A Repost and the Return of Oven-Free Fridays...

We had this dish again for supper tonight...I had planned to try a new crock pot recipe today, but I woke up not feeling well, so at Bayley's request, we fell back on an old stand-by.   I realized while we were dumping everything in the crock-pot that it's been forever since I have posted an Oven-Free Friday post, and I've been thinking I need to get back to that.  Soo...since we tried a new no-bake granola bar recipe today that was a big hit, I decided this would be a good week to get back in the swing of things with OFF.  So keep an eye out on Friday!

Here's the original post from last October...

When our oven went out several months ago, we decided that we would hold off on repairing/replacing it for the moment and just "do without" for a while.  We were headed into the heat of summer (when we don't use the oven anyway in our un-airconditioned kitchen), and we're in a state of decision-making at the moment as to our future plans for this house (putting any serious financial outlays on hold for the time being).  Besides...with a stove, an electric skillet, two crock pots, an electric roaster, a microwave, a toaster oven (provided by a friend :)), a bread machine (which I haven't used in a while but plan to pull out soon), and a "Kitchen Kettle multi-cooker/steamer/deep fryer", who is really going to miss an oven?  

Well, I do miss the oven, just a bit. Although we *have* finally figured out a way to cook frozen pizzas (oddly enough, one of the things that my children miss most about not having an oven...go figure...:)), and we've learned that you can, in a pinch, bake cookies in a toaster oven,  I miss being able to throw a casserole in a Pyrex an hour before supper or pop a batch of muffins in the oven for breakfast.  

However, for the most part, it's been fine.  We're trying new recipes and getting more creative in the kitchen, which is always a good thing.  And we are learning that there are lots of alternatives to cooking in the oven.  

We've tried a few new things already, and I have a file full of ideas ready to try.  In the interest of motivating myself to actually turn those ideas into food on the table,  I've decided that I am going to start a new feature here on the blog..."Oven-Free Fridays".  I'll be chronicling some of our successes (and probably a few failures along the way) in oven-free cooking.  I'm even considering trying my hand at creating a nifty little "Oven-Free Fridays" button. :)  

And for "Oven Free Fridays" debut recipe..."Hit it Out of the Park Chicken".  My crock pot has always been a trusty friend in the kitchen, but it is getting even more of a workout these days.  I've been scouring on-line crock pot sites for ideas and come up with a list I want to try.   I'm hoping to attempt crock pot banana bread today (I'm skeptical, but an urgent early-fall craving for banana bread is convincing me to give it a try), and I plan to try out crock pot brownies later in the week.  

Tuesday, though, my crock pot project was totally spur of the moment.  Rather than poring through the file of recipes I have saved, I was sneaking a quick peek at Pinterest in between activities, and I happened upon this recipe.  I realized that I had all the ingredients, I hadn't planned supper yet, and I needed a quick, easy meal because I needed to get out the door right after supper.  

So...I tossed the cream cheese, cream of chicken soup, Italian dressing mix, and frozen chicken breasts in the crock pot and set it to high.  I didn't even stir the sauce ingredients up in advance like the recipe suggests.  (I did stir them well after it had cooked for a bit, though.)  

YUM.  The original recipe calls this "crock pot chicken and rice".  We've decided to rename it "Hit it Out of the Park Chicken", because it was definitely a home run at our house (and I have too many "chicken and rice" recipes already. :))  Even one of my very picky children, who had originally said, "I don't want any of that chicken stuff, Mom...I'm not eating that,"  came back later (after I insisted on a thankful bite :)), and said rather meekly, "You were right, Mom, that chicken stuff is really good!"  

I LOVE super-easy crock pot recipes that end up being just impossibly better than the sum of their simple ingredients.  Saloon beef is one of our favorites that fits those criteria...it just doesn't seem possible that something that easy can be so amazingly good.  This recipe is another of those.  When I threw it in the crock pot, I was just hoping for simple and edible busy day food.  It turned out to be fabulous!  It's rare that all six members of our family really love something...but everyone raved about this one.  I'm looking forward to making it often this winter...definitely comfort food at it's best. 

