Advent

From Italy -- My favorite.

My mom collects nativity scenes.  She probably has 30 or so scattered around the house, each one with a different origin, but all telling the same story.  She sets them out every year before Christmas, each has its own place.  Everywhere you look, you encounter a visual reminder of the story of Jesus' birth.

From Mexico

Last week someone asked me what my family or I do to prepare for Christmas.  My church lights advent candles, starting four weeks before Christmas.  Advent means "arrival" or "coming", and the lighting of the candles helps build anticipation and reminds us that the day we celebrate Immanuel's birth is coming.  But I didn't have an answer for what I do.

I've been reading the gospel accounts of the birth of Christ, but I'm wondering this:  What do you do to prepare for Christmas?

The Bereans

What is the most important thing about you? Or me, really?  
What matters more than anything else?


A.W. Tozer, in his book Knowledge of the Holy, says this, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."


Reading the newspaper yesterday, I came across an advertisement promoting a controversial city policy whose headline began, "God does not exclude..." and I got upset, because that's wrong.  Scripture is plain and clear that we are included into or excluded from God's family based solely on our faith in Jesus Christ.  God does exclude.


This kind of thing is rampant, and I want you to know that it is vital to your spiritual health to have a good grasp of theology*.  Anything you hear or read about God must be founded in scripture. You cannot believe in whatever you like and be a Christian.  God is not always what you imagine him to be, so you must learn to adapt to God, instead of adapting God to you.  If you don't, you are not worshiping God, you are worshiping a figment of your imagination.  As Tozer says, "They that know thee not may call upon Thee as other than Thou art, and so worship not Thee but a creature of their own fancy..."


It's good to remember that God and his nature are not mysterious or unknowable--although at times, unfathomable.  Who God is and what he is like are plainly and clearly revealed in scripture (which is why it's so important to read the Bible).


Now, it's important to ask where we learn theology.  Everywhere.  Really, most everyone I've met has an opinion about God.  Your friends and family may or may not have Bible-based theology.  The Christian books you read may or may not be theologically correct (and it's not always bad to read them, but you need to be responsible when you do).  The songs you hear on the radio may be teaching you something contrary to scripture.  Since the most important thing about you is what you believe about God, it only makes sense to filter these things.


Final thought:  Be like the Bereans.  Examine scripture to see if the message you're hearing is true, because knowing God and worshiping him rightly is the most important thing.
"Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11)."




*Theology is the study of the God.  Your theology is what you believe about God.

Pumpkins

It's December already? Wow.  Well then, long-time no-see, friends!  I trust you've been keeping yourself busy.  I sure have.  (You can thank the hubbs for the photo below.)

We've enjoyed celebrating autumn in the Spare household.  We didn't get to carve pumpkins on Halloween since I had other things to do (see above picture)... so we had our own Fall Festival.  (There may or may not still be an uncarved pumpkin in our hallway...)

Another thing I did this year was experiment with making pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin.  Did you know that people actually do that?  And that it tastes pretty spectacular?  I mean, it's not weird or anything.  I'll just show you some pictures and keep talking about it.

Grandma's pie crust recipe.

I used to be afraid of making pies from scratch.  They just seem hard.  Unpredictable.  Touchy.

Pie crust is sooooo easy to mix in a food processor.

But, for those of you who are in love, you know that you will face your fears to please the object of your affection (e.g. the hubbs really likes pie).

Me & the apple pie I baked last V-day.

I actually first faced my fear last Valentine's day when I baked Nathan a double-crust apple pie ALL BY MYSELF.  I think it was good.  I can't really remember, actually.  This pumpkin pie was my second from-scratch pie.

When I'm in uncharted territory, I do what any engineer would do.  Research.  Luckily for me, there's enough pie research (some call them recipes) online that I didn't have to work too hard.  I studied common components, failure modes and the advice of experienced pie-makers.

I halved the pumpkins & steamed them in the microwave ahead of time.
Then I pureed and froze the flesh for later use.

Research showed that the best type of pumpkin to use is called a "Sugar Pumpkin" or "Pie Pumpkin". Bred especially for eating, they have a smoother texture than the traditional Jack-o-lanterns.

When it was time to make the pie, I defrosted the puree in the
sink, which is the safest way to quickly defrost something.

