Focus on Boston

Did you notice it?

As the bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, some of the runners didn't stop running. A few turned back to see what was going on, one was knocked over by the force of the blast but some kept running.

How could they do this? 

They weren't callous. Their focus was on the finish line and their focus was so strong it was as if they couldn't stop. 

I've heard about this focus before. When I was a student, I did a course in urban geography. We had to design the ultimate marathon route and one of the guidelines we were given, was to refrain from adding too many sudden curves or turns in the course route. We were told that after an hour or so into the run, a marathon runner hits the 'zone' and they will run straight through a barricade if the course veers suddenly. They are that focused.

In Hebrews 12, the apostle Paul tells us to run the race of our spiritual journey with perseverance (NIV) or endurance (ESV) just like Jesus did. He didn't look to the right or the left, nor did He allow the suffering of the cross to sway Him from His goal.  I think I'll add the word focus to this because The Message states it like this: "He never lost sight of where He was headed." That's focus. Neither the cross or the shame could hinder Him.

The idea of focus reminds me of Peter. He wanted to understand Jesus' message but he was without a clue. He didn't get who Jesus was so when Jesus encouraged Peter to get out of the boat and walk to Him across the water, Peter jumped at the chance and it resulted in a man over board:

"Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 

When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. 

"It's a ghost," they said and cried out in fear. 

But Jesus immediately said to them, "Take courage! 

It is I. Don't be afraid." 

"Lord, if it is you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water," 

"Come," He said. Then Peter got out of the boat, 

walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

The waves lapped at Peter's feet. He was exhilarated. How impressive did he look to the other 11 still in the boat? A surge of pride in his own accomplishments caused Peter to focus on himself and he took his eyes off of Jesus. His focus then quickly became the waves and he must have thought, "What am earth am I doing here?'

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid 

and beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord save me!" 

Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. 

"You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" 

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 

Then those who were in the boat worshipped Him saying, 

"Truly You are the Son of God!" ~ Matthew 14:22-34

When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we lose our focus and like Peter we begin to sink--sink under the weight of stress, suffering and sin.

We need to train like a marathon runner for our spiritual life so that we keep our focus on Jesus. Let's not let anything deter us from our goal.

How to Really Love Your Mother

(and everyone else for that matter)

At the age of 2, I'm all ready for Easter and posing with my Popa

In 48 years of listening to Easter sermons (48 give or take a few--I may not have always listened as a child, being more interested in the Easter eggs waiting for me at home and the new dress I was wearing at church) I've never heard a sermon on what to me is the most unbelievable part of the story.

Let me explain.

I don't have trouble believing the events of those 3 days in Jerusalem. Maybe growing up in the church, means, for me, that I take certain events as the gospel truth. Unlike Thomas, I do not doubt miracles.


What I don't get or more properly, what I don't understand, is Jesus' reaction to His mother. Do you remember His words?

"but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother

and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved

standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!”

Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”

And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home."

~John 19:25-27 

 
It is believed that by the time of the Crucifixion, Mary was a widow. Without the help of her husband Joseph, she would be at the mercy of society. Was she illiterate? Did she have a vocation other than motherhood? What would she do to keep body and soul together? Like most women of her day, she was dependent first on her father, then her husband and finally, and hopefully, a son. With the imminent death of her first born son, she was without a provider.

Did you catch His words? This God-Man looked beyond His suffering and saw the needs of His mother. Jesus always put others first. He came to serve, not to be served.

How did He do this? How did He look beyond Himself? We see from the very beginning of His ministry that He was motivated by LOVE not self. And not an 'airy-fairy' kind of feel good, sentimental, sugary love.

His love was always practical. Jesus wanted to teach. The crowds wanted a show. They wanted a reason to go out into the countryside and maybe they wanted a zealot to take over. They wanted more than just words so the Word of Life, the Great Physician healed them:

"When he went ashore he saw a great crowd,

and he had compassion on them and healed their sick."

~Matthew 14:14

He saw their needs both spiritual and physical and met them both--sometimes all at once as with the man whose friends let him down through the roof. Jesus forgave his sins and healed his paralysis (Luke 5:17-26).

We are told that He:

"went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in

their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom

and healing every disease and every affliction.

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,

because they were harassed and helpless,

like sheep without a shepherd."