The original recipe can be found here.  Here's what I ended up doing:

Hit it Out of the Park Chicken

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 package Italian dressing mix 

5 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

Other than thawing the chicken breasts a bit in the microwave because I realized I was pressed for time to get them fully cooked before I had to be out the door that evening, I just dumped it all in the crock pot and turned it on high.  About 30 minutes later, I stirred the sauce ingredients together.  It cooked on high about 4.5 hours, I think...until the chicken was done/tender.  I shredded the chicken (in a very coarse shred, because I was running late )), and served with rice.  The original recipe said to mix it with the cooked rice, but with my bunch, I decided it was safer to serve it on the side. :)  It would also have been really good over noodles.  

YUM.

I'd love to hear your favorite "oven-free" recipes...just leave me a comment with a link or recipe!

St. Paul {Guy Penrod} Weekend, Part 4

ACKKK.

That was my reaction when I pulled up the "St. Paul {Guy Penrod}Weekend, Part 3" post so that I could start Part 4 and realized...it's been two weeks since I posted part 3!  How did THAT happen?? How did I leave my poor readers hanging there, waiting to see what was at the bottom of that elevator, for two whole weeks??

Well, I know how I did it.  Life has been, well, LIFE, these couple of weeks.  And then some. :)  Hopefully I'll be able to share more about that soon.  And for a lot of reasons, my brain has been mush.  Most of my blogging takes place early in the morning or late in the evening, and lately, even when I haven't been trying to sleep during those times (because for some reason my body is in "wide awake from 2-5 a.m. mode" right now), I haven't been able to string two coherent sentences together by the time I get a chance to blog.  So...for those who've been waiting...I apologize.  And I am really going to TRY to do better.  Although, as I tell my children...no promises, but I will do my best. 

So...in the last installment, we'd FINALLY arrived in St. Paul, weary and waterlogged, gotten settled in our hotel, and then gotten a phone call to come to the lobby.  I'd called Jodie to meet us at the elevator, told the girls to throw jackets on over their pjs, and swiped a bit of lipstick on...as if ANYTHING was going to help after 15 hours in the car and running through a deluge. :)

And when we stepped off  the elevator, we found...

FRIENDS!

Otherwise known as "The Friends Who Live in our Computers." :-)

These ladies...

Kerri, Sue, and Denise
(Photos taken at the concert the next day.  I was too bedraggled to get the camera out for our initial meeting. :))

Heidi

Heidi, as I mentioned in Part 2 of this series, is the one who ran across my blog in a Google search for Guy Penrod, and posted the link on a site for those who appreciate Guy's music and ministry. (She was also the promoter who made this concert happen.  She did an amazing job, and the story of God's work in that is truly awesome.  I'm planning for that to be an installment all its own in this series. :))  I then found that site through my stat counter.  To make a long story short from there, we made some very dear friends through that contact.  They had prayed for Jodie when she was caregiving for her MIL, and then when her MIL died last December.  They had prayed for my family when we were trying to find answers when one of our children was experiencing some scary medical issues.  And we had prayed for them as well. 

And now, finally, we were meeting them in person!  

The family of God is an amazing thing.  From the moment we "met" these ladies (who had come from all over the country) in person, we felt like they were long-lost friends. We had already shared with them, prayed for them and been prayed for by them...the fact that we hadn't been in the same room with them didn't seem to matter at all.  Our hearts were already one, and the time we were able to spend with them throughout our weekend in St. Paul was as thrilling to us as the concert itself.  

As exciting as meeting our "new" friends was, the girls were about asleep on their feet.  We left Mrs. Jodie downstairs visiting and went upstairs to get some sleep before the "main event" the next day.  Next installment: CONCERT DAY ARRIVES! 

