Harvest of Thanks

We rose early this past Sabbath as we were heading over to Alfred, ND for the Church of God 7th Day's annual Harvest of Thanks. This day is one of the highlights of the whole year for us and we were excited. Jacob snapped this of me as we whizzed down the road in my dad's car.
Harvest of Thanks means lots of beautiful Fall decorations scattered both inside and outside of the church building.

A cute, little scarecrow greeted us when we arrived at the entrance.

Here our menfolk were entering the church. Just inside was our dear friend, Tim K, who was greeter for the day. A little further in was his wife, Kimberly, who always makes me smile. Many others were there whom we love and my heart was filled with joy when they said unto me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord!"
People from Fargo; Devil's Lake; my hometown of Eureka, SD; some of us from the Napoleon area and some from other states meet together in Alfred once a year to worship and praise the God of the Bible who blesses us with bounty.

I was just thinking that we have bounty every year of one sort or another, don't we? On the bad crop years, our faith in God's provision grows so our bounty is one of faith. This year we had incredible crops, so I hope that doesn't mean that our faith will be scarce! That certainly is something to be aware of.

In this picture I was trying to get the musicians over in the corner, but only got our friend, Curt. Harvest of Thanks means LOTS of soul-stirring and often toe-tapping music. I'm not sure why these pictures are so dark but I hope that you can still see them.

This is a picture of the pastor of the Alfred church who is our dear friend--Pastor Steve. You ought to hear him sing praises to our Lord ANY Sabbath, but especially on Harvest of Thanks!

The speaker for the weekend was just phenomenal. We weren't able to attend the first 2 messages on Thursday and Friday night but we were told that soon they will be on the website. If you would like to be inspired to walk more closely with the Lord, you can watch for them right along with us at the Alfred website: churchofgodalfred.com

This is a women's trio with 2 of my dear friends in it. Renae in the middle and Kimberly on the right. You may recall seeing us with them a few weeks back when Kimberly was celebrating her son's birthday and we were invited. Anyway, I just LOVE to hear (even better to be a part of) a women's trio! These 3 ladies voices blend together very nicely! They are the praise team which leads the congregation in a few praise choruses each week. We are so happy, though, that hymns are also a steady part of the musical diet at Alfred!

After the morning service, the Alfred church treated us to a feast of feasts. I was so glad that I had picked the noon meal on Sabbath for my reward meal!!! I actually had 2 desserts without any guilt. :)

After lunch was all put away, the time at Alfred that I love the most came up next. Anyone of any age has always been welcome to share their love for the Lord through a song, poem, or skit during the afternoon program.

I sang, "You're the only Jesus," which is a song that totally changed my life years ago when I felt that there was nothing great that I'd ever do for the Lord. Cora recorded it and I believe plans to post it on her computer as soon as it cooperates. One lady came to me afterwards and said, "The spirit of God fell on us as you sang!" WOW. I had hoped to be able to touch hearts with the knowledge that the world is aching for us to share God's love with them. I pray that my song did for others what my pastor did 22 years ago when he shared it with our small congregation in Bismarck. These words, "You're the only Jesus that some may ever know," have haunted me ever since he sang that song. God bless Pastor Ray for piercing through my "Littleness" and helping me to realize that it's a great BIG thing to love others in the name of Jesus. AMEN?

I forgot to mention that Andrew and I sang with the choir in the morning. I love singing in choirs and it brought me great joy that Andrew WANTED to sing along. We sang a song I'd never heard before called, "Crimson Stream." It's words have been flowing through me ever since as I realize that when I am cleansed in the stream of the blood of Christ, I am TRULY clean. WOW!

Many people shared of their musical abilities and their love for the Lord. Here is our friend, Curt with his 4 children. I think that Cora will play their video too if her computer ever cooperates. You absolutely have not lived until you have heard these 4 children sing the praises of our King!

We all laughed when Curt said to the sound man, "Turn the blue mic down." The blue mic was in the hand AND mouth of the youngest of their family and he was having a GOOD TIME--even BEFORE the song began!!!

Man, can this guy play the trombone!!! I told him that I used to play trombone but gave it up to continue studying voice when I went to collage. He laughed and said, "I'll never give up playing this thing." Matt is a wonderful musician AND a wonderful man of God!!!!!

These are the four youngest daughters of our friends, Terry and Cathy with Amber on the piano. We have known these girls since they were little. It's so wonderful to know that they're still praising the Lord on into young adulthood.

Two of my treasures (Cora and Jacob) sat with us while Andrew sat up front with the musicians. He's never done this before, but he had taken along his banjo and thought that he might try his hand at playing backup for any of the songs which seemed to lend themselves to banjo music.

There weren't too many banjo-ish songs, but Andrew seemed to enjoy sitting up by Betty Jo (my dear friend who plays piano over there); Curt (another dear friend who is great on guitar); and Michelle who also plays guitar and is the daughter of my deceased friend, Harris. It's impossible for me to attend Harvest of Thanks and not miss Harris as his smile lit up the whole church that day. HARRIS LOVED HARVEST OF THANKS!!!!!!!!! I STILL MISS HIM SO MUCH AS HE FILLED THE ROLE OF ADOPTED DAD TO ME DURING MY LONG ILLNESS!!

Andrew surprised us by signing up to play a banjo solo. He's such a goof as he told the story about the drunk who told the preacher that the Lord's name was Andy. "Andy," said the preacher, "whatever gave you that idea?" Andrew made his voice drawl out like a drunk (I wonder where he learned that?), "Andy walks with me, Andy talks with me." Everyone laughed and then Andrew concluded the afternoon program with, "I go to the garden alone." I managed to resist not singing the chorus along with him, "And He walks with me and He talks with me." :)

After the program I went in search of my friends, Lyle and Becky. Jacob told me that they had just left so I was disappointed that I hadn't more time to visit with them than when they came in. I was thankful, though, that the Lord answered my prayer for some exercise by bringing me an "Older" woman to walk with. She is my new inspiration, as she is in very good shape, but I kept up with her pretty well. It made me happy to see how much my endurance has improved since I began THE NEW ME DIET a month and a half ago.

We ate a very light supper and then Cora and I helped clean up the kitchen. Robert was visiting with an old friend from Eureka while the boys played football (a first for them). Finally at long last I got to sit down with my dear friend Carla, who is Curt's wife and the mother to those 4 singing cuties.

Carla has been having a long struggle with her health and it was so good to visit with someone who understands how very difficult it is to regain your health after you've been on your deathbed. I love her sooooooooooooooooooooo much. Hang in there, Carla!

As usual, we were the last ones to leave the church. Everyone had gone over to the refinished old schoolhouse except Carla and I and Robert and his dear friend, Elroy. Elroy locked up the door as we left for home. Everyone in the Bornemann family was VERY happy, for the fellowship with those who truly love the Lord is always a joy from morning to night. I was pleased that I had very little pain all day and was even able to go for a walk. We are talking about leaving home at 8:30 in the morning and returning at 9:00 at night. Praise the Lord!

Well, we got home; did chores; ate home made ice cream together; and headed for bed the happiest that we'd been in a long, long time. Thank you, Lord, for the believers at the Church of God 7th Day in Alfred, ND and all who came from far and wide to share in their special day! Thank you, Lord, for making ME a part of your awesome, loving family that is spread out all over the world. Who could ever be sad when they belong to THAT family?

I hope that you all enjoyed reading about the highlights of my day. I hope that you are eager to join us next year in Alfred for their wonderful HARVEST OF THANKS!!!!!!!!!!! Until then, I pray that you'll keep a song in your heart and share God's love with the lonely world all around you.

God bless those who truly love Him,

Dawn