Monday, April 13, 2015

What is that?

I made chicken enchiladas this weekend. Kept tasting my sauce. It tasted funny. I could not figure out what was wrong, I didn't do anything different. Baked them, ate them, they were really good.

The next day I looked closely at my bag of tortilla chips "with a hint of lime". Tasted one, that was the funny taste.

Must be more careful in the grocery store.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Am I Alone?

I have noticed this quite often lately. It seems to be reaching epidemic proportions.

Christians don't call sin what it is anymore. Or maybe be I'm being too generous with the word Christian.

Why don't we want to call it sin? And why do we look for ways to rationalize what the Bible says and it say "That's not what God meant".

I choose to believe that if God's Word says something is sin, then it is. And if I'm doing it, it's still sin and I should confess and turn from it.

Recently I was in a conversation where a Christian disagreed with a pastor's stance against a sin, attacked him via email, called him judgmental and other not so nice words, because he called it like the Bible says it is.

I do believe we are called to love our fellow humans. Love our neighbors. I have been thinking quite a lot about the story of the Good Samaritan. Samaritans hated Jews, Jews hated Samaritans. Luke 10:25-37

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”

28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”


I intend to try this. Love God with all my heart and soul and strength and mind. When I think about loving this hard, I'm certainly not there yet. And love my neighbor as myself. I can improve that too. And my neighbor includes the sinner, the judgmental, and the preacher that preaches against the sin.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Does that make me crazy?

I got a new couch. It's beautiful. (Anything would be after having the same one for ten years beat down by 5 teenagers and all their friends). But it really is. And it's comfortable.

I have this terrible dilemma. I got a new mattress before I got the couch. The mattress is so awesome. SO AWESOME. I've yet to nap on the couch. And this is bothering me a little. How can you know if you got the right couch if you have never napped on it? Nate has, and he says it's good. Whitney has slept the whole night on it, and she agrees.

I reserve the right to nap my own decision.