Gleanings of Wheat

Yes, I realize that I'm roughly 3 months ahead of things on this one, but I can't help it. I've been thinking about the Exodus (reading the book of Exodus will do that to you), Jewish traditions in keeping the Passover, and just how amazingly Christ is shown in all of this. I am also acutely aware that someone out there has surely said what I'm thinking far more clearly, and far more eloquently than I ever could but bare with me anyway if you would. Chapter 11 is the pronouncement of the final plague on Egypt - the death of the first born. I can't imagine how frightening this must have been for the Egyptians, they'd seen God preform great judgments before and some even cried out for Pharaoh to release the Israelites (10:7) and now the call comes that the first born of everything will die. Man, woman, child, animal. Those that would gain the family blessing & be heir, those that would be responsible for leading and carrying on tradition, the one that would n

When I was in a AoG church, and even for a couple years after I left I struggled a lot with the supremacy of God, specifically in regards to salvation. I used to think that God held out this invitation and that it was up to me to accept or reject that invitation. That the only way someone's heart was hardened towards God was if they hardened it themselves. I'm currently reading my way through Exodus, and what has stuck out quite a bit is God's supremacy in the state of Pharaoh's heart. On eight separate occasions of the first 14 chapters it specifically says that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, at other times the text simply says that his heart was hardened. Lest someone come along and insist that this hardening on God's part was figurative, suggesting the writer of Exodus didn't have language to convey that the Pharaoh had hardened his own heart, let me also point out that in three verses it says that very thing. The Pharaoh hardened his own heart AND t

I found a recipe for baked donuts a few days ago and tried it out. I was disappointed at first because they taste nothing like Dunkin Donuts, but once I got past that I realized that these biscuit/ cake/ treats are actually pretty good! 1/3 c. butter 1/2 c. sugar 1 egg, beaten 1 1/2 c. flour 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 c. milk Cream butter and sugar; add beaten egg and mix well. Mix in dry ingredients and milk. Fill greased muffin tins 1/2 full. Bake 350 degrees, 20-30 minutes. Dip donuts in: 1/2 cup melted butter Then roll in mixture of: 1 cup sugar 2 tsp. cinnamon

Joyful Afflictions But the more they afflicted them,the more they multiplied and grew...(Exodus 1:12) The Israelites are under the great oppression of the Egyptians and are fruitful, the Egyptians see the threat that could be posed by this mighty nation and seeks to crush their spirit, subdue their desires, and destroy their sons in order that the Israelites might never rise up against Egypt. And despite their best efforts the Israelites just keep going. They are crushed, yet not destroyed. In fact they just keep growing. There is no mention of the Israelites actually trying to rise up and escape their circumstances, rather we see them crying out to God (vs 2:23). And so it is for the Christian. It is in times of affliction, in times of great distress that we find ourselves growing. And this growth is not done in our own efforts, but in submitting to the will of God for us at that moment. Though we long for deliverance, though we often wish we were not going through such times, it is a

Last night at roughly 9:10 marked the 5th anniversary of my water breaking. I was sitting in the movies seeing The Ring and towards the climax of the movie there is a scene where a bookshelf full of glass & water gets knocked over and the water spreads across the apartment floor. I think you can see where I'm going with this. In that moment my water broke. It was cold (not as cold as today) out and snowing and we had to drive across town with a very nervous daddy. It was a fairly long night, involving lots of yelling (daddy kept stepping on my IV line) and pushing before the doctor eventually showed up and announced I was going to deliver via c-section. At 5:46 this morning William turned five. Happy birthday, baby.

According to Kim's estimations it is as cold in Canada as it has been here in Chicagoland. WHY?! Why can't it be a tinsy bit more warm here?? I'm from Florida people, I don't do cold.

For Christmas a friend of mine got me a contaner of Giada De Laurentis spices, this is the first time I've used it. Very nice blend. 2 chicken breasts 1 c white wine 3 cloves garlic, crushed 2 pinches of Giada De Laurentis Tuscan Herb mix boxed spaghetti your favorite spaghetti sauce - I used hunts spaghetti sauce w/ garlic and herb In a large skillet place the chicken, wine, garlic, and sprinkle Giada's herbs on top. Cook covered over low heat for 1 hour, flip the chicken after 30 minutes. Cook spaghetti sauce and spaghetti as directed. Place spaghetti on plate, chicken on top of that, and top with sauce.