~Matthew 9:35,36

I must admit that I don't often put the needs of others first and so I am amazed at His words to His mother. Fulfilling God's command to "honour your father and mother" and following through on God's plan to take care of widows, as set out in the Levitical instructions, this good Jewish boy looks beyond Himself to the immediate and long term care needs of His mother and He does this from the cross.

His ministry is characterized by LOVE; divine love that is unconditional, lavish, free, sacrificial and without a beginning or an end.

We have the ability to love God's way with His help. We can ask Him to help us be 'rooted and established in love' (Ephesians 3?17)--love toward our mothers and fathers, our neighbours and in our ministry whether we are part of the professional clergy or a simply a saint in the laity.

Haddamut

Could we with ink the ocean fill 

and were the skies of parchment made,

Were ev'ry stalk on earth a quill 

and every man a scribe by trade

To write the LOVE of God above 

would drain the ocean dry,

Nor could the scroll contain 

the whole tho stretched from sky to sky.

~ Meir Ben Isaac Nehorai, 
set to music by Frederick M. Lehman 
in the song "The Love of God

Singapore Noodles

My husband calls this delicious meal Singapore Sling because it just slings together real quickly.  

I've had this recipe for about 10 years but have never made it.  I wrote it out while waiting for an appointment and my 16 year old daughter's grade 5 spelling list is written on the other side of the sheet of paper. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the source for the recipe but I think it was either Canadian Living or House and Home magazine. (I hope it wasn't in the National Enquirer!)

I've begun experimenting with recipes from the region as I'm preparing for a trip to the area later this spring. It has a faint Indian flavour and a nice balance between salty, sweet and spicy.  And did I mention that it is easy and quick?

Singapore Sling

1/2 package (240 gram) rice vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package directions (you may also use spaghetti noodles)

1/2 a package (454 gram) of large frozen shrimp, defrosted

1 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into thin strips 

1 T vegetable oil for frying

2 green onions cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1 carrot, julienned

1/2 a red pepper cut in thin strips 

*I added one whole red hot chilli pepper, diced, to liven it up!  It sure did.

2 T fresh lime juice mixed with 1 T soy sauce, 1 T water and  1T vegetable oil

1 clove garlic minced

1 tsp grated ginger

2 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 C coriander, roughly chopped

Cook noodles according to package directions, drain and keep covered so that they do not dry out.

Pat the shrimp dry so the water doesn't splatter when it hits the oil. To a wok or large frying pan, heat approximately 1 T vegetable oil until hot but not smoking. Add the chicken and stir fry until the chicken is just getting golden. Add the shrimp, carrot, pepper, garlic and ginger. Sprinkle curry powder and salt over the mixture in the frying pan. Stir often until the shrimp turn pink all over.

Add the drained noodles to the stir fry mixture, stirring the noodles to separate them. Add the lime juice, soy sauce, water and vegetable oil mix.  Cook 2 minutes on medium low until the noodles are coated with the sauce and everything is fully cooked.

Unfortunately, the colour isn't quite popping because I only had an orange pepper and not a red pepper.

Remove from the heat and add onions and coriander. Serve warm or cold.  If you want to make it all chicken or all shrimp, just double the amount of protein.

How to Navigate Rough Waters

As I drive north from our home, there comes a moment when I can feel the lake fast approaching.   

January views are a little less verdant.

The car begins to climb higher and the air begins to feel lighter.  I know I'm getting closer by the minute, but I can't see it yet.  If I'm patient, and I'm not always patient for I'm afraid that I'll miss that first peek of the lake and I'm so anticipating that first peek, I'll see a small patch of blue fragmented by a dotting of green maples.  By the next turn of the road, I'll see a bit more of the lake and a little less green. 

January views are a little less cerulean.

As soon as my eyes behold the great expanse of blue, green and gray surrounded by multi hues of green, the tension in my neck eases.  Immediately, I feel the city-stress ebb from my body. I sing-a-long louder with the radio and my lips begin to curve into a smile.

The lake is almost frozen solid.  There were many ice fishing huts dotting the landscape to the south.

Nature has this effect on me and I expect you as well.  I find it particularly lovely when this lake is all churned up. Once, when I was at a friend's home on this same lake during a storm, I couldn't take my eyes off it.  It kept changing shape and I never knew blue came in so many shades.

I marvelled at the lake, even contemplated telling my hubby we were buying a home on this lake just so I could enjoy the storms! But one thing I know for sure, I wouldn't enjoy being on the lake in a storm.  I'd get sea sick or is it lake sick in this case?

