Irondale Church News

Irondale Church is a place of promise to grow and belong

February

Pray Always
Pastor David and Colleen
Community Soup
Irondale Bible Institute
Our outreach and witness to our community
Busy Hands
People struggling with
illness
Young families and
single parent families
Those struggling with
addictions
Schools: students,
staff, administrators
Missionaries
Homeless, helpless,
hopeless and hungry
Salvation for the lost
Law enforcement professionals
The military serving at
home and abroad

SILENCE ISNT ALWAYS GOLDEN

Recently I read an article
titled Silence isnt Golden.
It was written by Golden
Tate. Tate is a professional
football player who played
for the Seattle Seahawks and
is now with the Detroit Lions. Here is a little of his
story, then Ill get to the
point.

fans were circulating rumors about me, but more so

how my reputation became
tarnished in the process.
When those who dont even
know you, judge you based
solely on what theyve
heard, it creates a bad
environment for the player
and those close to him.

Tate grew up in Henderson

Tennessee and attended the
University of Notre Dame.
He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 signing
a four-year contract worth
$3.2 million. After that contract was complete, he
signed a five-year, $31 million
contract
with
the Detroit Lions.
Many
sports fans were upset and
confused as to why he left
Seattle after they had won
the Super Bowl; thats when
the rumors started to fly.

The thing that really struck

me was this: But you dont
know me, Golden Tate, the
person. What Im all about.
You dont know how much I
care about my relationships
with the fans and city in which I
play. The thought: you dont
really know me, the real me,
the me on the inside, the me
that thinks, plans, succeeds and
failsthat me. This is something that is worth our time
and our consideration.

In Tates own words he

writes, For me, joining the
Lions meant playing alongside Calvin Johnsonwho I
believe to be the best wide
receiver in the leagueand
with a quarterback in Matthew Stafford who can
throw with the best of
them.
Unfortunately, I
have since been harassed on
social media over a multitude
of reasons about why I left,
none of which are true. It
was profoundly disappointing, not only that these

Who really knows you? The

real you? Who knows you well
enough to know its okay to call
and ask for help? Who knows
you well enough to know not
only will you not be bothered by
that call, but that you want
them to call? And do you know
anyone that well?
This is a church newsletter and
so you know at some point I
am going to tell you that God
knows you that well. Psalm
139:2 says of
God, You know when I sit
down or stand up. You know
my thoughts even when I'm

We will be friends forever just you

wait and see -Winnie the Pooh

far away.
Having the
knowledge that God not
only knows us, but loves us,
gives us comfort. The question of God promising to be
with us has been answered.
He is with us and for us. But
what about here in this
world, can we really learn to
know and trust one another?
Many families fall apart, because no one really knows
the others. What is your
favorite food, TV show, comedian, politician, story in
the Bible or person from the
Bible? What sin do you
wrestle with more than the
rest? Gossip? Bitterness?
Hatred?
Something else?
Who knows these things
about you?
Your family
should. You should be able
to talk with them about such
things in your life and in
theirs. When you cant this
is whats called the breakdown of the family. So to
eliminate the sense of being
a stranger to those closest
to you here is a list of traits
Continued on p. 2

Page 2

Irondale Church News

Silence, contd
breakdown of the family. So
to eliminate the sense of being a stranger to those closest
to you here is a list of traits
that apply to friends and family. This list puts relationships
into manageable categories
where we can remove the
distance from loving relationships, moving closer to one
another and seeing our love
grow. When love grows, joy
follows.
4

Love is patient and

kind; love does not
envy or boast; it is not
arrogant 5 or rude. It
does not insist on its
own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it
does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7
Love bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.13 So
now faith, hope, and
love abide, these three;
but the greatest of
these is love.
1Corinthian 13:4-7,13

Proverbs 18:24 tells us, One

who has unreliable friends
soon comes to ruin, but there
is a friend who sticks closer
than a brother. Do you have
that type of friend? Are you
that type of friend? If you are
not sure here is a list of qualities to live out and look for:
1. No judgment
Friends let each other be who
they are without judging failures. A good friend knows
you at your core and continues to be your friend.
2. Genuine
You never have to fake it to
get along, dont talk behind
one anothers backs and
never be afraid to approach
them with a problem or question. Its never a chore to
have them over and you
never feel like you have to
entertain them.
3. Acceptance
Recently I saw a quote that
read, STOP! Its not a competition, were all crazy.
Good friends get that.
4. Trustworthy
Keep confidences. There may
be teasing, but never deliberate hurting. As one old saying
says, You know your name is

safe in their mouth.

