Integration Continues

Every day sees Huber becoming more a part of the family. Food helps!

O Light That Knew No Dawn

In our worship service, we sometimes reflect on a hymn while it is played, before the call to worship. Today I was the pianist and the hymn below was today's choice. The author is Gregory of Nanzianzus, and I encourage you to google the name and read up on some fascinating Christian history. I also encourage you to google John Brownlie, who was a Scottish pastor in the late 1800's. He translated this and many other poems from the ancient Greek & Latin.

O Light That Knew No Dawn

O Light that knew no dawn,
That shines to endless day,
All things in earth and Heav’n
Are lustered by Thy ray;
No eye can to Thy throne ascend,
Nor mind Thy brightness comprehend.

Thy grace, O Father, give,
That I might serve in fear;
Above all boons, I pray,
Grant me Thy voice to hear;
From sin Thy child in mercy free,
And let me dwell in light with Thee.

That, cleansed from stain of sin,
I may meet homage give;
And pure in heart, behold
Thy beauty while I live;
Clean hands in holy worship raise,
And Thee, O Christ my Savior, praise.

In supplication meek
To Thee I bend the knee;
O Christ, when Thou shalt come,
In love remember me,
And in Thy kingdom, by Thy grace,
Grant me a humble servant’s place.

Thy grace, O Father, give,
I humbly Thee implore;
And let Thy mercy bless
Thy servant more and more.
All grace and glory be to Thee,
From age to age eternally.

Spring Snow

We've had snow before in March and April, but usually it is light and disappears quickly. Yesterday we had an all-day snow and the prediction is for more today and tomorrow. Sure glad I didn't bunk my tall boots yet!

Blue's Soup (akaTurkey Broth Recipe)

Way back in the dark ages (probably late 1980's) before the internet, we bought our first computer, a Zenith with an amber screen. (It's still in the attic!) I had a trial membership with Prodigy, an early on-line group, and I had met some nice pen pals there. At one time I wrote that I was trying to make soup and it was boring and tasteless. I received the following recipe from someone who's screen name was Blue, and I have used it successfully for years. Usually I use it with a turkey carcass.

Blue's Soup

Put whatever (turkey, chicken, ham bone) into the soup pot and cover with water. Add salt (1/2 tbsp), 5 grinds pepper, 1/4 cup onions (dried, minced, ground to powder), garlic (enough to fit in center of hand), same amounts of parsley, sage, ground rosemary (poultry only), thyme, hyssop (note - I've never had any of this) and marjoram. Add 3 stalks celery minced, or 1/2 tbsp celery salt, 1 grated carrot.

Cook until meat falls off bones. Strain.

Usually I end there and freeze the results for future use. The recipe goes on to say: re-season again using the same amounts of everything except salts. Add veggies, simmer 1 hour.

Spring Ahead Soup

Yesterday's kitchen mission was to cook or compost all the vegetables in the kitchen. The end result was "Spring Ahead Soup".

First, I lined a large roasting pan with foil and put in baby carrots and cut up turnips, green pepper, cauliflower and onion. I coated it all with some olive oil and roasted it at 425 degrees for 40 minutes, tossing it after 20 minutes.

In another lined roasting pan, I put in cut up broccoli and leeks. I roasted them for 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I dumped in all the roasted vegetables into a large pot and added water to cover. I also added a frozen batch of turkey broth and a fork-full of chicken soup base. I heated it all and then pureed it with an immersion blender.

Because the turkey broth has seasonings and the chicken soup base has salt, it did not need any other seasoning. The end result tasted good and yielded about 7 quarts of soup.

The Further Adventures of Huber

Well, Mr. Huber disappeared during a major snowstorm on February 23. We were a little concerned, but not much, since he has gone wandering for several days at a time before. On March 1, when he still hadn't shown up, I put an ad on Craigslist. Still nothing. Just about the time we had resigned ourselves to the fact that he either had another home or something had happened to him, I got an email!!! This past Monday, March 7, some folks Kitty lovers - they have 5 cats & 2 dogs!) were bringing their daughter to dancing lessons and a cat approached them in the parking lot of the studio. (This place is about a mile from us.) They asked around and no one claimed him, so they brought him home, checked Craigslist, and contacted me. Tuesday, Little Man's Grandfather and I went to their house and WOO HOO, it was our long lost boy!!!!!

I decided that I had given everyone a chance to adopt this darling boy and no one stepped forward, so home he came with me Tuesday night. Little Man's Father agreed. We made a vet appointment for him and Thursday he went to see our wonderful, kitty-loving vet. The good news is that he does not have feline leukemia, so we went ahead with shots and an operation. He is 9.5 lbs and about 1.5 to 2 years old. He is now home recuperating and starting to meet the rest of the troops. This AM, he and Clovis spent some time together and actually touched noses! Binky and Raquel will be harder, but hopefully we will all adjust eventually to being a 4 cat house (heaven help us!) instead of 3.

Reckon, Refuse, Render

Did you know that Romans 6:11 is the first command in the book of Romans? I didn't until this morning's sermon. "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." And, interestingly enough, it is a command to THINK, not to DO.

The following is my condensation of today's sermon:

To backtrack - as a review of the first five chapters of Romans, today's sermon reminded us that Christ not only died for sin, He died to sin. Therefore, the following five things are true:

1. Feelings of powerlessness are irrelevant. If we are recipients of His forgiveness, than we are also recipients of His power. It is an irrevocable transaction.

2. Without dying to sin first, any commandments are impotent.

3. Techniques of living a Christian life apart from a union with Christ are inadequate.

4. Every part of my being has been liberated in Christ. (mind, body, will, emotions, thoughts, speech, decisions, etc.)

5. Sin's authority over me has been broken.

In light of this, there are three keys to experiencing the fullness of the benefits of salvation:

Romans 6:11 - RECKON myself dead to sin. I need to learn how to THINK!

Romans 6:12 - REFUSE to let sin in. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions." (put off sin) I need to learn how to say NO!

Romans 6:13 - RENDER to God what is His - to love Him and love others. "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. " (put on righteousness)

The sermon title for today was "Grace Reigns in Life". Because of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we now can live joyfully under the regime of GRACE!!!

Scenes

I have been messing about with Photoscape again, as well as Photoshop Elements. Here are a variety of scenes made from pictures I have snapped over the years. On my computer, if I click on the picture to enlarge it, then right click and choose "set as desktop background", I can make my own wallpaper. So, if you see something that grabs you, click away!