Sunday Strength

" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

~Luke 15:31-32

Trying out Recipes and a Party

s I get older, I've discovered, I am getting just a bit wiser. Not a whole lot mind you, I wouldn't want to get you thinking I'm on my way to brilliance or anything but every once in a while I'm reminded I'm not quite as impetuous or silly as I used to be.

That party I mentioned - that is happening TOMORROW - requires food (of course). I'm not doing anything fancy. Sandwich platters and chips. I'd bbq but Aaron has to work so that means I'm running this show by myself. Considering I know how it goes when you have to refill drinks, keep the food flowing, etc. I didn't want to trap myself behind a grill all day. On top of that it's supposed to be 90 degrees out. Grilling for a few minutes in that kind of heat is ok but for hours? NO thank you! So... cold stuff.

I figured, however, I'd add a bit of a personal touch and make the "sweet stuff" myself. I'm not going to name names in this post because I grabbed a couple of recipes off of two very respected blogs. All I can say? Thank goodness I didn't wait until tonight to make them!

The first one smelled amazing when it was pulled out of the oven. Didn't surprise me - it involved bananas and had sounded amazing when I read the post. There it sat, all beautiful and smelling so good it made ya' drool. When it cooled off, I cut it into squares and shared a piece with Aaron. First bite and something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

We really have no idea what was off with the recipe. I have no talent in that department and Aaron, for all of his sniffing and tasting and thinking couldn't quite figure it out, either. I believe it was a combination of something was left off the list of ingredients when it was posted and my bananas weren't as ripe as they needed to be. My plan is to wait a few days until my remaining bananas reach that "do something with them NOW or they'll be mush" stage and make the recipe again. If there is still something wrong, I might get in touch with the blogger who posted the recipe and ask if they left something out. If they didn't, then I'll write the recipe off as a loss and wonder at some folks' tastebuds. Or my own...

Aaron said they would be fine with ice cream... Awesome as long as someone doesn't decide to skip the ice cream! I told him...be prepared to eat a LOT of ice cream over the next few days, then because the idea of throwing out this entire pan of dessert just makes me ill.

The second dessert I made involves Oreo cookies. I hopped on that one like an adventurer on a westbound train. What's funny is, when I was pregnant with my son, I craved two things: Pepsi and Oreo cookies. Neither of which is good for a growing baby but my son wanted them and only them. (Make it funnier? He's the healthiest eater I know...and has been since birth... go figure) Once I gave birth, though, I couldn't even so much as look at Pepsi or Oreo's and for over 20 years I've wanted nothing to do with the cookies.

Suddenly they're back... It's scary because I know for absolute certainty I'm not pregnant.

But I digress.

Individual oreo cheesecakes. Sounds yummy, doesn't it? I thought so. The recipe looked soooo easy and sounded soooo yummy. The easy part - yes. The yummy? Not so much. At least not last night. They weren't bad but... what kind of an endorsement is that and really... do you want to serve your friends with something you think of as "not bad?"

I'm hoping after several hours in the refrigerator the taste improves. I'm hoping...

If it doesn't? Store bought desserts for tomorrow, too because I'm not stressing over making something tonight. Especially since come 4:30 today my windows & doors will be all taped off and my son will be painting my house.

Yup - less than 24 hours before a ton of people descend for a party we're painting our house.

Give you an idea of just how crazy we are?

Next post that isn't a Sunday Strength? Party details....

Have a great weekend!

Interesting Conversation

Two nights a month I head into a local women's shelter and offer devotions. Technically they call it "chapel" in the evenings because it's an hour long. Devotions are in the mornings and they're only a half hour.

The first few months I did it, I had no idea what I was going to do for an entire hour. How could I possibly find things of interest to talk about for 60 whole minutes? These women don't really participate unless you force them. Most of the time they just sit in their chairs, politely nod and murmur the occasional "uh huh."

In order to preserve my sanity, I added music several months ago and that's helped. The hello's chit chat, two songs and opening in prayer usually take care of the first 15 to 20 minutes or so. Questions take about 5 minutes at the end. What that means is 35 to 40 minutes I speak.

It can be nerve-wracking to think of subjects to speak about for that long, let me tell you. For almost two years I went through the women of the Bible. I have to rabbit trail a bit here... there are some incredible and amazing women noted in the Bible. If you have never done a study of them, it's a good idea to dive into them a bit. If you have a daughter (or daughters) - do it with them.

Back on track with my story...

I'd decided to move on to "The Six Miracles of Calvary" by William R. Nicholson. It is a very thorough examination of the six miracles that took place around the cross. It covers the 3 hours of darkness, the splitting of the curtain, the earthquake/rocks splitting, the empty tomb and the raising of the saints.

This month was only about the darkness (lasting from noon until 3PM) and what it could have been. It is all speculation as the Scriptures do not provide anything in the way of what happened during those three hours. It only offers that darkness covered the land... (Luke 23:44 and Matthew 27:45).

What happened during those three hours? The book offers the theory that it was during those three hours that Jesus suffered the most. In that time, God heaped His wrath upon the beaten, bleeding, sweating, thorn-cut, tired, spit upon Jesus. That suffering was so great, so traumatic, that God shrouded it in darkness so we would not see it. We could not bear it.

For the first time in all that is and was and will be God, darkness overcame the light but this was not the darkness of satan and his minions. This was darkness God sent - the sun simply "went dark."

