Extreme Makeover: Me Edition

Here I stand, looking in the mirror.

It's a painful daily ritual.  I think I expect to look radically different when I wake up.  All that I notice is that 34 doesn't look much like 20 did.  It's the end of January and most of my good intentions for life changing weight loss have not been realized.  It's funny to me how much of my life has been spent lacking contentedness with my appearance.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm under no false impression that an extra 50 lbs of "fluff" is actually healthy.  I know things need to change. 

As I sat down with my friend Charles Spurgeon and the Bible for our not-so-regular coffee date, I was reminded once again of God's perspective on my morning. 

2 Corinthians 4: 16-18   So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self  is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

What a timely reminder.  I spend lots of time obsessing about the outside and not doing much and I have friends that spend hours at the gym, but I was reminded that we are both in error if we forget to invest time in the eternal things.  I am going to make an effort to change the outside so that I can be healthy, but I cannot forget that I have another more important relationship to nurture.   I was also comforted to be reminded that the Holy Spirit is doing His own Extreme Home Makeover on me daily.

On Whiskey . . .

Dear Friend:

  I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun a controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it may be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. Here is how I stand on the question.

  If, when you say whiskey you mean the Devil’s brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty … takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacles of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation and despair, shame and helplessness and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it with all of my power.

  But, if, when you say whiskey, you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman’s step on a frosty morning; if you mean the drink that enables a man to magnify his joy and his happiness and to forget, if only for a little while, life’s great tragedies, and the heartbreaks and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm, to build highways, hospitals, and schools, then certainly I am in favor of it.

                                                                                                                    -Author Unknown

I apologize to all of my Baptist friends out there, but as a Presbyterian I believe a little whisky can cure a world of ills :)  (everything in moderation of course!)  Here is one of my favorite Whiskey recipes:

Flip Your Kilt Beef Stew  (my own recipe)

Ingredients:

1 lb stew meat (I used an eye round roast from one of Uncle Bobby's cows)

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup diced onion

1 TBS minced dried garlic

1 bay leaf

2 tsp thyme

1/2 cup of Whiskey (I used Glenlivet 12 yr old)

4 cups beef broth

salt and pepper to taste

4 sliced carrots

1 large sliced potato

Cube the beef and toss with a bit of flour to coat.  Put a splash of olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven and turn on medium high heat.  Brown beef and remove.  Add onions, garlic, and mushrooms and saute until onions are translucent. Add whiskey to deglaze the pan.  Add in broth and stew meat.  Bring to a boil and reduce heat.  Cook for 45 minutes.  Bring up to a boil again and add sliced vegetables.  Continue to cook until veg. are soft.  Serve with Sarah Short's fabulous beer bread (click on Short Stop link in my blogroll to find recipe).   

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Where has the time gone?  It seems like only yesterday that we got the call from Bethany that our little man was born.  It's hard to remember my life B.G.  He's grown from a little bean of a baby that loved to be swaddled, to a little boy whose favorite phrase is, "My do it!"  He is truly a joy and keeps us both laughing out loud and snickering under napkins at the dinner table. 

Uncle Ray - A Tribute

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I always imagined Santa looked like Uncle Ray.  When I was little, my uncle had a soft white beard and the jolly look of the man in red.  I have such fond memories of sitting with Uncle Ray and laughing on my grandmother's couch.  Uncle Ray was a character.  He had lost a few fingers and an eye in a blasting cap incident as a child.  This made the disappearing finger trick a real puzzler for a 5 year old!  I just remember his presence as one of joy.  When visiting my Aunt Violet and Uncle Ray at their home in Pennsylvania (I thought this was where vampires lived and so I was terrified to sleep) I have memories of playing with his giant husky named Yukon and jumping in the biggest pile of leaves.

As I grew older, visits with Uncle Ray were characterized by talks of theology and the Christian faith.  What a blessing to have an older relative who was willing to move past the small talk to the things of real importance!  If you know me at all, you know that I loved these talks.  I remember Shane commenting that he thought Uncle Ray was a great man upon their first meeting.

As Uncle Ray and Aunt Vi grew older, health problems caused a move to live closer to their only daughter and one of my favorite aunts, Nancy.  Aunt Vi was diagnosed with Alzheimers and I saw a picture of a devoted husband as I heard of his care for her throughout that awful disease.

I am sad that we didn't get to visit with Uncle Ray in his last years.  Earth lost one of its great men on New Year's Eve, but Heaven gained a valuable citizen.  It's a comfort to know that I'll see him again one day!

II Timothy 4: 7 

 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

A gentle answer . . .

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Let me commend a great little book to the parents out there.  We've just started using a cute little book called My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God's Word in Little Hearts by Susan Hunt.  For each letter there is an explanation of a verse beginning with that letter as well as a little story and questions that apply the Scripture.  It's very cute!  We only use the verse and explanation now, but I can see this book becoming a favorite in our rotation for years to come! 

This week our verse is Proverbs 15:1, "A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger."  What a convicting reminder to this grown-up. 

Check the book  out at www.crossway.org

Strength that stoops to conquer

Today I wiped a little red nose and held my little boy as he slept feverishly. 

This little frail bundle reminded me of one of the talks given on our recent College and Career retreat by our dear friend L.B. Graham.  We approached the book of Revelation as a doxology of Christ.  In Revelation 1: 13, John sees an image of the Risen Christ.  He is powerful and terrifying and John falls at the feet of his Savior as if dead.  L.B. reminded us that this was not the pasty pale Jesus that often adorns the walls of our homes or our Sunday school rooms.  This image is one of wisdom, judgment, and exacting strength and yet, Christ reaches down to John and tells him not to fear.

How does this relate to my little sick boy?  This same God, the One who spoke the universe into being, the One who holds the stars in their places, the One who knows how many hairs are on my head was born into filth to an unknown couple in a little town of no reputation.  He wasn't born into a body that was immune to sickness or fever, but a body that could and would die.  What humiliation!

Jesus could have come with eyes blazing and with legions of angels at his beckon, yet he humbled Himself and entered the world as a little child so that we may be God's children.