In the meantime

For some reason, this Describe Him post has not come together very easily.  I've started it...and then a paragraph later, gotten stuck staring at the screen.  So I let it sit for a few weeks, and when I try it again, I only get stuck again.  arrrg. But now we're hardly a week away from celebrating Christmas, and what better describes God as Near than the very thing we celebrate at Christmas?  In one of the most miraculous events in history, Almighty God became flesh--a baby born of a virgin.  God became a human and dwelt among us.  Christ was a man, died on the cross, and rose again: all of it was God's initiative so that we might be reconciled with Him.  Being reconciled with Him means we now stand clothed in Christ's righteousness so that we can now draw near to Him.  Because He came near to us.  This song, The Unbelievable , says it better than I can. Christmas is the time to celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, God with us.

With 2016 almost here,  the New Year provides an opportunity to start new goals for our Bible reading/study routine. Maybe you already have something in mind that you're planning on doing.  That’s great!  However, if you don’t, here are some suggestions: 1. Chronological Reading Plan:       This is the kind of plan I've been using this year and I’ve really enjoyed it (I am dreadfully behind though…)  Reading all of the events of the life of David side-by-side, along with various Psalms mixed in, has made things fit together a lot better in my mind!  Or reading the Major Prophets and all the pronouncements of judgment that are being made makes a lot more sense when they are  side-by-side with events going on in Kings and Chronicles.       The Chronological approach is really helpful in getting a mental grasp on how all the historical events, the Old Testament prophecies, poetic literature, New Testament epistles and so on fit together as a whole!  I think it would hav

I’ll be honest: I don’t ever remember Grandma making this…but that’s because I only remember celebrating Christmas with her one time—back in 1996—and I was only 7 years old  (because chese balls and who made them are not very important to 7-year-olds....)   Ahh, that Christmas in ‘96 stands out in my mind…hanging with my cousins {playing Mario and Donkey Kong} , aunts and uncles and grandmas being around, going ice skating, snow, a real Christmas tree {I think that was the first and maybe even the only time we had a real tree} … Yes, that is one of my favorite Christmases. Anyway,  we’ve made this cheese ball recipe practically every year… I’ve tried other cheese balls, but this one always is still the winner!  I think it is the pineapple in it that makes it unique.  I think you’ll agree once you also try it.   Grandma Lehrman’s Christmas Cheese Ball 2 – 8oz. packages cream cheese 1 c. cooked pineapple, drained and squeezed dry (I usually just use a clean dishtowel) 2 t

"If we want to live less stressful lives, we must learn to live with a single agenda: God's agenda....  We tend to live under two agendas: ours and God's, and that tension between them sets up stress...."   [emphasis mine] ~From Trusting God,  by Jerry Bridges, pg. 72

Thanksgiving is over and the season for celebrating Christmas is here!  Although I know Christmas isn’t so much about what we do as it is about Who we celebrate , you can’t deny that all of the sights, smells, and traditions have become a part of how we celebrate Christ’s birth.     Over the next few weeks, I’d like to share several more special recipes that, around here, are only for Christmas .  Last year I shared my family’s all-time favorite recipes for Peppernuts  and Home-made Summer Sausage  ( If you’ve never tried homemade summer sausage, you don’t know what you’re missing out on! I grew up on this stuff, and it has kind of {really} spoiled me.) This year I’ll try to post the recipes for Almond Toast,   Grandma Lehrman’s Christmas Cheese Ball ( it’s the best cheese ball I’ve ever had!)and Homemade Zippy Mustard to go with the Summer Sausage (which makes the summer sausage burst with amazing flavor!) Almond Toast  This stuff is yummy on its own…or on a plate-f

 It is easy to give thanks for those good,  often-taken-for-granted things in life: a warm house, family and friends, yummy coffee.  But what about when life gets rough and we have a hard time even noticing those simple things to be grateful for? What about those times when we feel suffocated because of the weight of the burden we’re carrying?  Or when life seems terribly unfair…and we feel like we’ve received the short end of the deal? Or when we want to cry a loud “Why Lord???” and hear a comforting answer that will make everything better again. Can we thank God for those things too?  Can we thank Him in the good times and in the hard? The Bible tells us to.  “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (1 Thess. 5:18) I think God is pleased when we are intentionally thankful for the good things in life. After all, it is His will that we be thankful.  But I think He is even more glorified when we are thankful in those th