Making Sushi - Bonnie Way

My husband ripped off the wrapping paper, read the words on the box, and then gave me a dubious look. “You got me a sushi kit for Christmas? You don’t even like sushi.”

I was rather disappointed. I’d found the kit about three months earlier, while wandering through Chapters with a girlfriend. It seemed like a perfect gift – he loves sushi and he has fun creating things in the kitchen. So, after some debate (I was slightly broke at the time), I bought it and managed to keep it hidden in our small apartment for the ensuing months (despite the fact that he knew I had a surprise for him somewhere and occasionally went looking for it). I couldn’t wait to see his face when he opened, but I’d anticipated a better reaction.

Wondering when he’d ever use it, he put it aside. It remained in the kitchen, unopened, for the next several weeks. Then we invited friends over for the evening, and my husband had a brilliant idea. His friend like sushi, so why not make some? He poured over the book, made an ingredient list, and we were off to the grocery store. Much to our surprise, the local Safeway had most of the ingredients that he needed. We were soon home again and he went to work in the kitchen, concocting sushi.

It turns out that sushi is a rather time-consuming process. While us wives chatted and watched their baby, our husbands worked in the kitchen. A couple hours later, the sushi was finally ready. My husband’s friend turned out to be a wealth of information on sushi, having not only often eaten it but also watched it being made. He had a few suggestions that made the process quicker and easier. The sushi they’d made disappeared in much less time than it had taken them to make it!

A few weeks later, my husband again made sushi, using up some leftovers that we’d had in the fridge. Last week, as we were preparing to have some friends over for my birthday party, he decided to make some party food. After whipping up a bowl of guacamole, he went to work on sushi. Again, he and another fellow spent most of the evening in the kitchen, while I and my girlfriends occupied the living room, admiring Sunshine and catching up on all our news.

So, just as I knew, he did like his Christmas present. Now I need to find him a birthday present…

Where Is My Phone Booth? - Elsie Montgomery

My son took a face book quiz that told him he would live to be 104. I teased him. Would he now take more risks? Eat more cake? Leap tall buildings in a single bound? He responded, “That would give away my secret identity.”

After that bit of fun, it occurred to me that I’ve often lived my Christian life as if it were a secret identity. God created in me something new, but instead of living that new life in the power and confidence that goes with it, I fearfully shrink back into the attitudes and behavior of my sinful self.

Some verses from the Bible bring this to my attention. (Notice, they are about working out my salvation, which means making it work. This is not about working for my salvation. I don’t have to, nor can I do that.)

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)

As these verses point out, an obedient and productive Christian life is directed and empowered by the Holy Spirit. God works in me so that I can live the life He wants me to live. I do not do it myself.

This is a supernatural life and foreign to the old life. When I am thinking as my old self used to think, such a life seems impossible and unattainable. The old me has no confidence in God and now, after years of being a Christian, very little confidence in
myself.

I never used to be like that. I once thought I could do anything, but years of walking with God (however on and off that has been) have taught me that in myself I can do nothing. Instead of being cocky and sure of what I can do, I feel incapable and even reluctant to try most things, even those things that were once easy for me. While I understand this realization is a necessary part of Christian growth, I do not like the sense of weakness that goes with it.

At the same time, I know the verses that say God’s strength is perfected in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9, etc.) and feeling weak is not a bad thing. It is just that I tend to use that sense of “I can’t do it” as an excuse to not do it, to disobey God. Hence, the power that belongs to my new nature is hidden, like a secret identity.

I know that supernatural living is about conforming my outer life to my inner life, and living out the new nature that I have in Jesus Christ. This is “not a mystical, undefined life based on abstract philosophical concepts” but a practical life that flows out of deliberate obedience to God’s commands, no matter how I feel.

Therefore, obedience in the face of weakness is my challenge and my solution. Superman had to step out of his Clark Kent costume before he was seen as the man of steel. I have to step out of my old way of thinking and obey God in all situations, regardless of how inadequate I feel. Otherwise, my true identity will remain a secret.

(Adapted from the original post at Practical Faith)

The Master's Voice - Glynis M. Belec

I close my tattered Bible and contemplate a choice

Do I resume my hurried pace or listen for God's voice?

My helter skelter schedule puts me in a spin

With lists and uttered empty words that contribute to the din.

I'm too busy pleasing others and working dawn 'til night.

"It's not my fault," I justify, "I have to do what's right."

Yet still I feel an emptiness at the end of each long day

My head it meets the pillow and I forget to pray.

Yet still, you love me as I sigh and give reason for my days

You understand my weakness and you know my fragile ways.

