Posts from — November 2009

This poem is widely distributed on the web. It made me laugh, so I thought I would share it with you. I have no idea who the original author was… if you do, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,
My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,

Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,
And he told me there was something that I had to know;

His look and his tone I will always remember,
When he told me of the horrors of… Black November;

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What do you think the reaction would be if this song was taught in your church next Sunday?

From the time the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost
The followers of the Lord have willingly sacrificed themselves
Tens of thousands have died that the gospel might prosper
As such they have obtained the crown of life.

Chorus:
To be a martyr for the Lord, to be a martyr for the Lord
I am willing to die gloriously for the Lord.

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In our culture, Christmas has turned into the biggest shopping spree and gift fest of the year. When most people think about Christmas, they think about presents. While gift-giving isn’t mandatory, it is an expectation in most families. Given that fact, how can exchanging gifts honor God?

Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than receive.” When I was a child, I would have disagreed, but now that I’m the primary gift-chooser in our family, I find that I get really excited about finding the perfect present for someone I love. I get even more excited watching them open the wrapping. We honor God in our giving when we give with a cheerful heart.

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I may not be a digital native, but I must be a naturalized citizen.

As I write this, I have just spent ten days away from home, visiting friends and family on the west coast. It was a great time, and I loved seeing everyone, but I’m ready to come home.

Flying standby can give you lots of time to think… especially if flights that had plenty of open seats a few days ago are, on the day of departure, suddenly overbooked. After arriving at the airport this morning, I am hoping to finally make it onto a 5:45 flight this evening. In the meantime, here I sit.

Trying to make good use of my time, I hopped on my laptop and tried to log on to the airport wi-fi. Hah, not so fast. Apparently, this airport has no free internet access, and I am not about to pay.

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The Christmas decorations have been up in the stores for months, ads are playing on TV, and a suffocating feeling of being overwhelmed is beginning to engulf me. I feel like Scrooge. It’s not that I’m against Christmas—far from it—but I’m very much fed up with the commercialized substitute our culture feeds us. It makes me want to crawl under a rock and stay there until January.

Every year I rebel against spending money we don’t have, baking things I shouldn’t eat, and the self-imposed pressure to decorate the house—knowing I’ll have to put it all away again a few weeks later. Yet I eventually find myself doing all those things anyway.

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The calendar says November, Thanksgiving is two weeks away, and Christmas isn’t far behind. For years you’ve extended invitations to everyone in your family, and no one has come to visit. But this year…. Your sister just announced that she and her husband are bringing their eight kids. Five minutes later your in-laws called to say they’re finally free this year. Your other sister found out everyone was coming, and didn’t want to miss the excitement. And by the way, can she bring her (humongous) dog? And her boyfriend?

At first you were excited about having a family reunion… but now reality is setting in. Where will you put them all? How will you help them feel welcome?

Pete and I once successfully hosted twelve family members (in addition to our nuclear family of four) in our three-bedroom house… for an entire week. (Five more people stayed with a neighbor, but ate with us.) It would easy now that our kids are grown and on their own—we have two dedicated guest rooms plus another bed in my home office. But we used to live in an area where housing prices were very high, and houses were very small. Where did we put our overnight guests then?

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If you’ve been at all conscious lately, you realize that Thanksgiving is a mere twenty days away. I like being helpful, so I thought I’d share one of our family’s Thanksgiving recipes. About ten years ago, in an effort to eat a bit healthier, I decided to trim a lot of fat and sugar from the  traditional “Candied Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows” that most of us grew up on. In spite of the lack of sugar high, everyone liked my alternative so much that I received nary a complaint. I’ve served it every year since.

The recipe is easily doubled, but allow more time for the potatoes to cook (a bigger pot with more water takes longer to heat).

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Sometimes all the best-laid plans don’t work out. I’d flown from Colorado to Washington to spend a few days visiting a good friend I’ve known since we were roommates in college. We’d hoped to go for walks in the woods, strolls on the beach, photo safaris to some local scenic hotspots. Instead, as I write this, I’m lying on her couch with a 100-degree fever, a stuffy nose and a throbbing headache.

I’d feel even worse if I thought I’d given my germs to her family, but it’s pretty obvious the sharing went in the other direction. I’d hoped to avoid the flu that her husband and kids were down with, but all the hand-washing and tea-drinking were to no avail. I got sick anyway.

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