As I was typing this post, the old Gaither song "The Family of God" kept playing through my head.  I decided to look for a video, and I found a "golden oldie".  If you are like me and haven't heard the story behind this song before, a word of warning...grab some tissue before you watch.  What a blessing!

St. Paul {Guy Penrod} Weekend, Part 1

St. Paul {Guy Penrod} Weekend, Part 2

St. Paul {Guy Penrod} Weekend, Part 3

Diving In!

Loving the Steven Curtis Chapman song "Dive" all over again...

Anticipating with much excitement what God is going to do as He leads us into a whole new adventure...

Casting our cares upon Him as we deal with the discomforts that accompany change...even good change!

Starting a new journal to record what God is teaching and doing during this next stage of the journey...

Basking in His mercies that are new every morning!

"Diving in!"

Not "Fifty Shades" or "Magic Mike"...But the "More" We Were Created For!

(Sunday 07.08.12)
I really wasn't going to post about "the book" (Fifty Shades of Grey) or "the movie" (Magic Mike).  There has been much said recently about both, including quite a bit by people I felt were saying it much better than I could.  This morning, however, when I found myself headed into multiple paragraphs in a comment on a link on a friend's Facebook wall, I realized that I apparently was going to post after all. 

My friend Tauna (whose blog you really need to check out if you haven't already!) posted the link to Joshua Harris's blog post on her Facebook wall last night.  I had already read both his post and the post he referenced by Melissa Jenna (as well as posts by a few other bloggers), but as I read the comments this morning, I was stunned all over again by the reactions.  

One of the best posts I've read on "the book" is this post by Dannah Gresh on the True Woman site.   One of the commenters on the Josh Harris post mentioned the backlash in the comments on the Dannah Gresh post.  I had not read the comments, but I was shocked as I began to read this morning.  Not shocked at comments by those who don't claim the name of Christ...those I would understand defending such things...but shocked at comments by people who do claim a relationship with Christ and yet defend this book.  


This was my comment on Tauna's link this morning...

What I cannot understand is how there can be ANY controversy about this book or this movie among those who profess to be Christians. What a heartbreaking example of Satan's powers of deception. So many people have no idea the "slippery slope" of porn and how devastatingly dangerous it can become very quickly...regardless of the gender of the one who partakes. I had read the True Woman post referenced in the comments of the Josh Harris post earlier this week, but hadn't read the comments. Wow. I am absolutely floored....although I shouldn't be. This is the power of the enemy and I am convinced that porn...in all it's stages and variations...is one of his strongest weapons in this age. *Sigh* I think I've pulled my soapbox out and hopped on...I had said that I wasn't going to blog on this, because there are already so many good blog posts out there on this topic, but I'm afraid I feel one coming on...because I am flooded with thoughts on this. One I have already shared, though, is this, " I want to be so caught up in the "more" that God created me for that I don't have time for books or movies like these to even be on my radar."

(Monday 07.09.12)

I had lots of thoughts on the book, the movie, and the posts/comments about them when I started this post early yesterday.  I've struggled with saying what I want and need to say all day.  There are many specific, random issues I have with the book, the movie, and those who are defending them.  For instance, I've seen several people comment that men as well as women should read the book, because supposedly, through the main character (who uses pain, dominance, and bondage in his relationships with women), men can learn how to truly love and romance their wives.  

As more than one pastor of mine has said, there is a good Greek word for that...HOGWASH!! 

Men are not to follow the example of the hero in an erotic novel to know how to love their wives...they are to follow the example of Christ in the way that He loves His bride, the Church. 

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her,  that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,  so that He might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,  because we are members of His body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.  However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:25-33

There are other specific issues I could address, but as I've prayed over this post the last two days, I've taught a Sunday School lesson and heard two sermons that really summed it all up.  (Interestingly, the two sermons were by different guest preachers yesterday in the absence of our pastor.  Both sermons tied in perfectly with the youth Sunday School lesson yesterday morning, and with this post.)

