Football & Country Ham

Today is Kramer's (Ben's cousin) last high school football game.  He's the starting quarterback for the Sacramento All-Star Team. It'll be a blast to head to the game today at Grant High School with the fam and watch him play with some amazing student athletes from other high schools.  These are the guys he was competing against for things like player of the year in the Sacramento Bee.  Then, Kramer and I get to do biology labs together next week.  I'm beyond proud of Kramer, more as a student than as an athlete.  Because I'm not athletic, I just watch in awe at his natural talent there.  But because I am an academic, I know the hard work he's put into his grades and classes.  He's a great guy.

I'm already packed a load of country ham sandwiches to take to the game to share with everyone.  My ham arrived yesterday and I cooked it last night.  I wasn't willing to let it sit and smell up my kitchen (a ham straight from the smokehouse is a few months old at least, and tends to have some light mold and smell kinda funky from the salt, smoke and skin).  After realizing I had no way to cut through the ham bone (how come we don't have a hack saw?) I scrubbed the skin well and then used an electric knife to cut everything off the bone.  Then, into two large pots on the stove to simmer for a few hours (cutting it up also seriously reduced my cooking time, which was a very nice realization).  Since I had only pre-soaked the ham for about an hour or two, I changed out the simmering water halfway through to reduce the saltiness.

At 10:00-ish last night I pulled it all out and we cut off all the outer skin and fat, then wrapped the meat in foil and put it in the fridge.  It's easier to cut if you chill it overnight, and I like it cold anyway.  I used one of the huge sections for the sandwiches, and still have TONS of ham left.  Some I'll fry up this week, the rest will get packaged and frozen for enjoyment later in the year.

By the way--Pike & hambones...wow.  Heaven.

Machiatto watching Pike eat the hambone and being stuck on the other side of the patio door...pure torture.  lol.

Being Reflective

Because we won't be traveling until after the new year begins, my Christmas is bound to be rather reflective. For someone as in love with holiday traditions as I, not being with lots of extended family makes me more melancholy than my choleric normally allows.

I wanted to share a few favorites from tonight's ponderings. Two are what are probably my "life verses" (a term that I'd never heard until a couple of years ago--where I grew up it's just a favorite memory verse).

1 Timothy 4:12
Let no man despise thy youth--but be an example of the believers in speech, life, love, faith & purity.

from Psalm 51 (the Message paraphrase)
...shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
...Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.

Next is what, for lack of a better term, I'll call my "life song." It's a favorite from Shawn McDonald. They raw cry of this song is so powerful to my heart.

Have You Ever
Have you ever wanted to be someone else
Have you ever wanted just to be someone
Have you ever wanted to reach your dreams
Have you ever wanted life to be more than it seems
//
I have tasted of a love so wide
That it stops all my time
I have tasted of a love so deep
That it blows my mind
//
Have you ever wanted to reach up and touch the sky
Have you ever wanted to pack it up and say good-bye
Have you ever wanted someone to care
Have you ever wanted someone to be there
//
He is sweet, He is sweet
What you're looking for
Is my sweet, sweet Jesus
What You're looking for
Is my sweet Lord

Yes, I'm impatient.

It's not all my fault.

My parents opened their Christmas gifts to each other yesterday (December 18). So it really should come as that much of a surprise that I got my gifts from Ben tonight.

Hey--to each family their own traditions, right? And part of my family's tradition has always (and I really do mean always) open gifts earlier than is normally kosher. (Am I allowed to use the term kosher when referring to Christmas? Ahh, you know what I meant.)

And in my own defense--Ben told me to sit down while he went and got them. There was no forcing. In fact, there wasn't even much coercing. As much fun as he has torturing me with stuff like that, he wanted to give them to me. It also saved him from some wrapping duties. :o)

By the way--I love my gifts.

• Earphones with tiny little buds that don't hurt my ears (I have especially small ear canals)
• A gorgeous black and red leather business card holder (I had asked for one that was sleek and classy--I love what he picked)
• A gorilla tripod (it's small and can be thrown in your bag but has these bendable legs that let you wrap it around a railing or anything really, to get a good timer shot)

Love you Ben!

Why am I

Yesterday I was headed back to the office, and it dawned on me--
I'm annoyed.

I'm not annoyed at anyONE.
I'm not annoyed at anyTHING.
I'm not annoyed for any good reason AT ALL.
But, I just am.

So as I began to hash this out with the Lord, I just prayed that God would remove the chaos, remove the distractions and the attitudes that had suddenly crept into my daily life. When I got to the office, I took some time to turn to the Psalms and allow God to give me a purpose and a plan. This keeps me centered on Him instead of my suddenly quick temper. Psalm 51 became such a soothing part of my day. It's one of my favorite passages--here's what I made note of in my journal:

Psalm 51 (from the NLT)
6 But You desire honesty from the heart
so You can teach me to be wise in my inmost being.
...
8... You have broken me,
now let me rejoice.
...
12 Restore to me the joy
of Your salvation,
...
15 Unseal my lips, O Lord,
that I may praise You.
...
17 The sacrifice You want
is a broken spirit.

Those words jumped out at me. "You have broken me, now let me rejoice." It seems so illogical, but so powerful. God showed me that my annoyance was because my center that day had not yet been found in Him.

In another part of the chapter, Eugene Peterson puts it like this: "Create a Genesis week from the chaos in my life." What a beautiful image of God taking my void (after all, being annoyed yesterday was simply the absence of having the Peace of God in the moment) and creating something amazing.

Lord--may You fashion amazing moments in our week to come, that we see Your hand at work. When You break us, something is revealed inside. And with that revelation, You can provide healing. And as Psalm 51 says, now let us rejoice. Amen.

Solitude

Deitrich Bonhoeffer wrote “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community…Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.”

The last THRIVE class was on the discipline of Solitude. I loved teaching this class--one of the best ways to learn, or re-learn something is to teach it. When it comes to discipleship, the cliche of "those who can't, teach" should certainly not be true. I strive to practice everything I preach, but believe that I have to be vulnerable and authentic enough to share that I don't have it all together, and my own spiritual walk is just as much of an "in process" thing as everyone else's.

Back to solitude... we ran out of time during our six-weeks (that class will seven weeks long from this point on), so for this last session, I recorded the teaching plus a few favorite solitude-time songs for the class to take home and work on in...well, solitude. I think it added something extra to the teaching simply because I was sitting in an office by myself while I recorded it. In both my time of preparation and time of teaching I was able to constantly rely on the Holy Spirit as my only sense of interaction. It was a moving experience. For those of us who are used to going partially off the reactions of those listening to us (verbal and non-verbal), doing something like this is a challenge, but it was really rewarding! I pray the participants have an amazing time with the Lord as they walk through the study.