Good morning. I have been on the phone with my friend Florence praying for a miracle for her nephew who has a blood clot on his lung and can not be given a blood thinner. His name is Terry if you have a moment to pray for God to dissolve the blood clot for His glory if it is His will.
It is foggy here and 57° with another high near 70 expected. The two years I lived in the dorm at Statesboro not far from Savannah and the beach was much like this in the winter (when we are at Hilton Head we can see Savannah across the water).
Morning…I stopped by earlier and no one was around so I scooted over to the News thread and read up on the craziness of our “government”… speechless 😳
Chas praying for you this morning ♥️
Today is my Mother’s 91st birthday. She said to me yesterday “can you believe I’m still around?”…
Good morning. I hope those of you in the icy weather can remain safely inside. Prayers for those who have posted and so many others. Prayers for our country. 😦
I am baking Cardamom Bread today, which makes me wonder how many of you have had it and then how many like it? It is a favorite of my husband’s and I love it toasted with jelly. (plain with butter is also good) One of my daughter’s loves it and two do not. They think cardamom tastes like pine needles. So many things are acquired taste. I never had this before marrying. I wonder how much of our food likes/dislikes is in our genes?
Kathaleena, I suspect a lot of it is genetic. One of my nephews and my husband both detest peas; both think it’s a really strong-tasting vegetable. My husband also detests lima beans, which to me are a very mild flavor, pleasant, but not anything that even could be “offensive.” I suspect peas and lima beans actually taste different to these men than they do to me. If they had the same flavor to them, they might like them, or at least not actively dislike them.
I’m undone this morning, yet again. In Joshua 5, the Israelites have crossed over the Jordan, thanks to the ark of the Covenant being held in the middle of the river.
There at Gilgal, God directs them to all sorts of behaviors, including circumcising all the men (who weren’t circumcised in the desert during those 40 years–why not?).
And then, Joshua meets the Commander of the Lord.
Why isn’t this section of scripture taught? The circumcision aspect? There’s SO MUCH here about our relationship to God and how He prepares us before we start the big battles he’s outlined for our lives.
I’m shocked I forgot half these stories–and now off to ponder and consider how best to write about my personal Gilgal.
Cheryl, my brother is like your husband about lima beans. I could never figure out why. I don’t love them, but they seem pretty bland so I don’t understand the detestation.
I detested peas as a young person. They always had a weird flavor. Then once I went home with a college dorm mate and her mother served peas with rice. I ate it and found I liked peas served that way since the rice toned down the weird flavor and I could then taste the sweetness of the peas. It was as if my tastebuds got readjusted to the flavor of peas at that point and I have liked them ever since.
In our family, Nightingale seems to have inherited Hubby’s taste buds, and Chickadee mine. Nightingale can, and Hubby could, eat food that is still quite hot in temperature that would seem to burn my tongue. They also could/can eat very spicy foods that are way too “hot” for me.
One time Hubby brought home some tortilla chips that were very mild, maybe even low-salt. He and Nightingale said the chips were very bland, and did not like them. Chickadee and I picked up a subtle flavor in them that made them quite tasty to us, and we did like them. I’ve always thought that that was interesting.
(Although Chickadee has similar taste buds to mine, she can eat spicier foods than I can.)
Kim – You had shared a recipe for a soup with sausage, kale, and white beans. Nightingale had made that kind of soup within the last several days, and it was delicious.
I wonder whether a tendency to be “picky” is inherited. For me, mostly I don’t like especially strong flavors (radishes or rutabagas) or especially unusual textures (okra). I have quite a variety of foods I don’t really like, though most of them I will eat if I “have to.” (Never onions or a couple other foods.) Yet I like a lot of foods that a high percentage of people don’t like, such as spinach and several other vegetables. Every person in the family I married into has a meat that isn’t a favorite (seafood for my husband, beef for one daughter, ham for the other, and poultry for my mother-in-law), but I like ever meat I’ve tried. (I haven’t tried any of the foods that look too much like their live versions, such as lobster, shrimp being the exception since I grew up eating it.)
My sister has worked to ensure her children aren’t picky eaters, with the specific idea that people are better “guests” if they aren’t picky–and that sounds like very good motivation, and good thinking. At the same time, I think that people who aren’t naturally picky may completely misunderstand the concept. For instance, she once told me that for me it was a “power struggle” with my parents, my wanting to be “in control.” And that shows me that she never paid attention, really, because it was the most powerless feeling of my childhood to be forced to eat foods that left me feeling nauseous, even if it took me several hours to finish a meal. As a child I was rarely actually hungry, probably largely because of growing up in a hot climate.