The Bible says that lust is sin.  The Bible says that sex outside of marriage is sin.  That's the starting point for this next part of the post.   For those who don't believe the Bible is the true, inerrant, holy Word of God...well, I'm glad to have you reading, and hope you'll stay and read some more, and I'd love to chat with you via the comments or email about that.  However, this particular post really isn't for you.  Because until a person realizes the depth of their sin against the holy and righteous Creator of the universe, repents of that sin, and accepts the gift of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus...the rest really doesn't matter much.  If you haven't taken that step, I'd love to chat with you about it!

But my focus in this post is Christians...those who claim to have been convicted of sin, turned to God in repentance, and accepted that gift of eternal life...those who claim the name of Christ.  

For those who truly are Christ-followers, the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and Jesus Christ has become the Lord of our lives.  Our Sunday School lesson yesterday was on Romans 7:20-8:9...Victory over sin and death through the Holy Spirit.  Paul says:

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,  but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

 

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  (Romans 7:20-8:9)

The girls and I discussed that there is a war going on, as Paul says in these verses, in every Christian...a war between our new self and our old sin nature.  But...Jesus Christ has already won the war through His death and resurrection, and the Holy Spirit helps us to live in that victory. 

But how do we live in that victory?  The key, according to this lesson, is our mind-set...our way of thinking, developed by what we make the focus of our lives.  As these verses say, "those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit."

If we set our minds on things of the flesh, our flesh will control us.  If we set our minds on things of the Spirit, the Spirit controls us.  If we are truly Christians, by relationship, and not only by name, we are to have our hearts set on the things of God, not on things of this world.  The more we feed our flesh, the less sensitive we are going to be to the prompting and conviction of the Holy Spirit.  This gives Satan greater opportunity to deceive us...to make things that are sin look beautiful and appealing.  That is what he has been doing since the Garden of Eden...making things that God calls evil look good.  That deception is obvious in the discussion in Christian circles about this book and this movie. 

I shared this story with the girls yesterday, not for the first time.  Many years ago, when I was in college, Gilbert and Susan Baker were my Sunday School teachers.  There are many things that have stuck with me all these years from my time in their class, but one of the biggest was about gray areas.  Gilbert quoted 1 John 1:5...God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.  Gray, he pointed out, is white with a bit of black added...light with a bit of darkness.  But "in Him is no darkness at all."  So...if it is gray...it is not of God.  We are to "walk in the light, as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7)  And if we back up a verse there, He says that "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." 

After that Sunday School lesson, I went into not one, but two, sermons that tied in perfectly. I love it when God does that!  The first was taken from the book of Judges and was on the importance of the King (Jesus) being on the throne of our hearts...in other words, the importance of His Lordship in our lives...and the catastrophic results of sin when we do not allow Him that Lordship.  

The second sermon was taken from John 4.  Bro. Gary quoted Walter Chantry, author of Today's Gospel, Authentic or Synthetic, saying, "Only a small portion of those who 'make decisions' evidence the grace of God in a transformed life," and then said, "We've stopped telling people that their sin offends a Holy God."  "We've got to get back to offending people," he pointed out, saying that if the Gospel doesn't step on our toes, something is wrong. 

Two other things that stuck out from Bro. Gary's sermon last night, with this blog post in the back of my mind: 

*Anything that is offensive to God should be offensive to us.

*People who are saved are going to thirst after the things of God.  

Based on those truths: 

1. Sexual immorality is offensive to God; therefore, it should be offensive to us. 

It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.     1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 

But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28 (That applies in the reverse as well.)

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness,which is idolatry.  On account of these the wrath of God is coming. Colossians 3:5-6

2. If we are saved, we are going to thirst after the things of God.  

Another blogger posting on this subject said, "We were made for so much more!"  I commented on her post, " I want to be so caught up in the "more" that God created me for (and I want the same for my children) that I don't have time for books/movies like these to even be on my radar. "  I want to be seeking after Him with all my heart!  I want to be so full of His best for me that everything else fades into complete obscurity.  

