Love and War

May 6, 2010 in Uncategorized by Lori | 2 comments

If you are a fan of  the book Wild at Heart this may be of interest to you. 

John Eldridge-the author of Wild at Heart has a ministry called Ransomed heart. This ministry is devoted to helping people discover the heart of God. He and his wife, Stasi , have authored a book called Love and War. A book designed to help couples in the fight for an awesome marriage.

Here is an excerpt from the blog at Ransomed Heart Ministries:

"I did wanted to tip you off to an offer Ransomed Heart is making. God is doing some incredible things in marriages through John and Stasi’s new book, Love and War….  and to get the "word" out we’re giving away a free copy of Love and War to the first 500 bloggers to respond. We would love to have our blogging allies  take a few minutes and write a blog on  amazon.com review on Love and War.  If you have interest in receiving a free copy of Love and War, click here! Click away. – Craig"

Listening- verb or noun?

November 1, 2009 in Uncategorized by Lori | Permalink

Here poses a very important question. Is listening active or passive?

Do you listen as Eli listened in the Bible or as Samuel? This was something that was talked about at church this morning. After listening to the sermon then reading over for myself the verses I have come to the conclusion that we have a choice.

God spoke to both men. Both men heard. One man acted and one did not. One man, once made aware of God’s presence became intuned to His voice.

This makes me wonder if I am as intuned to God’s  voice as I could be. Do I hear Him speak to me even when it is something I do not want to hear? When it is soft and gentle? Then do I respond?

 I challenge you to read this passage of scripture in 1st Samuel. See if you also do not feel a challenge coming from God to be more aware of His promptings, to be more aware of the actions- or non actions- that follow.

I think this is much deeper than just these small ramblings but I wanted to get it down  while it was on my heart. I will definitely be following up and editing this.

Grapes

October 26, 2009 in Love from the Kitchen by Lori | Permalink

When life gives you grapes-or your good friend Laurie— make grape juice!
Here is the process we took.

Get some beautiful grapes- these are concords

wash and put grapes in the steamer/juicer

As it steams the juice comes down out and into jars.

Wah-Lah—end product —wonderful fresh grape juice!

Eternity, secondary?

October 26, 2009 in Epiphanies by Lori | Permalink

Last night we had our first meeting as a new church plant-kind of a precursor to the real date of Jan to be on our own. It was good. We discussed Col. 1-8. Which reads-

Paul an  apostle of  Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:
Grace and peace to you from God out  Father.

We always thank God , the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints–the faith  and the love that spring from the hope that is stored up for yo in heaven and that you have already heard about  in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing , just as it has been doing among you since the days you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

We discussed many things about this passage.But something that was said sounded loudly in my ears- and then made its way to my heart. 
The question was brought up- When did eternity become secondary?
To self I have a very quick conversation that goes something like this—
What? How can that be? Eternity ? Secondary??? Hmmmmm…could that be true? Do I treat eternity as secondary when talking and sharing Christ with others? Nahhh….. Really??? I don’t see how that is possible… Well, maybe…. You know I think it is possible. Actually I think I can see that exat thing that I do. WOW. Forgive me Lord.

When we talk to others, while we live each day and others see our actions, is eternity secondary? Has God become such a vending machine god that we are only concerned with putting in a token and expecting to receive gifts that abound and thus making us and our lives abundantly happy? Is God there to just satisfy our needs? Has this attitude permiated the way we share Christ with others? Just expressing to them what Christ can do for them? Save them from a life of pain, give them satisfaction, help them quit whatever nasty little habit we can all find ourselves doing… Is this the God we talk of? The God we expect?

What about the God that will save you from an eternity of seperation from himself, an eternity of ****ation to the pits of hell? Do we express that to others? Do we even understand it? Can our minds wrap around such a huge thing? Maybe not. But we need to. People  are dying to know a God who will save them and have a relationship with them and love when no one else will. If we ‘sell’ this vending machine god we are selling a counterfiet  god and one that will surely lead others to be let down as soon as things don’t go the way they think they should. This vending machine god cannot sustain the storms that life so often brings.

So my challenge to you this day is to share your life, share your heart and what God is doing there. Share the fact that God is there to give us eternity, not just the here and now. Think how you share with people- you could be the only one that ever will share the gospel with them. Youmay only have a moment, but make the moment count in words and actions.

Just my thoughts…

If you have tomatoes…

September 30, 2009 in Love from the Kitchen by Lori | Permalink

make tomato soup!

We have been blessed this year with a great harvest, especially tomatoes. I decided to make and can soup with some of them. If you have never done this let me encourage you. It is not only healthy for your body but also your budget! I did quarts for our family, pints for lunches and to share and even half pints for Rick to take to work. It even makes a nice gift for someone who is sick or maybe having a baby.

It is not scary I promise—Here is a glimpse into the process.


Start with some nice ripe tomatoes.


Put the tomatoes and  some chopped up onion and garlic into your blender. You can also add green beans, squash and carrots- this is a great way to hide those veggies from the kids, and maybe the husband too!

  When it is a nice puree pour it into a stock pot. Keep doing this until all your produce is used OR your pot is full!

Add seasonings and let this simmer for about 1-2 hours.


Now, if you do not have one of these handy dandy food strainers I personally think you should stop reading this and run down and get one. Pour your soup mixture into the funnel and start cranking…


Your soup will come out  one part and all the peel and seeds the other part. After you have repeated this step until the soup is finished put your waste material back through one more time. This way you will get every last drop of that good tasting stuff in your soup!

Then have your kids come in and lick the pot clean!

You will need to pour your soup into your jars, put the lids and rings on snugly and pressure can them at 10 lbs for 30-35 min. ( or whatever your book says)


Here is your finished product! Put them in your pantry and know that you have accomplished a lot today.

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