5. Respect
You wont always agree
with them (Who does?), but
youll always welcome their
opinion.
6. Forgiveness
You cant move forward if
one person is hung up on
the past. Not just taking
the action of forgiving when
an offense is committed, but
believing they would never
deliberately hurt you and
you never deliberately hurting them.
7. Support
Be present because you
want to be present, not
because you are asked.
Without the encouragement
of our friends, we wouldnt
enjoy many of the wonders
life has to offer.
8. Predictable
Loved ones should be able
to predict each others general responses. For example, when one of you does
something really stupid, the
other will respond as expected. If not, you should
be comfortable to say, I
know what I did was stupid,
but I thought you would
laugh not lecture me. This
keeps accounts with one
another short and the past
in the past.
9. Thoughtful
Be thoughtful and willing to
tell each other that you are.
Its one thing to think about
your friends and family, but
its another thing to let
them know. Its the pack of
Swedish Fish just because
you know they like them, or

making sure they see that

you are trashing that ugly
picture of them. When it
comes to love, little things
are the big things.
10. Listener
Best friends and family will,
at the very least, pretend to
be listening to your sad
story again, for the twelvehundredth time. They will
also listen for the emotions
buried in the rants not just
the factual details.
11. Shares your humor
Did you see that sign?
The one that said, Drive
Thru Restrooms? Im pretending I didnt. (All tog e t h e r
n o w , )
HAHAHAHA. Laughter
is good like a medicine
(Prov. 17:22).
12. Loves you for you
Even when youre angry
with the entire world,
theres always one person
who gets spared, and thats
your best friend. You love
each other in spite of
moods, personality and even
a questionable memory for
senseless trivia.
Family
should fall in here too. The
idea that if you say something cruel, they know you
didnt mean it and look at
you thinking, You cant get
rid of me that easy.
We can put these lifestyle
changes into action one at a
time or all at once. Save
this list of traits and use it as
a check list, asking the questions am I avoiding judgment, being genuine, accepting others for who they are,
respecting their decisions,
etc.
Continued next page

Irondale Church is a place of promise to grow and belong

Page 3

Silence, contd
There is little we can do
about the actions of others,
but if enough of us pull together to love, encourage
and support one another it
will seem like everyones
doing it!
The Bible says in 1 John 4:16
-21, We have come to
know and to believe the
love that God has for us.
God is love, and whoever
abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in him. By

this is love perfected with

us, so that we may have
confidence for the day of
judgment, because as He is
so also are we in this world.
There is no fear in love, but
perfect love casts out fear.
For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears
has not been perfected in
love. We love because he
first loved us. If anyone
says, I love God, and hates
his brother, he is a liar; for
he who does not love his

brother whom he has seen

cannot love God whom he
has not seen. And this commandment we have from
him: whoever loves God
mu st a ls o lo ve h is
brother (ESV).

love? Do we truly believe

that it is strong enough to
reach this city? Oh, we of
little faith. I too have had
many a thought lingering in
the place of doubt, but is it
not time we take up our
sword and fight the lethargy
that pulls us and our families
away from our dear sweet
SAVIOR? Is He not strong
enough? I evaluate my own
prayer life and the doubt
stands daunting me away
from the call of intercession.
When will we remember
the charge given to each of
us to go and make disciples
while remembering the
promise of His presence
with us even to the end of
the age?

solid Bible teaching, and

various expressions of true
love.
If you want to help: consider partnering in prayer
and fasting with me. Possibly set aside a breakfast or
some other meal to seek
the Lord for the salvation of
one of these little ones;
what is a meal in comparison to someones eternity?
In the end will what you did
with your time be worth it?
Thank you each for your
prayers and blessings, may
our Lord lead you in the
way you should go and may
He pour out his anointing
upon you as you step out in
obedience to His call.