The other thing that really struck me yesterday in relation to this post was a song we sang in the morning worship service.   This song by Mark Altrogge so perfectly declares the holiness, glory, beauty, majesty, and righteousness of our God.   How can we even think of filling our minds with the likes of Fifty Shades or Magic Mike in the light of His love and mercy and grace?

You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words
Too wonderful for comprehension
Like nothing ever seen or heard 
Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beautiful beyond description
Majesty, enthroned above

And I stand, I stand in awe of You
I stand, I stand in awe of You 
Holy God, to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of You

You are beautiful beyond description
Yet God crushed You for my sin
In agony and deep affliction
Cut off that I might enter in
Who can grasp such tender compassion?
Who can fathom this mercy so free?
You are beautiful beyond description
Lamb of God who died for me

St. Paul {Guy Penrod} Weekend, Part 3 {Finally!!}

Note: This is part 3 in a multi-part series.  Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.  

"Day 1" finally arrived.  Here are a few things we saw, felt, and learned on Day 1:

* No matter how carefully you plan, your plans will change.  Jodie and I had talked for weeks about the best plan for Saturday morning.  We modified, and modified, and modified again.  We ended up with what should have been a great plan.  A child having an early-morning seizure just before Jodie was to pick us up was our first departure from said plan.  But we "flexed"...the first time of many on the trip...and finally got everything and everybody loaded in the car.

* Do not depend on children sleeping in the car, no matter how little sleep they have had or how early they were awakened.  We thought the girls...particularly the little girls...would sleep a good bit of the trip.  Nope.  They tried to sleep...at times they looked like they were sleeping...but they didn't sleep.  We thought this was because they were too excited.  However, the same thing happened on the way home.  They finally slept when we were less than three hours from home...less than 3 hours out of what ended up being 30 hours on the road. :-O

Don't let them fool you...they only LOOK like they are sleeping! :)

* It's an amazing thing to drive down the interstate jamming to Guy Penrod and realize that in 30 hours or so you are going to be seeing him in person.  Just sayin'! :)

* Jodie is Wonder Woman.  And an amazing driver.  I will probably say this more than once.  It needs to be said more than once.  She drove the entire 30 hours herself.  And went non-stop in between.  She's not only an amazing driver, but an amazing friend.  I'll probably say that more than once, too. :)  She's just amazing.  And she has the Wonder Woman shoes to prove it. :)   (Just for the record, I did *offer* to drive.  But she never got that desperate.  And lest you think I'm that bad a driver, I'm not.  Jodie just likes to drive. :))

* It doesn't take much to excite Jodie and I.  Or my girls. You'll hear more about that later, too.  You should have seen the excitement when we saw a CVS drugstore in Kansas City.   We've both always wanted to go to a CVS (not to be confused with the local chain of CVs Family Food Stores...much cooler! :))

* For those of you who have never driven through Iowa, allow me to make a brief Public Service Announcement.  If you see a restroom, stop.  If you see something that MIGHT be a restroom, stop.  This applies whether you think you might need a restroom in the next hour of the trip or not.  Because for those of you from our part of the world, where there are McDonalds and convenience stores and even Wal-Marts every 10 minutes down the interstate, let me tell you...Iowa is a WHOLE different ball of wax.  You can drive for MILES and MILES and MILES without seeing a sign of civilization, other than an occasional farmhouse in the distance or perhaps a small herd of cows every hour or so.  And if you skip an exit with a restroom, the smallest member of your party will immediately afterward announce that she needs a restroom.  15 minutes later, she will be practically in tears.  15 minutes later YOU will be practically in tears.  10 minutes after that, you will take your chances and pull off onto an exit, only to discover that there is STILL no restroom in sight for miles.  Then just when you are to the point of hysteria, you will round a curve and see the most amazing conglomeration of chain restaurants and retail stores you have ever in your life seen...like an oasis in the desert.  Said panicky smallest member of your party will then announce that the Subway you race into is her "very favorite restaurant in the whole wide world".  The guy working in Subway will explain that he has to drive an hour in any direction to get to a Wal-Mart.  You will all decide that you could NEVER live in Iowa.  Oh...and when you get back ON the interstate, you will discover that had you stayed on that interstate and driven just a couple more miles, you would have been able to drive right into a populated area brimming with restrooms.  Ask us how we know...:)

Gracie's favorite restaurant in the whole, entire world!