Mealtime was actually quite an unpleasant experience for me. First of all, it was a lot of work. We children washed all the dishes (except on Sunday, when Dad washed them) and did a good deal of the cooking. Peeling and cutting potatoes was a daily task with which we took turns, but we had a bit enough family that it was quite a task to prepare that filler. As the oldest girl, a lot of the cooking tasks came to me, but since I wasn’t naturally very good at it, my family looked for things I did wrong so they could laugh about it, which made me want to do it even less. But I’d come to the table not hungry, often to be met by some foods I disliked, and had to take some of everything. It was a balancing act, because if I didn’t take enough of something, Dad would give me more–a lot more. And I had to eat it all, no matter how long it took, an unpleasant time for me and also for Dad (who sat at the table the whole time I did, and was never very happy about it).
When I was in college, one particular year I had a season when the last bite of anything turned my stomach, even if it was something I loved. Well, I was naturally thin, and one of my dorm mates apparently was concerned about me, and she would sit there and try to get me to eat that last bite. I wanted to yell at her to leave me alone; she really was not helping, though she meant well. It was just a few months of allowing myself to leave that last bite if I didn’t want it, and then I moved past it. Bu I really needed to know it was OK, that it wasn’t being immoral to “waste” that last bite of each item if my stomach said no.
I’m not as picky of an eater as I used to be. I, too, detested peas growing up. I remember once dad saying I had to eat a few before leaving the table, so I took my fork, separated 3 peas and ate them. He wasn’t satisfied. Then when I went to visit Mrs L’s farm my MIL served garden fresh peas. They were good. I realized I din’t like them before because we always had canned peas.
Now I’m on a “see” food diet. Whatever I see I can eat.
Hmmmmm. I like canned peas, frozen peas, and fresh peas.
I do not like zucchini, yellow squash, nor raw tomatoes. Oh and I don’t care for eggplant.
I can eat lamb but it isn’t something I would choose to eat. Mr P loves it. I don’t care for dark or greasy fowl. I am not going to eat tripe nor any organ meat.
Ok so I eat beef, pork,chicken, and some but not all seafood.
I wonder if the real message is to pay attention to where God has placed you to minister–in your own church–and while you can acknowledge the responsible work of parachurch ministries, your real Christian “life” is lived out at home.
I wonder about parachurch ministries that involve people traveling the globe, constantly on the road far from home. Where is their accountability? Who are they personally–as in people who actually see them regularly and know them–accountable to?
Maybe Zoom is an answer to this issue? A mercy from God?
As writers are urged to increase their platforms in order to get book contracts, some (of us) are beginning to question what happens to our souls?
None of us are too big to fail in God’s kingdom–and for many, we need to fail sooner rather than later for the sake of those we love.
How often do we ask God to make our temptations obvious?
When Biddy was published, I asked God NOT to let it be successful if it meant my spiritual life would be harmed. My relationship with God was more important than a book or a ministry, thanks be to God! 🙂
Thanks, Michelle, for posting “the rest of the story.” It is horrible. And I saw that the apologist that had been college roommate to one of our former church members (maybe roommates at Princeton) is one of the core people who will be remaining. His name is Vince, and he and Ravi had a book together and we did a Sunday school lesson using the video with Vince and Ravi along with the book. I can’t imagine what this has done to Vince and other young apologists who have had damage to their c azad reers by association. Very, very sad.
When I was first settled into my hospital room, I had a bit of an eerie feeling. (Although, maybe “eerie” isn’t quite the right word, but close enough.) My bed was next to the window, with the window being on my righthand side. It was the same set-up and position that Hubby had when he was hospitalized before he died. (He was in a different hospital, though.) It was a weird, eerie feeling at first.
(7:35) such a horrifying tale, even more so than was first evident when it began to leak out. The covering up by him once questions were raised (deleting emails, etc.) is especially disturbing.
Was his conscience bothered at all by such a double life? We don’t really know, but there seems to be little outward evidence that was the case.
Both shocking and sad, and a reminder of how absolutely horrible sin can be, the damage it can cause — laying waste to reputations, families, friends and followers — and how we all are so vulnerable.
The horrifying thing about Ravi is that much of this was known years ago. It was a big red flag when he lied about his academic credentials. When I saw his text to the first woman whose story was known that he would “bid this world farewell” (or adieu, or goodbye, I forget which) if she told her husband, I knew the allegations were true. I didn’t want them to be true, but I knew they were. You don’t tell a woman not to tell her husband, and you don’t threaten suicide, if the woman is the one who is in the wrong and you are her innocent victim.
