Month: June 2011

Monday Musings

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My dad lives in a rural county that was devastated by a wild fire yesterday. The latest report said 3,600 acres and 30 homes were lost. Praise God, he evacuated in time, but we’re still waiting on word about his house. As of last night, they still had the roads blocked off, so he couldn’t go check on it to see if it was even still standing.

Because my heart is heavy for him, today’s haiku is about fire:

Quick! Get out! Wild fire!
What is important to you?
Grab it and go, now!

On a related note, are you prepared for disaster? Whether it is a hurricane, drought, tornado, etc., do you have important papers locked up in a firebox? I encourage you to make a disaster plan today. Don’t put it off, because if the day comes to need one, there won’t be time to get it ready on the fly.

A father’s legacy (Prayer devotional for the week of June 19)

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Sometimes I get bogged down in the family tree passages in the Bible, but something caught my eye this week that I thought was pertinent to Father’s Day. As you may recall from Genesis chapter 4, Adam and Eve’s first two sons were Cain and Abel. You can read the whole drama there, but long story short—Cain killed his brother in a fit of jealousy. Although he was banished by the Lord for his sin, Cain found mercy in the Lord and went on to have children of his own.

Here’s a quick run-down of father to son for the next several generations: Cain >> Enoch >> Irad >> Mehujael >> Methushael >> Lamech. So, Cain’s great-great-great-grandson, Lamech, had three sons and a token daughter (girls don’t usually matter much in lineage discussions, but I digress). One son, Jabal, grew up to become “the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock;” another one named Jubal became “the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes;” and the third, Tubal-Cain, fathered those “who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron” (Genesis 4: 19-22).

Before we go further, can we just pause a moment and consider how confusing that household must have been? Three rowdy boys running around, and Lamech hollers: “Jabal! Jubal! Tubal! Whatever your name is; come here!” Anyway …

Lamech’s sons are singled out in this family tree, based on the legacy that they will pass on to future generations. You might say that Jabal was like the Cabinet Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Jubal the conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra and Tubal-Cain the president of the National Mining Association. These three men became industry leaders in their respective areas and passed down those skills from generation to generation.

Perhaps you aren’t in the same field of work as your family, but work-related skills aside … what other legacy are you leaving for your own children? Will your great-grandchildren (and their great-grandchildren) narrate tales of your reputation as a spiritual leader, your boldness for Christ and your heart for the un-churched community? You don’t have to be an industry leader to leave a remarkable legacy.

Foodie Friday: Pudding Crumble

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I had good intentions of being neighborly and making some cookies for a friend who was going into the hospital today (and extras to keep at home to nibble on, too), but the batch turned out to be a flop. They weren’t sweet enough and were far too crumbly. It was a low-carb recipe for almond cookies that I adapted, since I had peanut butter on hand instead of almond butter, but that wasn’t the problem. I’ve made some really scrumptious low-carb baked goods that you couldn’t tell were low-carb/sugar [at least, I couldn’t tell]. So, I had to get to the bottom of it – what went wrong this time?

I realized two glitches after-the-fact: 1) I’ve baked with Splenda before, but I should have measured a packed cup of the granulated kind, rather than the loose scoop that I used; 2) I recently bought some new whey protein powder (an awesome binding/filler for low-carb recipes!); unfortunately, I didn’t notice that I bought *plain* instead of vanilla. Blech. I didn’t notice it in my smoothie, but I sure could tell the difference in the cookies! I needed to have compensated with a splash of vanilla extract.

Rather than toss the whole batch, I decided to try an experiment. I crumbled the cookies (not a difficult task, since they were already falling apart) and lined the bottom of a baking sheet. Then, I whipped up a box of sugar-free butterscotch pudding – according to the “pie filling” instructions – and poured it evenly over the top. I refrigerated it for a couple of hours and voila … Pudding Crumble:

It was pretty yummy for a salvage effort, if I may say. To do it over again, I still should have added some more Splenda & vanilla, but the crumbles made a sort of graham cracker-ish crust that was surprisingly good. With a bit of tweaking, this could be a guiltless dessert to take for a pot-luck!

Splurge

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I had my eye on a few rings back in 2008 when I finished my master’s degree, but I didn’t find one that fit both my tastes AND my wallet. When I started working toward my doctorate, I figured I would get a graduation ring when I finished, and it would be my all-inclusive graduate school ring.

Well, I had some in-store credit to use at my favorite department store the other day, so I browsed the jewelry section to look for new earrings. They had a big sale on all of their sterling silver (Score! I’m a silver gal, much more so than yellow gold) … and I found this:

A hand model I am not, but this is the best I could do. The ring is a Möbius Strip, which satisfies my inner geek, and it is engraved with the words “Nothing is impossible” that reminds me of two of my favorite verses, Mark 10:27/Matthew 19:26 and Philippians 4:13. I realize that some people think I’m crazy for going to grad school with all of the other things on my plate, but I’m not doing it for them, anyway, so what does it matter what they think? 😉

This little splurge for myself makes me smile and encourages me to keep pressing on toward my goals.

P.S. That’s my high school ring on my pointer finger. Hooray for losing enough weight that my old jewelry doesn’t fit right! 😀

Writing Wednesday: Fearless

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I received [an autographed copy of!] Max Lucado’s book, Fearless, as a gift but haven’t carved out time to read it until recently. My Tuesday prayer group decided to read it, so I am finally getting into it. I love Max Lucado’s work, and so far, Fearless lives up to everything else I have read of his.

I love the way that Max Lucado introduces nuggets of theological expertise (like sharing the root word seismos as a descriptor of the storm on the Sea of Galilee) without making the reader feel stupid.

One impression that we held in common after reading just the first chapter so far is that we all have so much fear in our lives that we often don’t realize (or acknowledge) is there. I recommend Fearless — and all of Lucado’s work, for that matter!