At Deer Park United Methodist Church, Rev. Ron Baird and his wife Kathy Baird have been living the \u201cHymn of Promise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the church doors, the Bairds\nknew their mostly elderly, non-techie, but tightly-knit congregation, was going\nto suffer without their daily and weekly connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is their whole life,\u201d Kathy Baird said. \u201cThey quilt\ntogether, do breakfast together. Church is their lifeline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a trip to the local nursery, Kathy Baird gathered enough flower bulbs to package with a sweet note and off she and Ron went one day to deliver \u2013 at a safe distance \u2013 this blessing of promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat personal touch has meant a lot to them,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\nwere some tears, but lots of laughter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bairds live 45 minutes from Deer Park, and some of their\ncongregants are spread around the countryside, so it took all day to make\ndeliveries to 25 homes. Kathy Baird said people weren\u2019t expecting them, and it\nwas fun to take everyone\u2019s pictures \u2013 pajamas and all \u2013 to share on a Facebook\ngroup that some <\/em>members of the congregation are tech-savvy enough to\ncheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey were so happy to see each other\u2019s pictures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These flower bulbs will bloom and some day soon, Deer Park UMC will be back together like the \u201cHymn of Promise\u201d says: \u201cIn the bulb, there is a flower. In the seed an apple tree. In cocoons a hidden promise; butterflies will soon be free. In the cold and snow of winter, there\u2019s a spring that waits to be. Unrevealed until it\u2019s season; something God alone can see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At Deer Park United Methodist Church, Rev. Ron Baird and his wife Kathy Baird have been living the \u201cHymn of Promise.\u201d As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the church doors, the Bairds knew their mostly elderly, non-techie, but tightly-knit congregation, was going to suffer without their daily and weekly connections. \u201cThis is their whole life,\u201d Kathy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,64,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-greater-northwest-area","8":"category-news","9":"category-pacific-northwest-conference"},"yoast_head":"\n