* I know you probably figured this out from the last point, but again, for those who have never driven through Iowa...be prepared.  Iowa is mile after mile after mile after mile after mile after mile after mile of farmland.  And more farmland.  And more farmland.  More on this in the return trip report. :)

This quaint church was a break in the miles and miles of  Iowa farmland. 

* No matter how often or how recently you have checked the 10 day forecast for your destination on a long road trip, the weather is likely to be dramatically different from what you expect.  I'd been checking for days, and there was a 0% chance of precipitation on our route Saturday.  Just as we got to the Twin Cities metro area, it began to rain.  That rain soon turned into a torrential downpour.  We pulled off the road twice because the visibility was so poor.  As mentioned in part 1, we were less than an hour from our hotel at the time.  So close, and yet so very, very far.

* As also mentioned in part 1, that torrential downpour turned into a hailstorm.  Those of you who know my children well know that some of them have an extreme phobia of hail, stemming from a hailstorm several years ago which took out the large front window of our house, sending glass all over our living room.  The mere mention of hail sends them diving for cover and brings the threat of tears to their eyes.  We sat in a convenience store parking lot trying to soothe them and figure out how to get back on track to our hotel when it was over, until we heard sirens.  Yes, THOSE sirens.  The ones that go off in our part of the world when a tornado is approaching.  The ones that every self-respecting Arkansan knows mean "Hit the fraidy hole!"  We didn't have a fraidy hole, but we decided that the inside of the convenience store had to be better than the car in the parking lot under a tree. So Jodie dropped the girls and I off and went to park the car, planning to follow us momentarily.

We run into the store, dripping wet, with tears still trailing down some of the girls' cheeks, only to see the proprietor calmly talking on the phone.  He gets off the phone and I say, "Ummm...the tornado sirens are going off...?"  He replies, in heavily accented English, "Yes, but not tornado. Just hail.  Sirens for hail."  I say, "The sirens are for HAIL?"  We're from Arkansas, and in Arkansas when the sirens go off, that means there is a tornado headed our way."  "No, no tornado, just hail.  Sirens are for hail."  Seriously??  HAIL sirens??  Not to mention the fact that the hail was OVER before the sirens started.  They do things a little different up north, friends. :)

* When you've been on the road for 15 hours, any hotel looks wonderful.  But I'm pretty sure that even had we *not* been on the road for 15 hours, the Shoreview Hilton Garden Inn would have looked wonderful.  I have never been so thankful to pull into a parking lot in my entire life! 

* When you arrive at a hotel after 15 hours on the road, you don't look your best.  When you arrive at a hotel after 15 hours on the road, the last hour of which included getting out in a torrential rainfall, you don't even look remotely presentable.  (That's what I'm claiming the problem as, at least, since Jodie looked WAY better than I did at that point, and she didn't get out of the car in the rain. :))   When you arrive at a hotel after 15 hours on the road with three children in the car, they want a snack, a drink, the remote, and their pjs.

All of that being the case, when the hotel phone rings just as everyone is settling into their rooms and the desk clerk says, "there are some ladies down here who would like to see you," you call your much-more-presentable-looking friend across the hall, tell your girls, "just throw your jackets on over your pjs", slap a bit of lipstick on (knowing that it is really hopeless), and race for the elevator.  :)

And that, I think, is as good a place as any to stop for now. :)  I started this post almost a MONTH ago...just before we left for Family Camp. Since then, we've been gone for a week to camp, I spent almost a week in bed with a stubborn infection, we had a week of VBS, and this past week we've just tried to stay cool and play catch up.  But I am finally to "catch up blog" on my list, so hopefully I'll be knocking out posts like crazy this week! :)  That's the thought anyway.  So...tune in tomorrow to hear what (or who) was at the other end of that late-night elevator ride!