Every time I read the story of Leah, Jacob, and Rachel I end up feeling sad for Leah. She's the older of the two sisters, hasn't managed to find a husband yet, and when she finally does get married it is done in trickery to a man who doesn't love her. Sure, poor Jacob and Rachel have had to wait seven years in order to be able to be married and then have a fast one pulled on them by Laban thereby forcing Jacob to subject himself to service for another seven years - but I have a soft spot for Leah. Once the dust settles and Jacob sets up shop with his two wives the girls seem to engage in a baby making race. God takes pity on Leah and she becomes pregnant while Rachel remains barren. Leah brings forth a son, and rather than glorifying God for this blessing she seems to think that she can purchase Jacob's affections (29:32). Her next son, Simeon, seems to display some growth in her as she declares " Because the LORD hath heard that I was hated, he hath therefore give

3-5 potatoes cut into 1/2 pieces (I leave the skin on) evoo for drizzling rosemary for sprinkling Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the potatoes and place them on a cookie sheet, sprinkle evoo & rosemary on top. Bake until golden brown.

My daughter turned 3 last month with almost no interest in being potty trained. I say almost because about once every other month for the past 5ish months she will go to the bathroom "like a big girl" for the sole purpose of messing with my mind. But the past week or so she's been asking to go to the bathroom much more (which is a feat in itself since she's pretty behind in her speech) AND has actually been going. I think we may be on the verge of beginning to get potty trained. w00t. Blogging may remain light/ spotty until she's potty trained.

3 chicken breasts 1/2 c white wine 1/2 c evoo 1 clove garlic, crushed & thinly sliced salt & pepper to taste Mix the wine, evoo & garlic together. Marinade the chicken for 1-2 hours, transfer chicken & wine mixture to skillet over medium high heat and cook through about 7 minutes each side. Serve on white rice with fresh basil for garnish. **I serve this with salted avocado & my rosemary potatoes as sides.

I'll be back in a few days, I have a lot going on right now.

As I've been reading Genesis it continues to amaze me how bad things can get, how wicked our hearts are my heart is. Today as I was changing laundry loads I was mulling over these things, and it occurred to me that God let His people go without the Law for quite some time. Really when you think about it, they didn't get the law for at least a couple thousand years (I'm guessing). Why? Maybe, and I could be wrong, God didn't give them the Law right away for the specific purpose of displaying how crazy things can get when we toss the rule book out the window. As I've mentioned before, we truly see the wickedness of man very quickly after the Fall. Perhaps God withheld the Law so that we would really see and understand our own wickedness? Then when He finally gives the Law He knows nobody will ever be able to live it perfectly. He shows us our wickedness in the pre-Law period, shows us we cannot live righteously in our own efforts in the pre-Christ period. Generations

I got The Pasta Bible as a Christmas gift (and a food processor!) this year and this is the first recipe I've tried out of it. I didn't have pine nuts on hand, and didn't feel like shopping, so I just used walnuts instead. It still turned out pretty good! 1/3 c pine nuts 1/3 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 c sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped 4 tbsp olive oil 12 oz linguine ground black pepper coarsely shaved Parmesan cheese to serve basil leaves to garnish Put the pine nuts in a small non-stick frying pan and toss over low to medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until the nuts are lightly toasted. Put nuts in food processor, add the Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic, with pepper to taste. Process until finely chopped. With machine running, gradually add the olive oil until it has been throughly incorporated and the ingredients have formed a smooth looking paste. Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain, but reserve a few tbs

And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken . For Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. (Gen 21:1-2) In the first two verses of this chapter God wants us to understand something very clearly, He left no room for doubt when He inspired these verses to be written. Isaac was born exactly as God had promised. The thing that caused both Abraham and Sarah to laugh with doubt, the thing that seemed beyond impossible happened. And it happened not by chance, but by the decree of Almighty God. When God promises something, take it to bank and relax, His word is better than gold. Just as He promised Abraham and Sarah a son, He has promised that His Son will return. We don't have to fret and wonder; if it seems as though He is tarrying too long we must confidently place our hope in His promise. Just as Eve never saw the promise fulfilled in the flesh, we look at the word He has given u