The ministry had every opportunity to investigate at that time. The evidence was still available now; it had not been destroyed. If an investigation conducted after his death could find (among other things) multiple phones with hundreds of photos, certainly one conducted during his life could have found the same thing. But they shot down the one witness who had the courage to come forward during his lifetime. (I am NOT saying the other women weren’t courageous.) RZIM attacked her character and allowed their founder to put her under an NDA instead of investigating.
I have a very heavy heart over this one. BTW, we need to pray for the atheist who brought a lot of this to light quite a number of years ago, Steve Baughman. Christians haven’t always been very nice to him, and he has seen a lot of ugly cover-up as he investigated. But God could use this mess to show him that Ravi Zacharias is not the most important issue; Jesus is. Ravi may have always been a fraud and a charlatan, or sin could have tripped him up. I don’t know which. But salvation never did come through Ravi Zacharias.
Wandering Views 
First!
And no complaints people, it is 8:45AM so you’ve had an hour…..
LikeLiked by 2 people
Good morning AJ. I’ve been up, but not around.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Things are not going well here. That’s all I can say for noe.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Good morning. I have been on the phone with my friend Florence praying for a miracle for her nephew who has a blood clot on his lung and can not be given a blood thinner. His name is Terry if you have a moment to pray for God to dissolve the blood clot for His glory if it is His will.
It is foggy here and 57° with another high near 70 expected. The two years I lived in the dorm at Statesboro not far from Savannah and the beach was much like this in the winter (when we are at Hilton Head we can see Savannah across the water).
LikeLiked by 4 people
The fog is growing thicker now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Morning…I stopped by earlier and no one was around so I scooted over to the News thread and read up on the craziness of our “government”… speechless 😳
Chas praying for you this morning ♥️
Today is my Mother’s 91st birthday. She said to me yesterday “can you believe I’m still around?”…
LikeLiked by 3 people
Good morning. I hope those of you in the icy weather can remain safely inside. Prayers for those who have posted and so many others. Prayers for our country. 😦
LikeLike
Thank you for your condolences.
LikeLiked by 3 people
LikeLike
I’m sorry Peter. No matter how old we are, it is hard to lose our parents.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Work has picked up, I’ll have a busy couple of days. Now if I can only wake myself up, Coffee?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good morning.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, DJ.
☕☕Lots of ☕☕
☕C O F F E E☕☕
LikeLike
I am baking Cardamom Bread today, which makes me wonder how many of you have had it and then how many like it? It is a favorite of my husband’s and I love it toasted with jelly. (plain with butter is also good) One of my daughter’s loves it and two do not. They think cardamom tastes like pine needles. So many things are acquired taste. I never had this before marrying. I wonder how much of our food likes/dislikes is in our genes?
LikeLike
I have never had it, Kathaleena, but I feel sure I would like it. About the only flavor I have found I do not like is cilantro. I love bread!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kathaleena, I suspect a lot of it is genetic. One of my nephews and my husband both detest peas; both think it’s a really strong-tasting vegetable. My husband also detests lima beans, which to me are a very mild flavor, pleasant, but not anything that even could be “offensive.” I suspect peas and lima beans actually taste different to these men than they do to me. If they had the same flavor to them, they might like them, or at least not actively dislike them.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I add cardamom to a lot of my breads because I like it. No idea if others do. Had not thought about that! But the bread tends to go away.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m undone this morning, yet again. In Joshua 5, the Israelites have crossed over the Jordan, thanks to the ark of the Covenant being held in the middle of the river.
There at Gilgal, God directs them to all sorts of behaviors, including circumcising all the men (who weren’t circumcised in the desert during those 40 years–why not?).
And then, Joshua meets the Commander of the Lord.
Why isn’t this section of scripture taught? The circumcision aspect? There’s SO MUCH here about our relationship to God and how He prepares us before we start the big battles he’s outlined for our lives.
I’m shocked I forgot half these stories–and now off to ponder and consider how best to write about my personal Gilgal.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cheryl, my brother is like your husband about lima beans. I could never figure out why. I don’t love them, but they seem pretty bland so I don’t understand the detestation.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Peter, my condolences to and prayer for you and your family.
