Do you have days of discouragement and feelings of being useless? Well, Isaiah 41:10 says: Don’t worry because I am with you. Don’t be afraid because I am your God. I will make you strong and will help you. I will support you with my right hand that saves you. I am the Lord your…
DetailsThe New Horizons Committee is thinking past the days of COVID lock down. They are ready to pack their car up and “Hit the Road” again. You may recall the purpose of the New Horizons program is to promote membership enthusiasm, rededication, and growth ensuring the future of IOKDS. However, the Committee needs to know…
DetailsData privacy is a topic of concern for our members, our donors, and those we serve. Data privacy is a growing issue, not a vanishing one. You may have done the “I am not a robot” quiz boxes many times by now. Security questions are a way we protect our username. You may have signed…
DetailsA glance over my kitchen counter and on the shelves on the back porch reveals the fact that I have too many kitchen gadgets—most that have only one function—including four crockpots in various shapes and sizes, a 4-slice toaster and toaster oven, a George Foreman grill, a Kitchen Aid stand mixer, and the newest arrival,…
DetailsIn lives fully lived, there exist both risks taken to achieve some greater good as well as risks avoided with the regrets that inevitably follow. Our days are filled with both adventure and caution. And while “nothing ventured, nothing gained” is often simply heard as a financial maxim related to the importance of receiving a…
DetailsFriendship… Golden threads Hold us Together. Over years… Ole Friend Just Met… New Friend. Alike Different “Peas in a pod” “Peas and carrots.” Talk, share, Solve, give, Love, rejoice, Suffer, grieve. Babies born. Families grow. Life changes. Friendship remains. A Sacred Trust, Friends. Always there. Forever Love. Older, wiser. Happier, sadder. Together, apart. Matters not.…
DetailsSubmitted by Mary Jane Mackenzie, sister of Carol and Aunt to Kylie Pictures attached include Carol Badger, aka Oma, her granddaughter Kylie, Kelly, chef at the Home and various residents. Kylie, the eight-year-old granddaughter of Carol Badger, a PA IOKDS member of the Lend A Hand Circle, Bethlehem, PA, approached Oma asking about volunteering at…
DetailsOn February 12, 2021, as I watched the on-going Senate Impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump, our 45th President, play out, I could only think of contrast in leadership styles from Abraham Lincoln, 16th President, who was born on this day. Today, April 14, is the perfect day to reflect on the life…
DetailsFor Whom the Bell Tolls by John Donne No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of…
DetailsNext to my house stands a large oak tree. Its branches spread out as they reach for the sky, as if in prayer to God. Many months ago, the leaves fell and winter blew in. Looking out of my bedroom skylight windows first thing each morning, I recently noticed three leaves clinging to a high…
DetailsBy Dr. Ginny Barnes RUTH MAJOR KING’S DAUGHTERS 60TH ANNIVERSARY I WAS FRUSTRATED TO SAY THE LEAST. MAYBE ANGRY AT THE MOST. THAT LITTLE UPSTART TELLING ME TO CHANGE! WHO’S SHE THINK I AM? I’M HER GRANDMA! FULL OF RADICAL IDEAS I THOUGHT. MINE ARE BETTER. CALLED ME “OLD SCHOOL” AS THOUGH IT WERE A…
DetailsAs I was recently preparing for our on-line worship at my congregation of Calvary Moravian Church in Allentown (during this time of the pandemic), one of the hymns I asked a singer in our congregation to record was “Open my Eyes, that I may See.” Soon afterward, I started preparations for an Ecumenical Virtual Gathering…
DetailsPrayer shapes believing. That is part of the thinking behind the Prayers-of-the-People and the rich collection of collects in our prayer book. As the church’s beliefs direct our prayers, we are formed in our concerns and led to the right actions in response. I am also learning that believing shapes our prayers. I am grateful…
DetailsAn IOKDS core value is collaboration. Perhaps never before has collaboration been required more than it is now as we turn the calendar pages one full year on the coronavirus pandemic. We are all worn out from it and by it. But our other foundational values of compassionate caring and faith tug at our heartstrings…
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