Notes....no real running theme, just some of my scattered thoughts. 1. Lot is sitting in the gate of the town, cross reference with Boaz going to the gate of Bethlehem to meet with the elders? Is Lot influental within the town, or perhaps he abides near the gate of town to keep away from the wickedness at Sodom's heart? 2. Lot is hospitable as Abraham was in chapter 18. Yet he goes further, he pressed them "greatly." Did he realize what could happen to two men who slept in the street? Perhaps he was aware of just how wicked Sodom was. 3. Lot is willing to sacrifice his own daughters in order that he might save these visitors from the wretchedness of the men of Sodom. Would I be so willing to sacrifice my children for the welfare of others? 4. Their very lives were in danger and yet the sons in law refused to see this and thought that Lot was goofing around. The men on the other side of the door would rape, or worse, those within...and they thought it was a game? 5. While

I love our psychotic weather. As far as I am concerned this is the BEST January ever. I realize it won't stay like this, and that is sad, but yay for now!

Well, that's an idea! In a pyrex measuring cup pour 3/4 cup of apple cider. Heat in the microwave till nice and steamy hot. Stir in 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract, one pinch of cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of rum. Pour into a shot class 3/4 of the way full. Top with sweetened whipped cream and dust with cinnamon.

I work in a Christian bookstore. We're actually a small chain and new customers constantly get us mixed up with the "competition" - it isn't really a competition, we're constantly playing phone tag with the girls at the other store just to try and serve each other's customers. I adore this job, the pay is horrid (it is retail after all) but my coworkers are a blessing, the customers are interesting, and I get to read books for free! The only thing I really don't like about the job is some of the books we carry. After being raised Catholic, a passing interest in Wicca, and having sat under Word of Faith teaching and dealing with a church who was very PDL and experimenting with things like contemplative prayer, I'm weary of a lot of the books we have. Our fiction section is our best selling section, and the Christian classics section would collect dust if I didn't go back there and poke around in the eight books we have. It makes me sad that the weal

Left of Zen has a great list of foods that help the brain function better. My favorite that made the list? CHOCOLATE. Of course, strawberries comes in right behind...mmmm chocolate covered strawberries.

One of the things that I love about the Bible is that it is really real . Real people, with real struggles, trying to be faithful to this great God we serve. In Abram & Sarai we see a couple willing to leave everything they've known in order to follow God, and yet they struggled with God's promise for a son. They were old, well beyond normal child bearing age, the promise of a child seemed more difficult for them to believe than believing that God would deliver the promised land. As we read the text we do not see them question the land, we see them laugh at the idea of finally becoming parents. Of course, the promise of land was to come through their promised son, so if God did not give that son their decedents would never inherit any land because there would be no decedents. But God is set on them being parents, He does not get frustrated and give up when they laugh at this great promise, He doesn't even turn away from them when they foolishly sought to accomplish His

As I was reading The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment I came to this statement on page 154: The second chapter of Proverbs begins with the type of statement that should be quite familiar to those who have read and studied the Old Testament. It is a simple "if...then..." statement. Before I moved to the next sentence this popped in my head: I think I'm taking too many programing classes.

Interestingly, there is nothing noted within the text to indicate there was anything in Abram that caused God to call him, nothing worthy of such an honor. It would seem God would have us focus not on what Abram may or may not have done well (as there is nothing he could have done to earn God's blessing), rather God would have us focus on the fact that He called Abram. He could have chose anyone, but His will in eternity past was fixed upon Abram. He called Abram, just as He has called me and you, dear Christian...and we did nothing to earn it. Rejoice, brethren, your standing before God does not stand or fall on your righteousness, but on Christ's. See also: Doug's post .