And for you too, Chas.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I detested peas as a young person. They always had a weird flavor. Then once I went home with a college dorm mate and her mother served peas with rice. I ate it and found I liked peas served that way since the rice toned down the weird flavor and I could then taste the sweetness of the peas. It was as if my tastebuds got readjusted to the flavor of peas at that point and I have liked them ever since.
LikeLiked by 1 person
https://www.britannica.com/story/why-does-cilantro-taste-like-soap-to-some-people
LikeLike
Ugh, WP issues today, crossing paths between my personal and work profiles. I may be underground for a while.
LikeLike
Peter – I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your father. Such a hard loss, no matter how old we are. May God comfort you and your whole family.
LikeLiked by 2 people
In our family, Nightingale seems to have inherited Hubby’s taste buds, and Chickadee mine. Nightingale can, and Hubby could, eat food that is still quite hot in temperature that would seem to burn my tongue. They also could/can eat very spicy foods that are way too “hot” for me.
One time Hubby brought home some tortilla chips that were very mild, maybe even low-salt. He and Nightingale said the chips were very bland, and did not like them. Chickadee and I picked up a subtle flavor in them that made them quite tasty to us, and we did like them. I’ve always thought that that was interesting.
(Although Chickadee has similar taste buds to mine, she can eat spicier foods than I can.)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Kim – You had shared a recipe for a soup with sausage, kale, and white beans. Nightingale had made that kind of soup within the last several days, and it was delicious.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder whether a tendency to be “picky” is inherited. For me, mostly I don’t like especially strong flavors (radishes or rutabagas) or especially unusual textures (okra). I have quite a variety of foods I don’t really like, though most of them I will eat if I “have to.” (Never onions or a couple other foods.) Yet I like a lot of foods that a high percentage of people don’t like, such as spinach and several other vegetables. Every person in the family I married into has a meat that isn’t a favorite (seafood for my husband, beef for one daughter, ham for the other, and poultry for my mother-in-law), but I like ever meat I’ve tried. (I haven’t tried any of the foods that look too much like their live versions, such as lobster, shrimp being the exception since I grew up eating it.)
My sister has worked to ensure her children aren’t picky eaters, with the specific idea that people are better “guests” if they aren’t picky–and that sounds like very good motivation, and good thinking. At the same time, I think that people who aren’t naturally picky may completely misunderstand the concept. For instance, she once told me that for me it was a “power struggle” with my parents, my wanting to be “in control.” And that shows me that she never paid attention, really, because it was the most powerless feeling of my childhood to be forced to eat foods that left me feeling nauseous, even if it took me several hours to finish a meal. As a child I was rarely actually hungry, probably largely because of growing up in a hot climate.
Mealtime was actually quite an unpleasant experience for me. First of all, it was a lot of work. We children washed all the dishes (except on Sunday, when Dad washed them) and did a good deal of the cooking. Peeling and cutting potatoes was a daily task with which we took turns, but we had a bit enough family that it was quite a task to prepare that filler. As the oldest girl, a lot of the cooking tasks came to me, but since I wasn’t naturally very good at it, my family looked for things I did wrong so they could laugh about it, which made me want to do it even less. But I’d come to the table not hungry, often to be met by some foods I disliked, and had to take some of everything. It was a balancing act, because if I didn’t take enough of something, Dad would give me more–a lot more. And I had to eat it all, no matter how long it took, an unpleasant time for me and also for Dad (who sat at the table the whole time I did, and was never very happy about it).
When I was in college, one particular year I had a season when the last bite of anything turned my stomach, even if it was something I loved. Well, I was naturally thin, and one of my dorm mates apparently was concerned about me, and she would sit there and try to get me to eat that last bite. I wanted to yell at her to leave me alone; she really was not helping, though she meant well. It was just a few months of allowing myself to leave that last bite if I didn’t want it, and then I moved past it. Bu I really needed to know it was OK, that it wasn’t being immoral to “waste” that last bite of each item if my stomach said no.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m a “somewhat” picky eater.
After a while, I just learned to embrace it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I do like spinach
LikeLike
I’m not as picky of an eater as I used to be. I, too, detested peas growing up. I remember once dad saying I had to eat a few before leaving the table, so I took my fork, separated 3 peas and ate them. He wasn’t satisfied. Then when I went to visit Mrs L’s farm my MIL served garden fresh peas. They were good. I realized I din’t like them before because we always had canned peas.
Now I’m on a “see” food diet. Whatever I see I can eat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We always ate the peas frozen.
My grandfather always grew them, and when we visited in the spring, my father always went directly to the pea patch and ate them off the vine.