God bless you guys, I hope

and pray you have a wonderful February.
-Pastor Dave

All you need is

love. But a little
chocolate now
and then doesnt
hurt.
-Charles M.
Schultz

Youth Group
What a beautiful year has
begun, truly the Lord is gracious. As the year opens
and shines the light of a new
beginning, I cannot help but
wonder at the mystery that
is unfolding before us here
in this community. The light
of Christ is shining and I can
feel the warmth of His love
breaking forth from the
cold of the still winter. Yes!
Yes, and amen! We His
children sing as we anticipate this new beginning.
I cant help but think of the
prophet Jeremiah as these
thoughts whirl through my
mind, I have loved you with
an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my
faithfulness
to
you.
Jeremiah 31. His faithfulness has not and will not
fail. Though darkness hangs
about, His love is everlasting. As the Holy Spirit says
in Song of Songs chapter 8
verse 6, for love is
strong as death, jealousy is
fierce as the grave.
Its
flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
Have we given up on His

Church, these youth will

not be reached for Christ
merely by fun programs,
festivities and creatively fun
messages. Even though the
Lord uses these means, the
youth and this community,
will only be reached with
the move of the Spirit,
through the primary means
of the prayers of the saints,

They invented hugs to

let people know you
love them without
saying anything.
-Bill Keane

-Cheyanne

Wednesdays
3:00-5:30 pm
Kids Club meets in the Fellowship Hall,
Youth Group meets in the
Annex

Kids in Action
Turn the page for photos of Christmas at
Irondale
Church!
Thanks to Hannah Montgomery, mom of the littlest angel for the wonderful pictures!

Christmas at Irondale
Page 4

Newsletter Title

Katrina, Rrunana, TeAmo, Kyara and Zack

Zack
Kamari, Bekka, Izzyie & Claire

Sarah, Yarro & Zack

Yarro
Riley, Sarah & Dymon

Eliana
Izzie & Bekka

River, Katrina, Rrutanna & TeAmo & Kyara

Christmas Program Cast

Christmas Eve Candlelight

Irondale Church is a place of promise to grow

Unstuff
She came to my chair to get
me to take them outside; it was
her second trip to get my attention. I had foolishly ignored
her the first time as I tried to
work on some project, but she
wasnt standing for that any
longer. With her soft little
paws firmly placed on my leg,
she stood as tall as she could
reached up and poked me with
her soft tiny wet black nose,
this time standing on my left
side where she had had to
squeeze herself into the spot,
to make sure I got the message.
I did and we headed outside.
It wasnt what she wanted
she hung out under the table
and said, Well hey I dont
want to go outside did you get
busy and forget us little guys
are located a mere 9 inches
from the floor and its cold
down here. TURN on the heat,
light the fire! We are not wearing a nice toasty wool Columbia
sweater like you! Sheesh!
I ignored her impassioned
plea, since I had made up my
mind if she was going to disturb me and interrupt my work,
we were all going outside. Id
light the fire when we came in.
Do you know how demeaning it
can be when a darling little dog
without words tells you your
faults and flaws with no rancor
in their tone at all? She wasnt
putting me in my place ... just
letting me know the drift of
things.
We wandered around the
yard and I looked at the still
frozen grass, trees, beauty and
bounty that God had provided
in my life since we moved on
the hill.
There were swings still attached to my clothesline supports. They had been placed
there for the four children I
used to babysit. A huge plastic
climbing slide thing rests under
one of my favorite trees, now

seldom used. Bikes outgrown

for the most part leaning
against the hillside, Tonka type
trucks covered in winter grass
stuff of high importance at
one time. Still when asking the
users of such items can I get rid
of these the reply was: I still
need this stuff.
I watched as the two dachshunds headed up the hill where
THEY are not supposed to go
into the trees. The giant cedar
and firs had become forts of
magnificent proportions in the
minds of these same children
whose stuff of younger years
still graces my yard. I climbed
the hill to see what was attracting the pups and looked down
with new perception on the
stuff. Lots to let go of in life,
thats what God sees when He
looks at me at least you too?
But my stuffs important
behind the couch in the living
room there are three plastic
tubs of toys. I have asked the
kids to help me thin them out,
but so far in two sessions of
thinning we have come up with
less that a grocery bag or two
of priceless items we can stand
to part with. Yikes I am really
bad at letting things go and
apparently its something that I
have in my genes as I have
passed this stuff-hoarding thing
on to my extended family.
Perhaps its leftover from
my life as a child and being told
on many occasions we were
moving and I would have to
choose what to leave behind.
Maybe I ran out of delete this
in my brain??? Maybe they will
discover one day that there is a
switch that can be tripped that
allows you to not see the
stuff.
Thats how it is with the
stuff I need to let go of in my
spiritual life as well I might
need God to send along a little
cold nosed Dachshund to point
out my unhurried air as I waver
over letting go of childish behavior patterns. Sometimes He
has used what appears to be a
big spotlight to help light the

