jealous of the intimacies you have
shared with the Infinite when the values of love and life
have become distilled out of the fragrance of God.
--by Estelle (Stadem) Rangen ("Rixa")
PLUS OUR NEWEST LEVELS
THE TRIBUTE TO
PEARL
Stadem and Holbeck
Family Backgrounds, By Papa and Mama
Papas Letter of
Events of 1947
Plain View Farm Home Page
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