Once I joined him, learned how wonderful they taste fresh, I loved them, too. (Though frozen was still good–I had never eaten them cooked!)
Now, I grow them myself, and my grandchildren hurry out to strip the snap peas and eat them in the yard.
How many generations is that? 5?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hmmmmm. I like canned peas, frozen peas, and fresh peas.
I do not like zucchini, yellow squash, nor raw tomatoes. Oh and I don’t care for eggplant.
I can eat lamb but it isn’t something I would choose to eat. Mr P loves it. I don’t care for dark or greasy fowl. I am not going to eat tripe nor any organ meat.
Ok so I eat beef, pork,chicken, and some but not all seafood.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love fresh tomatoes.
Zucchini is OK.
Peas, meh.
No organs or lamb.
Beef yes, pork nope, chicken OK, turkey -more please, seafood it depends.
LikeLike
HOW do people (okay, including sinner me), think they can get away with this?
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/february/ravi-zacharias-rzim-investigation-sexual-abuse-sexting-rape.html
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder if the real message is to pay attention to where God has placed you to minister–in your own church–and while you can acknowledge the responsible work of parachurch ministries, your real Christian “life” is lived out at home.
I wonder about parachurch ministries that involve people traveling the globe, constantly on the road far from home. Where is their accountability? Who are they personally–as in people who actually see them regularly and know them–accountable to?
Maybe Zoom is an answer to this issue? A mercy from God?
As writers are urged to increase their platforms in order to get book contracts, some (of us) are beginning to question what happens to our souls?
None of us are too big to fail in God’s kingdom–and for many, we need to fail sooner rather than later for the sake of those we love.
How often do we ask God to make our temptations obvious?
When Biddy was published, I asked God NOT to let it be successful if it meant my spiritual life would be harmed. My relationship with God was more important than a book or a ministry, thanks be to God! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Michelle, for posting “the rest of the story.” It is horrible. And I saw that the apologist that had been college roommate to one of our former church members (maybe roommates at Princeton) is one of the core people who will be remaining. His name is Vince, and he and Ravi had a book together and we did a Sunday school lesson using the video with Vince and Ravi along with the book. I can’t imagine what this has done to Vince and other young apologists who have had damage to their c azad reers by association. Very, very sad.
LikeLike
When I was first settled into my hospital room, I had a bit of an eerie feeling. (Although, maybe “eerie” isn’t quite the right word, but close enough.) My bed was next to the window, with the window being on my righthand side. It was the same set-up and position that Hubby had when he was hospitalized before he died. (He was in a different hospital, though.) It was a weird, eerie feeling at first.
LikeLiked by 1 person
(7:35) such a horrifying tale, even more so than was first evident when it began to leak out. The covering up by him once questions were raised (deleting emails, etc.) is especially disturbing.
Was his conscience bothered at all by such a double life? We don’t really know, but there seems to be little outward evidence that was the case.
Both shocking and sad, and a reminder of how absolutely horrible sin can be, the damage it can cause — laying waste to reputations, families, friends and followers — and how we all are so vulnerable.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The horrifying thing about Ravi is that much of this was known years ago. It was a big red flag when he lied about his academic credentials. When I saw his text to the first woman whose story was known that he would “bid this world farewell” (or adieu, or goodbye, I forget which) if she told her husband, I knew the allegations were true. I didn’t want them to be true, but I knew they were. You don’t tell a woman not to tell her husband, and you don’t threaten suicide, if the woman is the one who is in the wrong and you are her innocent victim.
The ministry had every opportunity to investigate at that time. The evidence was still available now; it had not been destroyed. If an investigation conducted after his death could find (among other things) multiple phones with hundreds of photos, certainly one conducted during his life could have found the same thing. But they shot down the one witness who had the courage to come forward during his lifetime. (I am NOT saying the other women weren’t courageous.) RZIM attacked her character and allowed their founder to put her under an NDA instead of investigating.
I have a very heavy heart over this one. BTW, we need to pray for the atheist who brought a lot of this to light quite a number of years ago, Steve Baughman. Christians haven’t always been very nice to him, and he has seen a lot of ugly cover-up as he investigated. But God could use this mess to show him that Ravi Zacharias is not the most important issue; Jesus is. Ravi may have always been a fraud and a charlatan, or sin could have tripped him up. I don’t know which. But salvation never did come through Ravi Zacharias.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m heading north early tomorrow to retrieve my daughter for the weekend. 🙂
So I’ll be posting tomorrow’s threads in a little while.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ready…
LikeLike
set….
LikeLike
Go!
LikeLike