Be still, and know that I am God … Psalms 46:10
Monday: The hubby has a meeting, so I will make do with leftovers.
Tuesday: Poached Salmon with Creamy Piccata Sauce
Wednesday: Cajun Corned Beef Hash, made with this Cajun Seasoning Mix
Thursday: Spicy Crockpot Chicken with Chipotle Marmalade Sauce
Friday: This begins my Easter vacation, but since vacations are variable by nature, I don’t really expect to stick with this plan as it is written. We will probably eat leftovers if we eat at home.
Saturday: Dinner with the family for Easter. We’re having sandwiches on bagels from Panera with my sister’s famous veggie tray and some homemade desserts and chips.
Sunday: Dinner at Outback for Easter/Lillie’s twenty-first birthday.
Monday: Island Jerk Chicken
Tuesday: Beef in Pomegranate Sauce
Wednesday: Tuna Pan Bagna
Thursday: Cuban Pork Tenderloin, using rum extract instead of rum
Friday: Our current plan here is to visit the son and his family. If we don’t we will have Mexican Scrambled Eggs.
Saturday: Chicken Mulligatawny
Sunday: Moroccan Chicken Stew
Monday: Crab Salad in Pita Pockets
A while ago, a blog I read had an opportunity to review a CD. I decided I would take the plunge. I was a little intimidated when I saw a note that said the chord charts and lead sheets were on the CD. The note sounded pretty official, and I had just planned on reviewing the CD as to whether or not I thought it would fly in my church. So…I took it in my car, and we drove back and forth to work together for two weeks. Now, I think, I am ready to comment.
The songs on YOU AND YOU ALONE were written by Pat Sczabel and his son, Joel. Pat is an associate pastor at Christ Community Church in British Columbia. Their purpose in writing is, according to the album cover, “to provide the church with songs that magnify God and glorify Jesus Christ.” I was interested by that because I attend a liturgical church. Part of the comfort for those of us who were raised there is that the tempo of the music is worshipful and that the basis for the songs we sing is Scriptural. The music in our worship services these days tends to be a blend of traditional and modern music, intended to please both young and old. As long as the music is based on Scripture and glorifies the Lord, we’ll sing it! I think the songs on this album would go over well at my church. Pat Sczabel and his son have, in my opinion, done what they set out to do.
To begin with, it isn’t hard to think of Scripture that goes with the lyrics of each and every song. The songs point out attributes of God as Sovereign and of Jesus as perfect and blameless. They tell listeners to rest in Christ , and they go further in telling that we can rest because of the sacrifice Jesus made in dying on the cross.
Maybe it’s because Easter is so close, but one of the songs that moved me the most is called THE GREATEST OF ALL. The lyrics belong to the Sczabels; the refrain comes from a hymn written in 1882 by Fanny Crosby. It goes, in part, like this:
The greatest of all transactions
The costliest purchase price
Father, Your Son’s atoning death
was given in payment for mine.
You buy me back from slavery,
set me free from my chains.
Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through Your infinite mercy,
His child and forever, I am.
The tempo of this song is slow enough to be worshipful for those who were raised in the liturgical church, as I was, but still modern enough to please the young people. Better yet, you don’t have to ponder this song to come away with a Scriptural message; the message is right there, for all to see and hear.
The ultimate test of worship music, for me, is if I find myself humming it in odd quiet moments throughout my day. I figure, then, that the Holy Spirit has spoken to me through the music. I cannot tell you how many times in the past two weeks I have found myself humming or singing these words from YOU ALONE:
You and You alone, will be my song, will be my joy…
There’s more to the lyrics, of course, but my suggestion is that you buy the album and check out the rest for yourself. You’ll only need to invest $6, and you may come away with music that will enrich your soul and that of those around you for some time to come.