That's why the story of Jesus in the boat with his disciples gets me. It hits me between the eyes.  I had to tell it in Children and Worship last week and I had a difficult time not giving the little ones too much information.

Do you remember the story in Mark 4:35-41? Jesus spends the day teaching by the Sea of Galilee. The crowds gather to hear Him because His ways are so different than their own. They've even heard that there's healing in His robes!

As the day continues, the crowds swell.  So many have come that the disciples, Jesus' trusty band of not so quick witted friends, have lost all semblance of crowd control. The masses push against one another and they fear someone will be crushed.  No one will take the lead and where's a good woman to tell everyone what to do when you need her?

No one takes control that is until Jesus is threatened.  He steps into the water and preaches with wet toes.  The crowds push closer still until Jesus is in up to His waist in water. Something must be done.  Our disciples are fishermen after all, so they suggest He get into a boat.  He can be rowed out into the lake, close enough for everyone to see and hear but not so close that everyone can touch Him.  

Their plan works well and by nightfall, Jesus suggests that the disciples join Him in the boat and take a leisurely cruise to the other side.  They will arrive in the morning and have  a roasted fish breakfast on the beach.  

I'm okay up to this point in the story.  The scene is tranquil, pastoral and refreshing. So much so that Jesus takes a nap.  No sooner are they out in the middle of the lake then:

"...a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, 

so that the boat was already filling."

I'd be outta of there!  I'd be holding onto my life jacket for all I'm worth and I can swim...well!  Or else, I'd be hiding somewhere, anywhere doing what I do best in airplane turbulence:  

• wondering how I let my hubby talk me into yet another flight (I hate turbulence)
• wishing I was home safe with my kids 
• and praying fervently!

But what do you do in the middle of the lake?  There's no where to go.  Then the disciples realize one of their party is missing.  Where is Jesus?  

He's done this before.  Gone missing. From His parents. Maybe there's something in this? He's not where we think He should be but always exactly where He needs to be.

They find Him in an unexpected spot:

"...He was in the stern, ASLEEP on the cushion."

Jesus knows Who controls the waves and the wind.  The Prince of Peace is at perfect peace, not because He is out of the storm but because He knows Who is with Him in the storm, who made the wind and seas and who holds the whole world in His hands!

Peace isn't about being rescued from the storms of life.  

It is about being calm in the midst of the storms 

because we know Who is in the boat of life with us. 

God promises to never leave us, to never forsake us. He promises His unconditional love toward us.  Love that reached out for us before we reached out for Him!

"And they woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, 

do you not care that we are perishing? 

And He awoke and rebuked the wind and said 

to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, 

and there was a great calm.  

He said to them, 

"Why are you so afraid? Have you no faith?

And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 

"Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

When life's waves come crashing over my boat, waves of worry, job loss, loneliness, illness,  I want to be found asleep on a cushion.  God promises to take my little mustard seed sized faith and give me His peace, peace that passes all understanding.

You'd Better Not Pout

She has the perfect pout.  When she was young, she would use it as a weapon to get her way. Brother and sister were immune to its effects but it was so powerful a pout that I often would have to remind her easily-affected-father to ignore it.

Sometimes, mid-pout, she would mutter under breath, "You're a mean mommy!"  

I guess she added those words for effect for over time, the pout became easier for me to ignore.  

Last week, she used the pout again over the phone.  Yes, I can 'hear' the pout and in my head I can hear her words, in her baby-talk voice, say, "You're a mean mommy!"

I must admit, I wore the 'Mean Mommy' label as a bit of a badge of honour. I know! I must need psychoanalysis but I knew I wasn't mean; I was just in the process of training children and if what I was doing seemed mean to a child, so be it.  I never withheld love or physical touch; I never withheld doing good for my children when it was within my power to do so:

"...which of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for fish, will give him a serpent?

If you then, who are human, know how to give good gifts to your 

children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven

give good things to those who ask him!"

~Matthew 7:9-11

My children do not have a perfect mother.  Instead, their Heavenly Father is perfect, giving good gifts to them when they ask. My 3 at-times-hooligans can never say that I was mean--a disciplinarian, yes but mean, no!

So it amazed me the other day when I heard a mother trying to be kind to her child in what I consider to be an unkind and unprofessional (yes, parenthood is a profession) way to her child.