And, in a bind, engineers have to be creative.  So, I came up with this little contraption to reduce the amount of water in my fresh pumpkin puree.

Bowl + Flour Sack Towel + Rubber Band = Pumpkin Puree Strainer

I'm sure you're biting your fingernails, wondering how my pie turned out...

Just like mom's. Mmm.

Fear conquered.

Purple Pride

I don't really talk about my school much in my blog.  I'm really not one of the super-fans that goes crazy on game day and feels a deep, personal hatred for anyone who goes to a rival school.  I do, however, think my school's a really great place to be.

I really enjoy the campus.  It has beautiful trees and flowers, the buildings are limestone and some are very grand and castle-like, and things are generally close together (about a 20 minute walk across campus).

I also really enjoy the color purple, and the fact that almost everyone wears it!  I generally jump on the school-spirit bandwagon, because sporting events are really fun.  We have our own traditions and cheers--my favorite is the Wabash (that other link has some good live footage, this one is just funny).

The hubbs and I spent a good amount of time watching/listening to football this semester, and I have learned to enjoy it (this is part of what marriage is about).  I was especially excited for the KSU-KU game, because they're our in-state rival!  It's always awesome when we win, because I can tease my cousin who graduated from KU.

But, this year I couldn't bring myself to tease her too much.  It was a little rough.  Actually, I got bored.  And when I'm bored, I usually end up baking something.  Hence, the cookies.  They were really good.  (If you like them soft, a little cake-y, with a sweet, glossy frosting, that is.)  They even froze well, which makes them more awesome in my book.

The Best Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream butter and shortening.  Mix in egg and vanilla.  Stir together dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add dry mix to butter mix.  (Refrigerate for 1 hour if you sub butter for the shortening.)
Roll out on lightly-floured surface, cut shapes or use a small cup to make round shapes.  (Or, scoop out balls and flatten them with your hands, like I did.)
Place on un-greased baking sheet (I used parchment).  They won't spread much if you used shortening, but will spread more if you used all butter.
Bake at 350 (deg F) 8 to 10 minutes, until light brown.
Yield: 30-36 cookies

Click here for a link to the FROSTING RECIPE on Allrecipes.com (I had to add more milk than the recipe says).

Walking with God

I heard somewhere than women speak about 3x more words than men do each day.  (No surprise, then, that I am the blogger and not my handsome hubby!)  Despite my talkative tendencies, Nathan and I have a lot of interesting conversations.

Recent examples include:

• Do carrots fail in a ductile or brittle manner? (Material science convo over lunch.)
• Does Orange Leaf or Coldstone have a better business model?

Although I know you are dying to know our conclusions, I want to tell you about another conversation we had.

Last week we were on our way to meet with our small group from church, going over the sermon notes from Sunday and talking through the questions on the sermon guide.  The sermon was about King David's last words to his son, Solomon, in 1 Kings 2:1-4.  He charges his son to be strong and show himself a man through following God and obeying Him.  The sermon expounded on those words and charged us to be strong in God to be faithful in the tasks he's given us to complete.  This is the best way to live.

Here is the question that struck me:

• Are you convinced that there is nothing better than walking with God?  Why or why not?

Well, every Christian knows the "Sunday School" answer to the first question.  Yes.  Of course.  That's why I'm a Christian.  But, when we talked about it in small group, one friend pointed out the word "convinced".  She said that, intellectually, she was sure, but in daily things her actions proved otherwise.  Ouch.  I knew she was speaking for me, too.  Often, my actions prove that I am a doubter.  Like the apostle Thomas, I want to stick my hands in Jesus' wounds--experience is the truth (John 20:24-29).

However, my hubby's response felt like a crescendo and a comforting hug to me.  "God is the creator of everything," he said, "and that means that I'm created."

"Remember the example of a combine.  Just as its maker knows best how to use it, and how to fix it, so God knows the best for my life."

He's exactly right.  God is smarter than me, he's stronger than me--anything I can do, He can do better.  Infinitely better.  And he knows exactly how I work, because he made me (and not like a mad-scientist's creation-gone-wrong, but he made me--and you--just like an artist carefully crafting a masterpiece).  He leads me better than anyone else.

Now, the only question left is:  Are you convinced?