My friend Hannah sent me this video about a rescued lion. The woman in the video found him sick and ready to die in the forest. She took him home and nursed him back to health. When he was better, she gave him to a zoo. Watch what happens when she visits to make sure he is being well-treated…
The daughter and her two co-workers in the clinic are the proud recipients of a staff luncheon for a job well done. The daughter works at a local restaurant, and she figures that is where they will go since they get a sizable discount. I tried to talk her into something exotic that a friend had sent information about in an e-mail, but she wouldn’t go for it. I mean, she was really up in the air about it. I….well, I am rambling, trying to be funny. Click on the link and you’ll see what she turned down.
Their area of Ohio got hit with almost two feet of snow. Like little boys everywhere, they went outside to play until three-year-old Tony got scared because the snow was up to his shoulders. Still, it looks like they had fun. Grandpa and I had fun, too; the snow missed our section of Indiana!
However, my father, a retired Latin teacher, had faith that I would remember. That’s why this was his birthday message to me:
Felicem diem natalem. Aliquisne tibi libum coxit? Aliquisne tibi “Felicem Diem Natalem” cecinit? Conviviumne habuisti? Quot dona accepisti?
Pax Domini vobiscum, Pater tuus
I had to resort to the web for some help. As nearly as I can translate, this says:
Happy Birthday. Did anyone bake you a cake? Did anyone sing “Happy Birthday” to you? Did you have a party? What gifts did you get?
The peace of the Lord be with you, your Father
I did know some of the words, Dad, I swear. Those four years of Latin did a little good!
Biblical hermeneutics refers to methods of interpreting the Bible.
I found a quiz on hermeneutics, and taking it confirmed what I already knew; I’m conservative. If you want to know about yourself, the quiz is here.
It’s a pink Kitchen Aid stand mixer, courtesy of the daughter. It has a flat beater, a dough hook, and a wire whip. It can hold enough flour to make four loaves of bread, nine dozen cookies, and seven pounds of mashed potatoes.
Why am I so excited? Well, this year, I have been married for thirty years. For the first ten years of my marriage, I didn’t have a mixer at all. (The hubby and I eloped, and evidently you don’t get wedding gifts when you elope). Whatever I made, I mixed with a spoon, and it actually worked pretty well except for the angel food cake, which I learned about the hard way.
Then my little sister gave me a hand mixer,which I am still using. That works pretty well too, although it took me a while to get over using just the spoon, and I have to admit that I still hand-stir muffins and quick breads.
Along came the daughter, who developed a love of baking along the way. Maybe her daddy and I started it. When she was in sixth grade, we discovered that she wasn’t reading directions carefully. (She really is dyslexic). Our solution to that was to teach her to cook. We figured that once she messed up on a couple of recipes, she’d be more careful. For the most part, that has worked.
The daughter loves to cook. And bake. She particularly likes to bake at my house since, unlike while she and her brother were growing up, I now have a dishwasher. She knows that I like to bake, too, and she figured that I should have the tools to make it easier. She knew what I wanted because I entered a contest at MY WOODEN SPOON to win a stand mixer. I didn’t win, and I was raised by a Depression-Era mom; I couldn’t bring myself to buy it.
So the daughter did, and when I look at all this mixer can do, I think I am beginning to understand how some men feel about their cars. I like to knead bread by hand, but I might make it more often if the kneading could be done by a mixer. And the older I get, I sometimes have problems mixing all the ingredients in a recipe until they are wet. If I get ambitious, I can do what I planned to do when I was younger and buy the pasta-making attachment to go with my mixer. Wait a minute…I don’t really even like pasta. But the kids might like the fresh stuff, don’t you think?
I could make brownies, but I actually like the daughter’s recipe for them the best. Besides, there are only the two of us here. Maybe I will make the cinnamon bread that is in the recipe book. Or maybe I will make some cookies. They are always good for rewards at school…. I’ll have to let you know.
Whatever I choose, though, I think I’ll be singing as I make it. I’ve come a long way from the days my fanciest kitchen gadget was a spoon!