The child was being naughty.  Downright naughty in defiance of her mother's words.  Mother said, "Stop doing blank." Child continued to do blank.  Mother said, "I told you do not do blank."  Mother pleaded with the child saying, "Please stop doing blank."

And then mother did something amazing.  Instead of taking responsibility for her request, to stop doing blank, she said, "Honey, if you don't stop doing blank, the store manager will be very upset.  He may even call the police.  They will make us leave the store and how will we get food?"

I couldn't believe my ears!  To set the store manager and police up as the villans?  Unbelievable.  Mother was trying to be her child's best friend.  Mother was trying to avoid responsibility.  

What was truly amazing was the look of absolute fear on the child's face.  She was terrified.  I found myself feeling sorry for this child with a mother for a best friend.  

Parenthood isn't about being your child's best friend.

Parenthood isn't about being popular.

Parenthood is a calling on your life.  

A holy calling placed on your life by God. 

Whether we are a biological, adoptive or a parent by marriage or osmosis (an aunty, uncle or friend), God calls us to (and I love this translation):

 "point our kids in the right direction--

when they are old they won't be lost." 

~Proverbs 22:6 from The Message

It means saying yes most of the time but saying no sometimes.  It means being unpopular, when your child is the only one not allowed to go to the sleepover.  It means making them clean their room even if they are late for the school bus and it means lots of hugs and kisses. 

So hold tight.  If you are in the mean mommy or mean daddy phase of your children's lives, it too shall soon pass.  But don't choose the easy path now.  It makes the road even rougher later.

And one day, possibly not until our children begin to make the tough decisions of parenting themselves, they MAY be our very good friends!

Linking up today with Fellowship Fridays

Teacher-Girl

 

My baby girl wants to be a teacher when she grows up. However, she doesn’t need to wait till she is fully grown to be a teacher because she is already teaching me and she is only 16! 

This week, while driving home from a doctor’s appointment, in heavy rush hour traffic, on a major highway, she turned on our national radio station.  She said that she was sick of listening to pop music on the radio stations we normally listen to and wanted to hear some engaging conversation. 

Smart girl!

Here is a paraphrase of what we heard. The radio host said:
 
Don’t you know how it is? You’re exhausted after a busy day at work and as you descend out of the ebbing daylight into the subway system, you know that your commute home will drain you of any remaining energy.

You enter the platform to find it congested and the trains running late. What else is new? When your train finally arrives, it is full to busting and you have to squeeze past perfect strangers like you’re okay with this intimate contact. You will not be able to reach a hand bar for balance but never mind, because you are so crammed in, it won’t matter if you can hold on as the train comes to screeching and abrupt stops, because the other passengers’ bodies will keep you upright!

Then suddenly, between platforms, your train stops. Someone has pressed the emergency button. The first thing that crosses your mind, is this better be a good emergency or else….. and you fume silently hoping to get a peek at the culprit. If they look okay to you, you will give them your icy-cold glare; the one you save for special occasions. 
 
As you wait for the emergency team, you realize that everyone is silent.  They're too exhausted to care. The emergency team arrives and they find the person who has pressed the button. It is a frantic teenage boy. He has dropped his iphone and in the crush of bodies, he cannot find it! He pressed the emergency button hoping that someone will clear the train so he can find his phone.

In the car, I groan. I say, if I’d been on that train, I would have throttled that kid! What is this world coming to when teenagers think a dropped cell phone is a bona fide emergency? Kids have no sense of…well just no sense!

My daughter gasps and says, mom, if that had been me on the train, searching for my iphone, wouldn’t you want me to find it? What if it had been a Christmas present and his parents had made him sign the Huffington Post cell phone agreement? Can you imagine his fear at what his parents will say, will do to him for losing a $500 + gift so soon after Christmas. Mom, I know you and you would have helped him!

    "....and a little child shall lead them." ~ Isaiah 11:6

I become silent, a little ashamed. Her words ring true and hit a nerve.  If that had been my child on that train, how would I have reacted? How would my child have got everyone’s attention to help her?  A disembarking passenger could easily have kicked the phone out the train door, losing it forever. And how would it have been found in the crush of bodies?

The radio host continues the story. He sums up my thoughts exactly saying what he would have done to the teen. However, the real story takes a different route. Apparently, the emergency team, upon seeing the distraught teen, immediately move all the passengers to one side of the train. With the help of the passengers, they all get involved and do a thorough search of the train. They FIND the iphone and return it to the beaming teenager. Then the entire train erupts into cheers and applause!