Independence Day...Not Just Celebrating...

Soon after Andy came to Oak Cliff as Student Minister, he began a practice of reading about and praying for a country from the Voice of the Martyrs Persecuted Church Guide during our Sunday School opening.  This morning, with Andy being gone and Chad being sick, it fell to me to read about our country for the week, Mauritania.  On this Sunday before our Independence Day, I was especially touched by the plight of the Christians in this small country in Western Africa.  

Mauritania is 99.8%+ Muslim.  Barely 0.1% of the population know Christ.  It is against the law to be a Christian...or anything other than Muslim...in Mauritania.  It is against the law to print or import religious materials of any religion other than Muslim, and it is illegal to evangelize Muslims.  Conversion to Christianity is punishable by death, and in 2009, local police arrested and tortured 150+ Christians for meeting together as a church.  

This week in America, many of us have been greatly distressed by a Supreme Court ruling which we see as a major blow to freedom.  There has been much talk...and rightly so...of the way our freedoms in this country are being eroded little by little in many areas.  It is disturbing, and we definitely need to take a stand and protect the freedom that has been paid for with the blood of so many over the last 236 years.  

However, I was overwhelmed as I read this morning about Mauritania...just one country among many in the world today where merely claiming the name of Christ can result in imprisonment or death...that we still have so very much to be thankful for as we approach this Independence Day.  We are able to claim the name of Christ without fear.   We are able to gather together for worship in peace.   We are able to own as many Bibles as we choose.   We are able to share our faith without reprisal.   We are even able to declare and defend our religious and political views via social media.

Yesterday I commented on a blog post by a blogger troubled about the popularity of the movie "Magic Mike" and the book "50 Shades of Grey".  One of her last sentences summed up her whole post so well..."We were made for SO much more!"  After spending a week studying/teaching God's plan and design in Creation in VBS, I was especially struck by the truth of that statement.  In my comment I said, " I want to be so caught up in the "more" that God created me for that I don't have time for books or movies like these to even be on my radar." 

I was reminded of that this morning as I read about the country of Mauritania and the hardships faced by Christians there.   I don't begin to understand why God allowed me to be born in a country blessed with the freedoms we are blessed with here.   There are things that sadden me about the direction our country has taken in recent years, and even more in recent days.  But...I am still incredibly thankful for this country in which we've been blessed to live and raise our children.

And I am even more convicted about the urgency of being caught up in the "more" for which we were created.  So often, we...I..."waste" the freedom with which we've been blessed.  We use our "freedom" as  justification for pursuing all manner of things which are not honoring to our Creator.  We're often very poor stewards of the precious freedoms with which we've been blessed.  

My heart aches today for the persecuted Christians in Mauritania and other countries around the world.  It is frustrating to feel that there is so little that can be done for their plight.  But there are things that we...I...can do.  We can pray.  We can give to organizations that are working to help.  We can become involved in those organizations.  I can teach my children and others about the plight of the persecuted church and about the preciousness of our own freedom.  I can teach them how to be good stewards of that freedom, and I can be a good steward in that area myself.  

Most of all, I can not waste a single ounce of the freedom I've been granted.  I can put a priority on reading, studying, and memorizing the Bible for which so many through the ages have sacrificed so much, up to and including their lives.  I can make the most of every opportunity for corporate worship, fellowship, and ministry.  I can devote my heart and life to discovering and doing what God created me to do, without worrying that I am going to be imprisoned or put to death for doing so. 

My prayer as we approach this Independence Day is that we will not only celebrate our freedom, but that we will steward it well.  

If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

~2 Chronicles 7:14 AMP

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