Thinking about death

This week I'm thinking a lot about death. Several thing motivate these thoughts.

First, an elderly lady in our congregation, who was a charter member of our church, went home to be with the Lord last Sunday, and plans are under way for her burial and memorial service this week. She was a prayer warrior, a faithful heart.

Second, all my recent physical activity has left me sore and hurting in every muscle group I can think of. When I am trying to wake up in the morning and everything hurts, my thoughts turn to the time when I won't hurt any more, and that most likely won't be until I'm with the Lord. So my early morning meditations are realistic reminders that this world is not all there is, and through Christ we have passage into a better place one day, when we lay down the suffering here. They are also meditations on the nature of dying to self every day, and looking for what the lord has for me to do each day. If it was just up to me, I would likely stay in bed. But the Lord calls me to follow his example, take up the cross before me (my physical pain in this instance), and follow His lead with my day. It's a good thing He gives me the strength to proceed!

Third, it's Passion week. As Christians, we remember the suffering and death born for us by our Savior, Jesus Christ, in anticipation of his resurrection. Without that death, my redemption was not possible. And because of it, I have a relationship with the Creator of the universe. That's something to contemplate!

At the Memorial Service on Saturday, I'll be singing the wonderful song below at the beginning of the service . These words are good ones to be hiding in one's heart.

I Will Glory In My Redeemer by Steve and Vikki Cook

I will glory in my Redeemer
Whose priceless blood has ransomed me
Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails
And hung Him on that judgment tree
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who crushed the power of sin and death
My only Savior before the Holy Judge
The Lamb Who is my righteousness
The Lamb Who is my righteousness

I will glory in my Redeemer
My life He bought, my love He owns
I have no longings for another
I’m satisfied in Him alone
I will glory in my Redeemer
His faithfulness my standing place
Though foes are mighty and rush upon me
My feet are firm, held by His grace
My feet are firm, held by His grace

I will glory in my Redeemer
Who carries me on eagle’s wings
He crowns my life with lovingkindness
His triumph song I’ll ever sing
I will glory in my Redeemer
Who waits for me at gates of gold
And when He calls me it will be paradise
His face forever to behold
His face forever to behold
His face forever to behold

Some thoughts on the season

I love Easter season. I love the way the thought of resurrection is all around us as dead things emerge from the earth, and dead branches begin to bloom. I love pondering the victory of Christ over the grave, and the depth of the love that drove him to the cross.

Tim Bayly posted a wonderful poem , written by his late father, on his blog here. I found it thought-provoking:

A Psalm for Palm Sunday

King Jesus
why did you choose
a lowly ass
to carry you
to ride in your parade?
Had you no friend
who owned a horse
—a royal mount with spirit
fit for a king to ride?
Why choose an ass
small unassuming
beast of burden
trained to plow
not carry kings.

King Jesus
why did you choose
me
a lowly unimportant person
to bear you
in my world today?
I’m poor and unimportant
trained to work
not carry kings
—let alone the Kings of kings
and yet you’ve chosen me
to carry you in triumph
in this world’s parade.
King Jesus
Keep me small
so all may see
how great you are
keep me humble
so all may say
Blessed is he who cometh in the name
of the Lord
not what a great ass he rides.
~Joe Bayly

A new recipe

Tonight I made a fun and fast chicken recipe. I was pretty tuckered out after having a nearly full day of activity...something I've not done for a long time! So I wanted something fast, and this was a winner. I thought maybe some of you would enjoy it as well. It is called Chicken in Silver and is from a little out-of-print chicken book I have. This recipe is for two chicken breasts (two servings), but for more, just multiply. I made three servings tonight.

Make the following sauce in your blender or food processor:
1 tsp. minced ginger
2 small cloves garlic
2 TBS apricot jam
1 tsp. cider vinegar
2 tsp. butter
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp dry mustard or mustard seeds

For each serving, take a 12 X 12 piece of foil, place a thick slice of sweet onion in the middle, and place one boneless, skinless chicken breast on the onion. Divide the sauce among your chicken breasts, just spooning it on top. Atop each breast spread several julienne strips of carrot and several snow peas. Then join up all the corners of the foil and seal.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees (yes, 500 degrees). Put a cookie sheet in the over for the last dew minutes so it will heat up, too. Cook the pouches on the cookie sheet for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 more minutes. Serve with rice or potatoes to soak up the lovely sauce, and a fresh salad.

It was a lovely meal!

Puzzler answer

For any of you who missed Shannon's excellent (and correct) comment yesterday, here is the answer to the grammar puzzle from yesterday:

John, where Jim had had "had," had had "Had had;" "had had" had had the teacher's approval.

Now there's a language for you: 11 hads in a row, and it still works!

A word puzzle

While visiting with Ben and Elsa, David Canfield, the composer and collector and brilliant host of their small group, posed us with a grammar challenge. You can make the following words a grammatically correct sentence by adding a total of 11 punctuation marks. Can you do it? I couldn't! Here are the words:

John where Jim had had had had had had had had had had had the teachers approval

Now, add eleven punctuation marks to make sense of it: don't change any words, remove any words, etc.

Good luck! I'll post the answer tomorrow.

A painting party

Today, we had a painting party at church. The stark, white wall behind the pulpit has been replaced by a warm, taupe wall, which I am sure will make our pastor even more handsome.

Above is our intrepid paint crew in a pose we call "American Gothic Painters". Below, Rachel, Kelley and Kris get started.



Above, Charlie did all the ladder work. We got to break in our new 10 foot ladder, which will be splendid for picking apples. Below, Kris shows the finished, and almost dry, product.

We had a great time of fellowship spending the day together, playing games with the kids between coats of paint, and finished the day with pizza together at church. What a lovely, productive day!

A quilting party

Today I had the pleasure of inviting over some dear friends (K. and R. and E. and M.) for a "quilting" party. The real motive was that I had two double-sized quilt tops that needed to be sandwiched and pinned, and I knew that I couldn't physically do it by myself right now. And having help and company is always more fun, anyway! So the Baer women, and two of the Watts women were gracious enough to spend two hours or so crawling around my living room floor, helping me with the quilts (the quilt pictured is for use in my new "office", which used to be the boys' room; the other is a very belated wedding gift for M. and A. G. in Ohio.) And then we enjoyed lunch together. What a sweet fellowship, and what a productive morning!

I must admit that I am just pooped. As I cleaned up after lunch, I knew my comfy chair was calling, and so I am headed there to nap until dinner. Still, what a joy to feel like doing something, then actually planning it and doing it! God is very good to me to allow a measure of energy to be returning, even if I have to nap afterwards. And He has blessed me with the friendship of these four ladies beyond measure.

The silly item of the day must be reported, too. I have never done this before, but as we laid out the first quilt, I realized that I had somehow measured the short-side twice, and had a square back instead of a rectangular one. Having to find this out in front of your friends is rather embarrassing. But then we discovered I had done it on BOTH quilts. Geesh! My dear friends laughed with me, and gave me time to add to the backing fabric, and pretended like it was no big deal. Which it wasn't, of course. But it does prove to me that my poor mind should not be trusted with anything important...