"Rest, my child. Be still and know..." God whispers to my heart

I know the way that I should go, yet I find it hard to start.

Sometimes the clutch around my soul brings fear with no releasing

The Word of God tells me to pray without a thought to ceasing.

So equip me Lord with prayer and peace; remind me of your Son

Jesus, in His gentle way. Tell again what He has done.

When my mind is stayed on Him a stillness fills my soul

The busyness or wordly quest no longer is my goal.

So as I seek Your still small voice in every thing I do

My motivating urgency will be to worship You.

As I pray a calmness comes and makes my heart rejoice

An urgent need to look to God and hear that still small voice.

Bless you Jesus as you wait with patient love for me

Lessons learned remind me that Your grace has set me free...

Living Light - Violet Nesdoly

Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, “Arise and go toward the South along the road which goes down from Jerusalem from Gaza...” (Acts 8:26)
Philip isn’t being asked to leave the Samaritan revival to go to on holidays. The passage above continues, “This is desert.”

But we hear no demur on Philip’s part. No, “But I'm being used here ..." Just, "So he arose and went," without any further explanation from the angel about why or exactly where.

He gets that when he reaches the desert and sees the chariot with its Ethiopian passenger. Then the Spirit whispers, “Go near and overtake this chariot.”

From that point Philip is on his own again in that he has to run to catch up, then use his intellect, experience and common sense to figure out what the man’s spiritual need is and how to address it.

But from God’s point of view the situation is puzzle pieces fitting together. This official of Candace’s court is interested in spiritual things, has just made a trip to Jerusalem to worship God and is engrossed in and mulling over the prophetic writings of Isaiah. Philip is the perfect one to explain things to him. Even more important, he's God's 'yes-man'!

Philip takes a sum of the situation and wastes no time explaining the Gospel to the Ethiopian, who accepts it to the extent of requesting baptism at the sight of the first sizable puddle.

Then Philip’s work with him is done. After the baptism “...the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so the eunuch saw him no more and he went on his way rejoicing.”

I’ll bet. And I would think Philip felt the same joyful. Because if there is any feeling on earth as wonderful as realizing that the God of the universe cares enough about little me to answer the question of my heart, it’s when God uses me to be part of that answer – whether to many, or one.

Such unselfconscious asking (and getting), such care-less obeying (knowing that sometimes obeying means not being whisked away; sometimes it means sticking with the already-given assignment and faithfully doing the day’s duties without any visible sign that heaven is involved) is, I think, part of what Jesus meant when He said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30)

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Web: http://violetnesdoly.com
Blog: promptings
Daily devotions for kids: Bible Drive-Thru
Twitter: @vnesdoly

Sourdough Thoughts - Pam Mytroen

"Would you like a batch of sourdough? It makes delicious muffins and loaves."


I nearly tripped as I backed away from the well-meaning gift bearer. My girlfriends all fled the scene with a smirk, but somehow before I could craft a polite 'no thank you', I held a warm, smelly container in my hands, complete with bonus recipes. "Add raisins, chocolate chips, or dried apricots for a different flavour."

It's still sitting in my freezer. Nothing against the delicious cinnamon topped, warm from the oven muffins, but my kids have made it clear they're tired of the growing, overflowing dough on my countertop.

Sourdough reminds me of my stinking thoughts. It starts out with an innocent thought like 'why am I so tired?' or 'what will happen if my plan fails?' or 'what will my boss say if...?' However, rather than taking that thought out and exposing it to fresh air, I stir it every day. Soon it begins to grow. Then every few days I toss in a few more negative thoughts such as 'maybe it's a disease I have'. Before long I have a mess of worry that begins to overflow. Fear stinks. Anxiety carries an offensive aroma.

"Casting all your care on Him for he cares for you," (I Peter 5:7). If only I would think of this first, rather than allowing the yeast of anxiety to grow.

Today I shared a worry with a friend of mine. She immediately shared her perspective on it. She had a line of reasoning I hadn't thought of. New information and knowledge opened my eyes to another way of thinking. My worry shrunk. Instead of stirring it and adding more yeast, I left the lid off and open to the fresh air. Now it has no chance to fester.

It reminds me of lifting a rock and watching the insects scatter. They don't like the light nor the breeze. Worry starves when we add the truth of God's light and the wind of His spirit.

My sourdough thoughts were exposed by my friend. God used her to share truth and light. I would like to return the favour. I wonder, would she like some frozen sourdough? I hear you can use applesauce in place of oil...

© Pam Mytroen