Heavenly Hosts

Several months ago The Husband, Kidlet Three and I had the honor of attending the church where Favorite-Son-In-Law and Kidlet One worship.  There happened to be, at my best guess, around 200 people in the service.

Two hundred people that had one agenda.  A common agenda.  To worship God.  To bring glory and honor to the Author of Life, to the King of Kings, to the Resurrected Lord. 

The worship was incredible.  The multitude of voices joined together.  Talk about a "goose bump" service!

As we sang, I closed my eyes and could picture myself standing in front of Him.  Oh, He was looking at me with eyes that burned of love.  There was a twinkle in His eyes as I sang of my love and exalted His Name.  God.  In front of me.  My worship is to Him and only Him.

When I opened my eyes, there were women from the congregation dancing in the front of the church.  Dancing their joy with white, flowing robes.  Using dance as an expression where words just cannot say the depth of love and thanksgiving that is felt.  Around and around they swirled and, oh, how I wanted to join in with them!

I closed my eyes again and then I heard it. There was this background sound that I couldn't distinguish what it was.  It hadn't been there before.  I strained to figure out if the sound system was having a problem or one of the instruments from the worship team was louder than the others.  It then became clear.

Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy

To my knees I fell as I realized the heavenly hosts had joined us to worship and proclaim God's holiness.

Very loud and very clear I heard a thundering Holy, Holy, Holy.

Never before have I had the privilege of hearing the worship of angels and heavenly beings.  It reminded me of the verse from Revelation 7:9 (The Message translation).

"I looked again. I saw a huge crowd, too huge to count. Everyone was there—all nations and tribes, all races and languages. And they were standing, dressed in white robes and waving palm branches, standing before the Throne and the Lamb and heartily singing: Salvation to our God on his Throne! Salvation to the Lamb! All who were standing around the Throne—Angels, Elders, Animals— fell on their faces before the Throne and worshiped God, singing: Oh, Yes! The blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, The honor and power and strength, To our God forever and ever and ever! Oh, Yes!"

This was one church service no one wanted to leave!  The Presence of the Living God was there and people found themselves lingering as if yearning for more time to spend with Him.

Only one word can describe this experience I had:  Amazing!

Healthy Scrambled Eggs

Today was a day at home from work.  Here is what I made myself for lunch:

Two beaten eggs
1 diced tomato
1 thinly sliced green onion
3 mushrooms roughly chopped
A small handful of grated cheese
Scrambled together with about 1 T of butter (the non-healthy part of the meal)

The scrambled mixture was placed on one of these low-carb tortillas

Some freshly ground salt and pepper was the last addition.  This was way too big to "wrap" so I used a fork to enjoy each delicious bite! 

Give this amazing meal a try!

Dusting...

Where does all this dust come from?
After all the busy baseball weekends the dust situation was out of control in My House.
I couldn't resist writing myself a greeting in the dust one morning and that is what you are seeing in the picture.

With the sports schedule slowing down a little, the dust has now been attacked.

There are a few essential supplies for dusting:  a good dust rag, spray and my iPod.
I have a playlist of favorite upbeat worship songs that I listen to when I need to clean.
So with my earphones in I start spraying and wiping away the dust of life.
And with worship ringing in my ears, the dust of my soul gets blown off as I focus on My King of Kings.

What a deal.
It makes dusting not quite so unbearable.
Amazing!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This makes a big batch of cookies.  With lots of sugar and shortening, you can't eat just one cookie once you get started....

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 eggs (beaten)

2 tsp. soda (dissolved in small amount of hot water)

2 cups shortening

4 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. salt

2 cups chocolate chips

2 tsp. vanilla

nuts

Mix in order given.  Drop by teaspoonful on baking sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  Makes about 8 dozen cookies (depending how big you make the cookies). 

I use dark baking sheets and I only baked this batch for 10 minutes.  I like a crunchy outside but soft inside on my cookies and the 10 minutes gives me this.

Amazingly addictive...



Oh Those Boys...

Kidlet Three's baseball team is called The Falcons.  The Husband decided to make a "call" or a "sound" like a falcon and he would make this sound to encourage the boys during games. 

Some of the parents tried to make this falcon call as well.  In this video, The Husband is trying to teach another dad how to sound like a falcon. 

I'm sure you'll agree with me after watching this, all you can say is "oh those boys..."  Plus, this isn't what a falcon sounds like but these "boys" sure have had fun pretending!

Freedom

Happy Fourth of July! 

This is our day, set aside, to focus on the freedoms that we have as Americans.  And to remember how this freedom came into being and how this freedom continues to be protected.

Oh, America!  We are the land of the free and the brave.  Let us not forget our heritage.

Those early pioneers that traveled to America for freedom had to fight for what they believed in.  And they fought together.  Side by side they protected this land and the religious freedom they were hungering for.

Today, we fight each other.  State governments go into shutdown mode because of fighting and the inability to work together. 

What have we become?

Oh Lord, forgive us!  Thank you for allowing us to be born in the United States.  United.  United.  Lord, I declare that we will become a "United" States.  Restore our vision to that of our forefathers.  That we can work side by side to protect this land.  Forgive us for our selfish motives.  Forgive us for turning our face from You and thinking we could make better decisions.  God, please do not turn Your face from America.  I ask that You bless the United States of America.  In Jesus's name...Amen.

Today as you celebrate, would you remind a neighbor, a friend or a family member of the privilege we have in living on this land.  And then, thank God, for His of protection on us and His blessings on this country!

Let Freedom ring!

Molasses-Glazed Ribs

Every weekend in June we were at a baseball tournament  I slept in a different hotel in a different city each weekend.  I am not sick of baseball but I am sick of eating out.  Last weekend the tournament was in our home city.  Before the 8 am game on Sunday morning, I started marinating pork ribs so we could have a home-cooked meal for supper.  This is a recipe from Taste Of Home and is called Molasses-Glazed Baby Back Ribs.  It is finger-licking good!

4 1/2 pounds pork baby back ribs
Place ribs in a large, resealable plastic bag and add 1 liter cola (I used Diet Dr. Pepper).  Seal bag and turn to coat.  Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

 Drain and discard cola.  Pat ribs dry with paper towels. Combine:
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/4 t. garlic salt
1/4 t. oregano
1/4 t. onion powder
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
and rub over ribs.

Prepare grill for indirect heat, using a drip pan.  Place ribs over pan.  Grill, covered, over indirect heat for one hour, turning occasionally.

In a small bowl combine:
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1 T. prepared mustard
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1/2 t. salt
And stir together.

Side note:  this is the secret ingredient in the recipe.  Kidlet Two, the chef, was home for this meal.  As he was eating the ribs he could identify all of the ingredients in the sauce except for the molasses!

Brush the sauce over the ribs and grill an additional 10-20 minutes longer, or until meat is tender.

Bring the plate of ribs to the table and get ready to enjoy!

Our meal was completed with a salad full of fresh mushrooms, sugar snap peas, and tomatoes.

I made two baguettes from the recipe for 5-Minute Bread (Artesan Bread) instead of having a potato with our meal. 

This is what was left on the table after our meal.

Give this amazing recipe a try!