I am not much of a morning person. Truth be told, I am not sure that I am much of a late night person either. Or a mid afternoon person. I think my peak moments are like from ten to eleven fifteen in the morning.

Which is why it is such a surprise that this morning finds me cooking not only sausage balls for breakfast, but chicken for a crockpot dish for dinner tonight. It took me five minutes yesterday morning to realize that biscuits cook better in the oven rather than on top of it.

So, I'm not making any promises, folks. Although I did kind of cheat and make the sausage ball dough yesterday. (sometime between ten and eleven fifteen.) Because I knew there was no way I'd have time to do it in the morning.

Of course, given the fact that I am not much of a morning person, (I'm not crabby, I'm just a little unfocused) I probably should be paying attention to the stove rather than sitting here blogging. (That's okay, the smoke alarm will let me know if things get too out of hand!)

I hope you have the most glorious day!

(now someone just needs to make sure I turn on the crockpot.)

By Your Side

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace
Why are you crying
Let me lift up your face
Just don't turn away
Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough
To where will you go child
Tell me where will you run
To where will you run
And I'll be by your side
Wherever you fallIn the dead of night
Whenever you call
And please don't fight
These hands that are holding you
My hands are holding you
Look at these hands and my side
They swallowed the grave on that night
When I drank the world's sin
So I could carry you in
And give you life
I want to give you life

Cause I, I love you
I want you to know
That I, I love you
I'll never let you go

if you can't have pie...

there's always Torte! Jessi got this for us from Whole Foods. And since Whole Foods only sells healthy food, this must be good for us, right? (Honestly, I thought I might try to eat healthier since I am getting a little older but I have to eat my way through all the pie and cake and candy and such before I can start. At this rate, I'll weigh an extra 20 pounds before I begin! But they'll be a happy 20 pounds won't they?)

For Ang....

a tale of two titles...

There are two things rolling around in my head this morning that I am just dying to share. (because my life is so exciting!) Hence the quandary over two titles. Since I have shamed Mrs. McKeehan (my high school English teacher) many times during my forays into blogdom, I'm not even going to try and follow whatever rules and restrictions go along with writing coherent papers. I'm just going to lay these puppies out there and let you make of them what you will.

title number one: Whirlpool is having trouble with their water heaters. Ask me how I know. Go on, ask me. Because apparently there's some part or something very important in certain models of water heaters that FAIL causing the pilot light to refuse to stay lit. Ask me how I know. At this very moment I am trying to convince myself that words like "invigorating" and "polar bear plunge" are positive, affirming words. Words like "bathing in the freezer must be good for your skin" or "what a lovely glow you have about you this morning. (never mind that blue really isn't your color...)" I'll bet you've guessed by now that we have NO hot water. Since Sunday night at 10 p.m. And due to Whirlpool having trouble with their water heaters, the water heater repair people are VERY busy. However, a lovely water heater repair person will be making his way to my house this morning, where he will be greeted with balloons, confetti and a ticker tape parade (not to mention a trumpet fanfare and maybe a piece of pie.) We want him to feel appreciated.

title number two: Fall comes to LifeWay

We wear uniforms at LifeWay. Day in and day out. Year in and year out. Little burgundy shirts and happy khaki pants or skirts. Every day. Never changing. I personally wear khaki skirts with my little burgundy shirt. I (almost) never wear pants. I have four of the same style skirt (ordered online because I am tall and skirts are not long unless you order tall.) I wear them in the spring, in the summer, in the fall and in the winter. I always look the same. (except sometimes a little thinner and sometimes a little thicker. Or sometimes my hair is up and sometimes it is down.) All in all, I never look different. (As a matter of a fact, we all look the same.) There's only one thing that's ever different. And it's how we know that fall has come to LifeWay.

It's the changing of the shoes.

During the spring and summer I wear "not sandals."

Really, they are not. No toes show. So they can't be sandals.

Because we aren't supposed to wear sandals.

And during the fall and winter, I wear hiking boots. With socks. (I know you are so excited by this information.) And I've decided that I will be expressing my individuality with my socks this fall. Because there are no rules governing what color socks we wear. Just the color of our shirts, skirts, belts and shoes.

Anyway, yesterday was the first "wearing of the boots." Because Fall is here. (It must be. Because I wore the boots. Circular logic, gotta love it.)


So if you ever need to know what season it is, just stop by my LifeWay store and take a look at my feet.

Cover to Cover:How well do you see?

I don't know where to begin. (I think I'll be saying this a lot in the NT.) One of the beautiful things about the NT is how familiar it is. And yet, in spite of reading the very familiar passages, God has hidden so many gems for my heart this time around as well.

I woke up this morning thinking about the healing of the blind man at Bethsaida. When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch the man and heal him. Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?” The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly. Mark 8:22-25 For some reason, the story just captured my attention. I guess it appears to be a story of partial then total healing. Which didn't make sense to me at first. I mean, Jesus healed everyone else completely. Why did it take this man two tries before he could see clearly? Which may have been why I was pondering this story days later. But this morning, the light dawned. Kind of like the blind man's sight. How many times am I blinded to the truth of scripture? Then, gradually, the truth reveals itself...until finally I can see His intent. Matthew Henry puts it this way: The cure was wrought gradually, which was not usual in our Lord's miracles. Christ showed in what method those commonly are healed by his grace, who by nature are spiritually blind. At first, their knowledge is confused; but, like the light of the morning, it shines more and more to the perfect day, and then they see all things clearly.
***
I like to check out different translations to see how things are worded. While I would never use the Message for scripture memorization, I often love how things are worded there. This passage is no exception: Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don't let go. This, in a nutshell, is that will: that everything handed over to me by the Father be completed—not a single detail missed—and at the wrap-up of time I have everything and everyone put together, upright and whole. John 6:37, 39
First the promise that He holds on and never lets go, then the promise that at the wrap up of time we will be put together, upright and whole. I'm telling you, these are some promises that I've needed to hear lately. Especially the promise that no matter how mixed up things might seem at the moment, some day I will be upright and whole. Praise Jesus!
***
Do you ever stop and think how many times certain things are mentioned in scripture. When I saw this again this week, I began to wonder how much clearer Someone might be trying to make the point to me. But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' Matthew 15:18 I think this verse is tied together with Mark 8:15: Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod." Just as good things permeate lives like yeast in flour (Matthew 13:33), so can the taint of evil work it's way through our lives, affecting all that we touch.