Not the typical reaction but the host comments that this event didn’t happen in NYC, Chicago or Toronto but in New Zealand.  He says they must be a lot nicer down under.

My teacher-girl chimes in and says, of course they’re nicer in New Zealand!  After all, aren't they all hobbits? 

Oh little girl! You’re so sweet and innocent and really smart and kind! Just when I'm tempted to judge some of the choices you make, choices different than what I would do, I see that the world is in good hands with you!

(I find out later that the radio host took liberties with the story.  Lest you think Kiwis are laid back, they were vacationers on a tourist not commuter train. You will find the real story here.)

Not Cooking and I'm in Trouble

We almost had a riot at our house this weekend.

You see, since we returned home from Uganda, I've not done much cooking.  I'm not sure what to cook and when faced with a never ending line of food choices at the grocery store, I'm not even sure I know what I want to eat.

This weekend I told the gang to 'fend for themselves.' 

I've said this a lot lately.  

The cupboards, refrigerator and freezer are full.  They can make their own meals.  I'm skipping most meals.  I'm just not hungry.  (This lack of hunger is probably due to my summer flirtation with veganism and is not due to being in Africa.)

A friend told me long ago that Sunday evenings in her home were 'fend for yourself' meals.  She was tired of cooking all week and the refrigerator was filled with leftovers so Daddy was in charge of reheating each of her 4 children's choices.  At the time, I must admit, I thought she was a bad mother!  Boy, have the tables turned!

I'm hoping my disinterest in food changes soon as I'm cooking Christmas dinner for the whole family!  I've been watching Jamie Oliver's Christmas cooking shows on YouTube and while I'm inspired to watch him, I'm still not inspired to cook!

I better get my act in gear because we can't afford a riot at this stressful time of year.  Maybe I'll post my recipes for this week and somehow, this list and my family's reading of this list, can keep me accountable.  Do you think it might work? 

I'll have to put on my thinking cap and as Winnie the Poo says, "Think, think, think!"

Monday:   

Penne alla Vodka

(all my meals are made with gluten-free alternatives)

t
 (

Tuesday:  

Orange Pork Roast

 

Wednesday: 

dinner party with friends (whew! no cooking)

 

Thursday:   

Jamie's Beef Tagine or  Elsa's Cider Beef with Cheddar Smashed Potatoes

Friday:  

family wedding--hope they feed us!

 

Saturday:  

Alton Brown's Beef and Barley Stew

 

Sunday:  

Incredible Oven-baked Meatballs (because my son loves spaghetti and I'd better have a supply of these in the freezer when he comes home for the holidays) and Jamie's Chicken Tikka Masala

 

Monday:  

Christmas eve usually means Bonnie Stern's Potato Latkes and Roast Chicken but if I'm cooking the meal this year, I may just serve leftovers from the week.

After our Christmas Eve church service, we get out an evening feast of the following while we watch White Christmas:

• Brie, cheddar, goat's cheese, Boursin, flavoured cream cheese and crackers

• Catherine's antipasto

• red pepper and port & wine jellies

• a shrimp ring or two

• smoked salmon and cream cheese topped with capers, lemon and red onions on pumpernickel toast

• homemade liver pat

Then the main event!

Christmas day:  

• Lucy Waverman's never fail Moist Turkey recipe and gravy
• Roast Chipolatas, if I can find them (we roast these instead of making sausage stuffing)
• Stuffing in the bird and extra in the crock pot
• Smashed carrots and parsnips puree
• Jamie Oliver's Brusels with Hustle 
• Roast potatoes (or watch this from Jamie and use Yukon Golds) 
• Peas (for Dan--his favourite veg)  

I didn't make my Nana's Christmas cake or pudding this year but bought a pudding while in London in November.  I'll steam it and serve that with Hard Sauce and custard.  Mom's baking up at storm of shortbreads and mince meat tarts, aren't you, MOM?

I often brown spicy chorizo sausages, either in the casings or with them removed, and add them to the top of pasta.

So has this inspired me?  Not really but I'm currently cooking Penne alla Vodka as I edit so the accountability thing is working.

Have a Merry Christmas!  May the Light that shines in the darkness be your guide this coming year!

Every blessing,

Kelly