Wedding Prayers Blessings

Tampa Bible teacher awarded after 40 years of inspiring students

Here's the promise Joyce Covington made to herself 40 years ago:

"The day I don't feel like getting up and coming here to teach the Bible class to the kids is the day I quit," she vowed.

It hasn't happened. At 83, the woman many affectionately call "Miss Joyce," is still teaching Sunday school to third-graders at Hyde Park United Methodist Church.

She has the same enthusiasm for the volunteer job she took on 40 years ago, enough to get her recognized as the 2011 "Teacher of the Year" by the Florida United Methodist Foundation.

"I think that was just about the best thing to ever happen to me," Miss Joyce says, blushing.

Characteristically, she donated the $500 that came with the award to the church's children's ministry.

No one has counted how many kids she's taught the Old and New Testaments over the years. Many are parents now, with children who have taken her classes. Laura Farrior, 44, and her three children – ages 11, 14 and 16 – are among the many two-generation families who got their early Bible education from Miss Joyce.

"I remember practicing my lessons on the way to church Sunday morning because you wanted to get it right for Miss Joyce," Farrior says. "She wasn't stern by any means, but she expected you to follow the rules and be well-behaved."

To this day, Farrior can sing the catchy song the class learned to help memorize the books of the Bible in their proper order. And when her children have a pressing question or dilemma, she recalls a Bible story or Scripture that relates to the issue. Farrior says she owes that to Miss Joyce.

"The Bible can be pretty intimidating at that age. But she's so warm and encouraging that you aren't afraid of it," she says. "That joyful spirit she has just rubs off on everyone around her."

Miss Joyce won't take credit for all the lesson plans, most of which come from a Methodist publishing house. Among them: an "Are You Smarter Than a Third-Grader?" competition that pits kids against their parents in biblical knowledge; making "worry stones" to carry in your pocket to remind you that God is there to keep you safe; and the "Super Bowl of Bible Sports," an Old Testament game played on Super Bowl Sunday.

She supplies a few personal touches. Remember to bring your Bible to Sunday school, and you get two points. When the class racks up 100 points, she throws a party. She used to hand out M&M's for questions answered correctly; when health concerns became an issue, she switched to wrapped sweets.

visual blessings: A Wedding Blessing

I made this blessing for a young couple getting married this month. The young man has been a good friend of our daughter since middle school. I have been so grateful for his character. He showed our girl what it looks like to be loved by a young man. Even though their's was not a love of the romantic sort, God used their relationship to reveal that great friendship-kind of love that is also necessary for a good marriage. So they are both better prepared for their marriage partners. I haven't yet met the young lady to be his wife, but am so happy for them and wish them all the blessings God wants to give a husband and wife. The making of the blessing: I used a 5" x 7" piece of archival mat board as the base. I coated it with gesso. Their wedding invitation included a photo of them hugging in a field and I drew the silhouette from that and scanned it on the computer. I had drawn the compass in pencil for a tattoo for our son, scanned that and made a photoshop brush out of it. I used it on this and on other pieces of art. I looked up how to make the brush by googling "how to make a photoshop brush." The old map was a photoshop brush I downloaded from brusheezy . I combined the three layers in photoshop: silhouette, map, compass and printed it on a piece of copy paper with my laser printer, flipped horizontally so I could transfer it with Citrasolv cleaner/solvent. I put a coat of matte medium on the surface. Then I also used the solvent to transfer the music in the background. Next I glued the strip of music and text on with matte medium coating the entire front of the piece. Then I painted it with Golden fluid acrylics.

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