I didn't post this yesterday, but Doug has a great post on the sins of Babel here . As for me, I rejoiced in a single verse yesterday. To those who would deny the Trinity, look closely. And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down , and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. (Gen 11:6-7) And as if that weren't clear enough, it happens in the Creation as well. And God said, Let us make man in our image , after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Gen 1:26)

I sinned today, big surprise. In truth, I sin every day. Today however, though the world would say this sin is rather small, I felt particularly convicted about it. As I went before God in prayer I had to confess not only this specific sin, but also a sin that came about in response to His righteous conviction. Initially, as my conscience was pricked I tried to rationalize and justify my sin. Surely it wasn't that big a deal, right? Wrong. As I reflected upon why I was attempting to justify sin to a righteous King I realized what I was doing. With profound clarity I saw my sin in that moment and was broken over it. As I reflected and prayed more I became joyful for my conviction. I know that may sound like a strange response to conviction, but I was incredibly happy in that moment. I began to see that this conviction was good, and of God; in His grace He was revealing my sin and helping me understand His attitude toward it. I don't think I've ever really realized just how

I have been reading (almost daily) Tim Challies blog for nearly three years. I first found his blog as I began researching The Purpose Driven Life and have been blessed on many occasions since then. When he announced that he was writing a book I was quite excited and followed along with the rest of his readership as he developed it. Needless to say I have looked forward to reading this book quite a bit. The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment is a brief book (the bulk of the text is only 184 pages), but given Tim's own declaration when defining discernment "I have attempted not to waste any words, so pause if necessary on each word" (pg 60) it is not surprising that the entire book would take on this clear, concise nature. He minces no words, carefully crafting his case for the necessity for discernment in Christian life. What struck me most, besides the sound Biblical teaching, was Tim's attitude of humility as he sought to teach both the reader and himself. I have

As noted yesterday , the perverseness of man's heart was very quickly revealed. Only a generation after paradise human kind experiences the first murder, and from there things only seem to get worse. So bad, in fact, that by the sixth chapter of Genesis God was prepared to destroy all living beings on the earth. If any would question whether God is active in creation, whether man is really wicked at heart, or whether God actually cares about sin, let him take notice today. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually . And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart . And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. (Gen 6:5-7) God saw the wickedness taking place and rightly understood (He is

Tim Challies , Christian blogger extraordinaire, has his first book out. I ordered it excitedly the moment he announced it was available at Monergism.com . As I was putting the kids down for a nap today I heard a peculiar thud on the porch, I was expecting a couple packages but was quite happy to find that this was the one that arrived. I plan on digging in over the next few days. Yay for new books!

Doug's post today is wonderful, go read it. What struck me this morning was just how quickly humanity went from being in the Garden to bringing forth all sorts of sin. The pride of two quickly infected all around them. Cain kills Abel, for what? Because God had been pleased with Abel's offering and displeased with Cain's. God had not withdrawn Himself from Cain, rather He sought Cain out in order to restore Cain's heart and relationship with Himself. But rather than allowing God's inquiry to restore his heart Cain hardened himself, killed Abel, and then had to bare the consequences of that sin. Even in His pronounced judgment on Cain God was merciful. Though Cain would wander the earth as a vagabond and a murderer God marked him for protection. Likewise, if we are in Christ we will wander the earth as aliens, often we will remember our sinful past, but in all of this we are marked by God so that His wrath might pass us by. Unlike Cain we can rejoice in knowing that

This morning my son said he saw a bunny on the top shelf of his closet, I thought he was just being goofy. Nope, they have a squirrel in their bedroom. On a holiday. Great.

So, Doug had a great idea for a reading plan and I decided to do it as well starting today. Yes, I am a follower. ;) Anyway, today I read the first and second chapters of Genesis. You can find Doug's reflections here . Back when I was an atheist if someone had even attempted to tell me that the Bible was true I would have laughed, I was pretty obnoxious. Once I came to Christ I didn't know a single person who was a Christian (or at least claimed to be) and didn't believe in evolution. As I've grown I've become more and more convinced that the Genesis explanation of creation is true, but amazingly even among Christians there is much debate over whether the days of Genesis were literal 24 hour periods. I can't begin to tell you how many Old Earth Creationalists I know now. What struck me this morning as I did my reading was the language of the Genesis 1 creation account. As we examine the text closely we find that there is nothing within it to warrant the Old E