This and That

I am in the midst of the second week of "The Summer of Fun" around here.

You see, starting in the fall, my family is going to be experiencing a milestone--a transition, if you will, which is going to change things around here quite a bit. And while it will be a good development (I believe all stages of life have a sweetness) it will also mark the end of an era that I have found to be particularly sweet. And in an attempt to savor the very last drops of sweetness in this current cup of mine, I have declared an all out extravaganza of fun and activity this summer.

Basically I'm going devour my kids all day, every day. I tell you this so you will understand why this post is going to be a few random, mostly underdeveloped thoughts strung together. You are just going to have to forgive me. I've been up to urgently important things, like reading piles of library books, and making up ridiculous knock-knock jokes. (Oh, if you only knew!)

But my mind hasn't completely given up the contemplation of Scripture over the past few weeks, and in that vein, allow me to present the following for your consideration:

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You know that verse, 2 Thessalonians 3:10, that says, "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat."

I heard someone railing against the 'welfare state' in our country and using this verse to condemn it as unbiblical. Well, let me just say, I ain't taking a position on politics here, but a little bit of proper context seemed to me to be in order.

You do realize that Paul was addressing this statement to the church, right? Not the government. He was saying that church members must not be allowed to loaf around and sponge off of their fellow saints. Apparently some of the Thessalonians believed that Christ's second coming was so imminent that they gave up working and caring for their everyday responsibilities. Paul was having none of that, and said so. I don't think he had any kind of 21st century American political agenda in mind.

And by the way, all of that loafing led to some other problematic behaviors, as Paul goes on to list in verses 11 and 12. "For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread."

Busybodies. Every known one of those? Bet she didn't have enough work to keep her busy!

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I've been increasingly discouraged lately. I hesitate to blog about it, because it is so very negative, and I hate to fill this blog up with criticism. But I can't escape the awful realization that so many of my fellow Christians are by and large biblically illiterate and lack even the most basic level of discernment.

There, I said it.

And to add salt to the wound, I am specifically talking about people who have grown up in church, or have spent a majority of their life involved in church.

Now, before you go thinking what a snob I am and feel offended, let me add this: I have been there. I grew up in the church. I played the role of sweet-christian-do-gooder for a while. Not very well, I'll be the first do admit. But still, I do have some empathy for church attenders who don't know that much about Christianity and the Bible.

It's just that my empathy is starting to wear thin, and I'm thinking "Come on people! Do you believe this stuff at all? How can you believe the amazing, overarching message in Scripture and not be serious about it?"

Christian friends of mine tell me from time to time that they are not smart like me, and they just don't know as much as I do. Well, let me tell you something. I'm not all that smart! And I wasn't born knowing the things that I have come to understand. I have just taken the time to study and read and question and challenge and discuss. I've asked the hard questions and remained dissatisfied until I got an answer. I mean, if you understand that the God and Creator and King of the universe bore a curse, and became sin, and died in your place, how can you really be content without exploring Him and His revealed Word to the fullest understanding possible? It is quite simply the most fascinating topic in, well, the universe.

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So, I went blueberry picking a few days ago, and now my fridge is full of blueberries. I'm going to make a real, homemade blueberry pie tomorrow, and I an PUMPED!

While reading in quest of a great blueberry pie recipe, I happened upon this scintillating cooking tip: Cake batter cooks well in a waffle iron.

Are you imagining the possibilities? Cake batter waffles surrounded by a topping bar. Think of it! Ice cream and syrups and chopped nuts and whipped cream. I'm going to have to think of an excuse to throw a party.

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And finally, credit goes to my dear husband for pointing this one out to me.

In Romans 8:16 we read "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,"

This is not only an internal assurance for each and every Christian that we indeed posses a true faith, but it is also a legal requirement for establishing the truth of a matter.

Deut. 19:15

"One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established." (emphasis mine)

In the Romans verse, Paul is describing the two witnesses that will testify to our adoption as sons of God. The first witness is the Christian, and the second is the Holy Spirit. And by the testimony of these two--the truth of the matter is established.

