Seth Ira Rhoden, 34, of Union Center, SD, died Friday, June 3, 2022, in Union Center, SD.
Graveside services will be Sunday, June 5, 2022, 3:00 p.m. at Red Owl Cemetery with a lunch to follow after committal at Union Center Community Baptist Church.
To Seth’s & our circle of family, friends, neighbors, & acquaintances:
As we reflect on the past few days, we continue to be amazed and overwhelmed with the extraordinary acts of kindness and extension of love given. We’re incapable at this point, of privately acknowledging the various ways each individual reached out to us...so…THANK YOU…
Thank you if you belonged to one of those incredible response teams and poured everything you had into Seth and for us all. Your skill and labor of love did not go unnoticed. Thank you to the special individuals that came that morning to care for us.
A huge thank you to Jim and Meriah (Kinkade’s) for handling our requests quickly and working through a tough situation with simple grace and encouragement.
Thank you if you came to Red Owl and stood on either side of the road thereby forming a passageway which led to the cemetery gateway…We will NEVER forget what that welled up in us. And wasn’t it an amazing sight to set your eyes on… the fresh spring green landscape, that only God could paint? (Think: Red Owl Dam, grazing cow/calf pairs, REAL clouds with pockets of sunshine, birds.) Thank you for sharing that moment as we sang and as John, Ken, Levi, Cody, Wyatt, Loren, Larry & Gary, took hold of the cedar chest and walked Seth’s flesh to his cove under the 34-year-old cedar tree.
Thank you for being part of the gathering at church. As we entered the doors…was there not an overwhelming fullness of his glory as well as a full church?
Thank you, my sister and brother and their special 10… who after having just finished seeding one more field in the Red River Valley… drove in the wee hours... just to spend 8 BLESSED hours with us in SD… before returning. And so “Thanking you” seems totally small as your gift of music was totally HUGE... you all offered yourselves while Jesus’ comfort was offered & poured into many a broken heart. (And I might inject here…they weren’t the only ones that are CRAZY or have a CRAZY love for us... who came 100’s of miles one way & drove off to make a one-day round trip of it!) Thank you.
Thank you to the people that spoke (And the guys and gals that didn’t. There are several. John & I & you know who “you” are.) We remain forever grateful to each who prayed through the years and to each, who personally invested into Seth, thereby giving him a richer quality of life, he would not otherwise have had.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for food, food, and more food… the spread there on the table (please know I’ve read the list of individual names and hereby acknowledge the unlisted as well, and those who brought food and/or flowers to our house. And then there is MONICA… who unhesitatingly says YES! (Friday night) to processing (all day Saturday) BEEF for Sunday. Those are unbelievable “I’ll help you” words.
And until I went to church the following day, Monday morning, I was truly unaware of the several gorgeous flower, herb & plant arrangements… after seeing about a full year of dead brown, living color is extra special and refreshing.
And thank you to many- any- all who helped in various ways… those who served, cleaned up, going the extra mile. Some I saw... most I didn’t.
And then there are these ongoing visits, unlimited texts, and phone calls, as well as innumerable precious cards and extremely generous memorials…and hugs and more hugs. They all have this basic theme running…expressing to all of us Rhodens how deeply we are watched over, prayed over, cared for (dare I say LOVED) … and so we are gratefully abiding in this. We sincerely pray God’s blessings upon each of you as well. God help us all… we are extremely needy… LORD… may your strength come so we can face and endure tomorrow.
And Seth, I would’ve told you (just in case you couldn’t see from up there…It was clear to all down here... that…after God…you… yes you! … were the most honored man at the homecoming!)
“The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for evermore.” Psalm 121:7-8
A few noteworthy additions:
By God’s standards- thou shalt not kill- includes life in the womb, our neighbor’s and our own. As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe Jesus’ blood covers ALL our sin- past, present, and future…and therefore is able to cover this sin as well. As we lay Seth’s body to rest, we are learning to rest in the promises of God and in the finished work of Seth’s Savior.