***

I have to confess something at this point. (Those that know me well will be nodding their heads at this next part.) As we travel closer to Jerusalem and Jesus's Crucifixion, I will have a difficult time reading and processing these passages. I hate knowing that He is going to suffer and die. Even though I know He is going to rise again and it is all a necessary part of God's plan. It hurts my heart. (Just ask me about how much trouble I had doing the homework in Jesus the One and Only during crucifixion week.) Anyway, maybe that's why this part caught my eye. As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 9:51 Did you see it? He resolutely set out. I think too often we think this was easy for Him. He was obedient to His Father's Will and He knew all along what the big picture was. So surely He marched right into Jerusalem to carry out God's Will, right? Well, yes, He did. But I don't think it was easy. He knew it was necessary. The dictionary says resolutely means to be firmly resolved or determined, to be set in purpose. The Message says: he gathered up his courage and steeled himself for the journey to Jerusalem. For some reason, those six little words in the NIV make me even more grateful and aware of the sacrifice that He made for me.

***

There's so much more to this weeks reading. We could talk about Mary and Martha, the six woes, the parable of the rich fool (a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions), the sending out of the seventy two...oh, how rich the Word is. However, this post is already terribly wordy and slightly scattered. Please join Bev and the gang and read coherent thoughts on things that I missed. You'll be blessed! (and thanks for your patience with my wordiness. If that's a word.)

Meet my man...

Josh is 45 today! (and Mary Jane is...um...having a birthday too. Rather than reveal her age, I will point out that she is OLDER than me. tee hee.) So in honor of Josh's 45th birthday, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about him. Because I know that nothing would thrill him more than me putting information about him on the world wide web. (Lori did this little bit over at her place last week and I thought it would be perfect for today. Because you don't turn 45 every day.)



1. He's sitting in front of the TV: what is on the screen? Could be anything. He's a channel flipper. Might be a football game, a sitcom, a food show, or round the clock news. My favorite tv memory was when he came home from the hospital with a kidney stone. They had pumped him full of powerful painkillers and I left him downstairs to go get something. When I came back, he was totally engrossed in watching the spanish channel. Which is fine, except that he speaks no spanish. I still wonder what he thought was going on.



2. You're out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Um..nothing? Because salad makes him gag. Or bleu cheese. Because he'd be passing that salad along to me and that's what I'd want.



3. What is one food he doesn't like? Okra? Shrimp? Dill pickles? (I know that's three. But he probably feels equally strongly about each of them.)



4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? He doesn't do bars. But if he had to...he would order a mountain dew.



5. Where did he go to high school? Moore High School. Same as his sister and brother before him. I'm not sure if he enjoyed it or not. (I suspect not. Because who really enjoys high school?) However, he was a good, if somewhat sarcastic, student. (unlike that woman he married...she was too blonde to think about grades most of the time. )



6. What size shoe does he wear? 10 1/2 . when he wears shoes.



7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Plants. lots and lots of plants. (He also loves Stitch. As in Lilo and Stitch. Mainly because Stitch lives in Hawaii and he would really like to live in Hawaii too. Because they don't bring their tropical plants in the house in the winter.)



8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? He's not much of a sandwich fan. But if he were to have a sandwich, he would prefer it to be a club sandwich with just meat and cheese. No dressing, no veggies. Because veggies would be like a salad and we all know that salad makes him gag.



9. What would the Husband eat every day if he could? Pie? BBQ ribs? Milky Way midnights?



10. What is his favorite cereal? Right now he gets to eat Honey Smacks and Raisin Bran. Because that's what I bought last so they must be his favorites.



11. What would he never wear? An evening gown? high heels? long evening gloves? fish net tights? I'm thinking the list is pretty long.



12. What is his favorite sports team? UK. (which shockingly beat Arkansas in football last night. He's a true fan...who listened to the entire game even after his wife left the room when they were down 13 points with 4 minutes to go. He might have been a little smug when he came upstairs and said, "by the way, in case you're interested...we won.")



13. Who will he vote for? Well, we try to avoid politics on this blog. But he is pro-life and very conservative. You guess.



14. Who is his best friend? Me! or Elwood. (the basset hound) depending on who's better behaved that day.



15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? interrupt. spaz out. whine. need I go on? (I could...)



16. How many states has he lived in? Two. This one and Missouri.



17. What is his heritage? I have no idea. He's not Hawaiian. Much to his disappointment.



18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind? Okay, you should know the answer to this one. Say it with me...PIE! (If it had to be cake, it might be coke cake. or pudding cake. or strawberry whipped cream cake. All of which he would have to cook so he'd probably rather I go and have his mom make a PIE. Because I don't do pie either.)



19. Did he play sports in high school? Is chess a sport? No. only required PE class sports.



20. What could he spend hours doing? puttering with his plants. checking out ebay. going to yard sales with his dad. Fixing the train layout that he's going to put together someday.



Happy 45th birthday Joshua!