Bathsheba Lite

OK, so I know that Bathsheba has been a little on the lite side lately, as far as deep and insightful material dealing with Scripture. It is this Ruth Bible Study, y'all. It is taking up all of my good inspiration! Pretty much every deep thought that I have, I have managed to work into the book of Ruth somehow. That is probably why I talked for 55 minutes last session! Seriously, I know that is waaaaay too long to talk. I'm going to try to contain myself a bit more next time (which won't be until January, by the way, in case you are following the study.)

But since I'm being lite-minded around here, I thought you girls might like this recipe. It is actually a recipe that I have come up with all by my lonesome self.

See, I love a good beef stew. It is just about my favorite thing to eat. But after I had each of my babies, I needed to shed some serious pounds. And the diet that always worked for me was a low-carb diet. So, this is my twist on beef stew without the high-carb potatoes.

Beef and Turnip Stew

8 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
4 celery ribs, sliced
4 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large onion, diced (or 1 bag of frozen diced onions)
1 1/2 lbs stew beef
6 (or so) medium-smallish sized turnips, peeled and diced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (or if you want a spicy beef and turnip stew, make this 1 tsp of
pepper. I did this by accident once and it turned out pretty good--but spicy.)
2 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf (optional)

Put all of the ingredients in a big crock pot on low for 6 hours. Remove the bay leaf. Indulge in fabulous beef and turnip stew. Email Hadassah and heap praise upon her for inventing this awesome recipe.

*Serves at least 6, probably 8
*You can also make this with fresh diced rutabaga (a root vegetable for those of you not from around these parts) instead of turnips. Both versions are delicious.
*We are eating this tonight at my house, served with skillet cornbread, 'cause I have given up being on a diet for the time being.

Two for the Time of One

In lieu of a real post, today you are getting treated to two mini-posts, because I am thinking through what I hope will be a real post in the next few days; but in the meantime I want to share two brief things.

First, have you ever been curious about this scripture, and what on earth it means?

Psalm 24:7-9

"Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
The LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up you heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of Glory shall come in."

I have a CD of Celtic Psalms that includes a hauntingly beautiful song based on this very passage. And I just bought another CD of scripture set to music last week that included these verses too. I always kind of wondered what they meant with all those doors and gates being lifted up. I just figured that maybe it was an allusion to the doors and gates of our heart needing to be "lifted up" in order for God to come in.

But the following footnote from my Bible has helped me immensely:

heads-the city or temple gates are personified.

shall come in-The return of the King of glory implies that He has gone out to battle and returns in victory.


OOOOOOHHHHHHH! So next time I have struggled (gone to battle) with a sin, and returned victorious, I can say this verse to myself.

For example: I really wanted to repeat that salacious rumor that another woman told me (before I could stop her of course!) It was a great battle with myself, and believe me, without the help of the LORD mighty in battle, I could never have been victorious over my own desire to gossip. But, because the LORD is strong and mighty, He made me victorious, and I kept my big mouth shut!

Now, que the music, I'm going to sing Psalm 24:7-9 in my heart.


And second, I took a gamble in the kitchen last night and it paid off.

I love beef stew. It is one of my favorite dishes when it is done properly. But, I'm trying to lose those five pounds I gained during my pig-out at the end of 2007. (Most of you would call this the holidays, but in retrospect, I think it was just one long culinary indulgence for me.)

And those potatoes that are traditionally included in beef stew? Well, they are not on my diet. So what to do? I have used rutabagas in place of potatoes before, with delicious results. But my local grocery store has an annoying habit of running out of rutabagas (of all things! really! are they that popular?) So I gambled and diced up some turnips instead. I highly recommend it--turned out tasty.

Hmm, for those of you who have read my Hot Pot post, we really do eat things besides beef around here, I promise.

Hot Pot!

This is not going to be a real post. And there is nothing spiritual about it in the least. I just want you to know that after almost 9 years of marriage, and many extremely mediocre attempts, I have finally, finally made a delicious pot roast. It was fall apart tender, moist, glossy, perfectly seasoned, and plain old scrumptious. Even my notoriously blase (when it comes to food) husband, pronounced it to be "really good." If you knew the man, you would realize what high praise that conferred. And I also made turnip greens for the very first time. They were excellent. Figures.