Page 5
way for me, sometimes its just
a gentle nudge, but often its a
gentle poke, a little more than
a nudge, when I refuse to see it
His way.
We all have different styles
of living and relating in this
world and our way may seem
irksome or even unorganized
or over organized depending
on which side of the fence you
are standing on by your own or
someone elses standards. In
Gods word He tells us in 1
Corinthians 13:11 When I was
a child, I used to speak like a
child, think like a child, reason
like a child; when I became a
man, I did away with childish
things.
I just lit the pellet stove. I
had turned the furnace on
when we went outside for our
invigorating turn around the
yard, but, that was several
moments ago I am a little
forgetful . The pups prefer
the pellet stove (so do I) much
cheaper and nicerthe dry
heat.
You see in the world furnace
thermostats are most usually
placed at about my shoulder or
head -height. Which means for
me everything below the thermostat is colder than the displayed numbers on the thermostat screen.
Can you imagine how cold it
can be if heat rises and you are
only 9 inches tall? Another
thing I have learned from the
pups is NOW hold your
breath for this one we all
dont experience the things of
life from the same perception.
We need to make allowances
knowing that other people are
just not going to see or relate
to our and their own needs
from our perceptions.
This is why God calls us to
give up our childish ways and
demands to have things our
way and to think of others and
live with His Godly perception,
in proportion as life relates to
others and not just ourselves.
We save ourselves and those
Pesky Others from being put

through undue turmoil by

defining life and demanding
its circumstances to be as we
alone see fit. This is a big part
of the un-stuffing of our lives.
Our pellet stove is 25 years
old and can be difficult to light
or keep lit sometimes. These
things are true; however to
not light it at all brings about
no change.
Sometimes it
takes relighting more than
once. Irritating yes, but usually all change is a little irritating or has a cost. Dont give
up on yourself or others as
you or they seek to change.
Stuff takes time to collect, unstuffing takes more time.
Happy cleaning!
-Colleen

There is no fear in
love. But perfect loe
drives out fear, because fear has to do
with punishment.
The one who fears is
not made perfect in
love. We love because he first loved
us.
-1John4:18-19

Treasurer Report
January 29, 2015
General Operations
Income: $ 144,243.86
Expenses: $ 118,787.44
Annual Budget:
$153,048.00

Irondale Church is a place of promise to grow and belong

IRONDALE CHURCH

Located at 681 Irondale Road

PO Box 959
Port Hadlock, WA 98339
Phone: 360-385-1720
Fax: 360-385-1720
E-mail:
irondalechurch@gmail.com

Find us on the web at

www.irondalechurch.org

Pastor & Wife: David & Colleen Hodgin

Associate Pastor: Troy Norman
Visitation Pastor: Chuck Gadbaw
Elders: Dave Noble, John Jamison, Fritz Gordon, LeRoy Glessing, Dave Eddie
Council: Sue Hay-Missions, Colleen Hodgin-Fellowship, Mary Noble-Finance, Troy Norman-Worship,
Jim Wilcox-Interior Property, Kim Wilcox-Treasurer

Weekly Schedule:
Sunday: 9:30 Sunday School, 10:30 Worship, Childrens Church & Nursery;
Coffee Hour; 6:30 Evening Bible Study
Tuesday: 4-6:30 Community Soup
Wednesday: 3-5:30 Kids Club and Youth Group
Thursday: 11:00 Prayer Hour
2nd Saturday Mens breakfast at Chimacum Cafe
3rd Saturday: Busy Hands Quilts for Foster Kids
4th Saturday: Mens Breakfast at IHOP (Irondale House of Praise)

...the LORD appeared to him from far away.

I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you...Jeremiah 31:3 ESV

Irondale Church
PO Box 959
Port Hadlock WA 98339

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