What was interesting to me was the woman who came up to me after chapel and first of all thanked me for talking about those three hours. No one does, she says. No one touches on what Jesus went through during those three hours. She then launched into what she believes happened during that time period. She believes it was during that time that satan was given one last opportunity to attack Christ. That he would have bombarded Christ with sin after sin after sin, hoping that Jesus would give in... and give up. What caught my attention, though, was her adamant belief that one of the things satan would have thrown at Him was being demon possessed.

In order to save us, He had to understand us and in order to understand us He would have had to be completely surrounded and covered in human sin. It couldn't just be something He saw from afar - He had to experience it.

She wasn't too happy when I told her that while I agree that it is plausible that satan went after Christ while He was on the cross, since the Bible does not specifically speak to what happened during those hours, I did not agree that at any time was He demon possessed. Jesus was completely and utterly without sin so I could not see how or agree that He would allow a demon access to Him in that way.

Aaron rejected it further than that. He doesn't believe satan would have been given the time of day once Jesus was on that cross. His attack time was over. That's what the desert was for, that's what all the time leading up to the cross was for, that's what Gethsemane was for. Not the cross, though. Once Jesus was on the cross, Aaron believes then it was all God - pouring out His wrath on Jesus and accepting the sacrifice Christ offered. There was no room for satan at that point. And to take it further, Jesus would never allow a demon to possess Him. That would give that demon power over God and..well... that isn't going to happen. Ever. To give a demon that power would have meant not trusting God fully. That would have been sin. Jesus was completely without sin.

I wish I could have been as clear as Aaron when I was expressing myself to this woman.

However... I don't type all of this to talk about how clear we were or weren't in expressing our point. Although, I truly hope something cracks her certainty that Jesus spent some time demon possessed while on that cross... I type all of this to point out just how easy it is to actually take something from the Word and... run with it. Apply our own imagination and logic to it and turn it into something that isn't the truth.

The Bible simply states that darkness covered the whole land for 3 hours. In the middle of the day. It tells us nothing more than that and so we have to draw our information from other verses and come to our conclusions. For some, satan still manages to wiggle his way into the picture, attempting to distort the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

So... I ask you... what do you think? Has anyone ever had their pastor speak to this before? Studied it somewhere? I am really interested to hear opinions...

Fire...

I know I said I wasn't going to be available much this week but today, as I was running an errand for said upcoming party, I happened upon something I hope to never again witness. And I wanted to share it while it was fresh in my mind.

There is something to be said for watching a fire consume an entire building. As I watched at least 30 apartments be completely destroyed today, all I could think about was the people who lived there. As pieces of burnt items came floating over my head and landed at my feet, I couldn't help but pray and pray and pray... pray that everyone was able to get out of the building, pray that those who lived there were insured, pray they all have a roof over their head tonight. I wonder - what can I do?

The Lynnview Apartments estimate between 80 & 100 people lived in those 30 units. I did hear that the Red Cross was there, helping those victims of that fire but still... I feel like... I watched it, I was there. I need to do something. I'll be looking into it but that part of the story I will probably keep private. I have no need to document that.

The fire, however...I did take a few pictures. When I first saw it, I was in my car so I couldn't take first impression pictures. They would have been powerful, too, let me tell you. The fire engulfed the entire side of the building I could see. It was a wall of flames from the ground to the roof. There was very little in the way of smoke at the point. By the time I could take pictures, the fire department had already started to knock the flames back and the water caused the massive plume of smoke.

My pictures don't do that fire justice. It was an overwhelming sight. In a bring me to tears kind of way. I actually felt sick to my stomach watching it. I had to walk away when I started having problems breathing for all of the smoke. I can't imagine what it's like for those fighting those fires. Yes, they have gear but...it can't keep it all out.

One last thing I will mention - people are already complaining at how long it took for the emergency crews to respond to this fire. What they're saying, though, blames the firefighters. Let me say that what I saw on the highway makes me angry. People in their cars NOT MOVING TO THE RIGHT. I watched a ladder truck inch its way up Hwy. 99 because no one wanted to move out of the way. Then, as it was in the left turn lane trying to get through an intersection, I watched a car jump in front of it. Essentially cutting off the firetruck... Seriously. The truck had lights flashing, sirens blaring and this person jumps in front of it.
I spoke to a woman in the parking lot who said she was on the phone to 911 at the beginning of the fire, etc. and was surprised at how long it took the fire department to get there. I told her about traffic, about people not moving out of their way and yet... ??? Still the fire department's fault somehow. Where do people get this stuff???????

Sirens & lights? Move to the right...

It's a no-brainer.

But if people don't move? It's not the emergency personnel's fault, folks - no matter how much you want to affix blame there.

I need to go eat dinner. I'm a bit steamed... can ya' tell?

This week...

This week I'm going to be a bit busy.

See... a wonderful young woman I know (and love like she is my own daughter) has been accepted at Oxford for her Masters Degree...

I'm throwing her a party.

If I'm quiet until Sunday (or so), you'll know why. TONS of pictures will get posted. I can't wait! I'm practically giddy in anticipation. I've been planning this party for months. Here is a little of what I'll be using to decorate my backyard:

Sunday Strength

et no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

~Romans 10:8-13

Silhouette!!!!

Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land is giving away a Silhouette!! A SILHOUETTE, people!!! Go. Quick. Fast.

Have you read previous posts about this thing? Have you SEEN what it can do???

I'm telling you. It's worth your time to enter! I keep thinking that at some point Aaron will have been working long enough again that I can justify buying one. I keep hoping, though, I'll win one and save myself the longing...

A girl can dream.

Now...go enter!!! The giveaway ends Monday. I'm in. Are you?