Works For Me Wednesday: “Bag-teria”

Posted on August 23, 2006 by Barbara Harper

I had something else planned for this week’s WFMW when this came to mind. Some time ago I was either watching a Don Aslett (the cleaning guru) video or skimming through something he wrote when something struck home with me. He referred to ladies putting their purses on top of tables, after their purses have been in public bathroom floors and who knows where else. My first thought was, “Ewww!” As I thought about it, I realized he was right. I try not to put my purse on bathroom floors, but sometimes there is no other place. And even without that, we often have them on the floors in our house or car — where shoes have been — shoes that have been on bathroom floors and in dirt and other places…and then we plop them on the table to dig out a tissue or a tip at a restaurant or a piece of paper to jot something down on. Ewwww!

I looked this up at http://www.snopes.com (my favorite place to check out possible urban legends), and she confirms it is true that our purses may be carrying all sorts of unwanted stuff on them. (“Bag-teria” is the title of her article, and I borrowed it for this post. :))

I don’t carry little wipes around with me to clean my purse off, but I do clean it off if it’s been on a particularly nasty floor. Mainly I don’t put it on tabletops any more where food is or will be.

Check our Rocks in My Dryer’s place for other good tips that might work for you. 🙂

49 and holding

Posted on August 21, 2006 by Barbara Harper

Little Johnny asked his grandma how old she was. Grandma answered, “49 and holding.”

Johnny thought for a moment, and then said, “And how old would you be if you let go?”

Today I can officially say I am “49 and holding.” 🙂

Next year, however, when I hit the big 5-0 (😯), I don’t think I’ll hang on to the “49 and holding” designation….unless I change my mind between now and then. 🙂 I’ve always been glad for every year God has given me and have not seen a reason to be ashamed of being a certain age.

However, the leap from 40-something to 50 seems far greater than the leap from 30-something to 40 or 20-something to 30 did. So I am going to relish my last year in the 40-something category and not be in any hurry for it to pass!

(By the way, the opening lines about Little Johnny are fictitious. I don’t have any grandchildren yet. 🙂 )

Sundays

Posted on August 20, 2006 by Barbara Harper

I know that the New Testament doesn’t specify how to spend Sundays, though we’re told that believers met together then. As NT Gentile Christians we’re not under the OT stipulations about the Sabbath. But some years ago I came across the last few verses of Isaiah 58, and they profoundly affected my thinking about the Lord’s Day:

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

I began to realize that the “rules” concerning the OT Sabbath weren’t just about a day of rest from physical labor, though that was a part of it: but it was primarily a day for the Lord. There is a lot of emphasis in those verses on not doing “thine own pleasure,” but rather delighting in the Lord and in a day set aside for Him.

I had already been in the habit of not doing any work on Sundays other than what was necessary for meal preparation and clean-up (unless an emergency came up, like the time we came home church to find a leak had sprung in the pipe in the bathroom wall, or the Sunday morning before church when an upstairs bathroom overflowed and “rained” downstairs. We figured those were ox-in-the-ditch kinds of things. :))

But after discovering these verses, I began to take it a step further and tried to think of it as truly the Lord’s Day, and tried think of ways to truly make the day revolve around Him. As a wife and mom, I don’t think that passage means to close myself off in a room alone and spend great amounts of time in Bible reading and prayer. There may be seasons of life when that might be the case, but for now I don’t feel that’s the right application.

Of course, most of the day is taken up with church-related activities and meals. And for years Sunday afternoons have included a nap. I don’t function very well without a nap on Sunday afternoons, even though I don’t take an afternoon nap most other days. When our kids got old enough that they didn’t need a nap, they still had to do something quiet during that time. But Sunday evenings after the evening service I began to use for various restful and spiritual activities. Sometimes I would write letters (how is that spiritual activity done as unto the Lord, you might ask? Well, a lot of the day is given to “assembling yourselves together” with other believers, and writing is one way to communicate and minister. Even writing to lost loved ones is a ministry to them by letting them know you’re thinking about them). Sometimes I would play games with the kids. Sometimes I would read Christian books. As my kids have gotten older, sometimes we’ll all be in one room doing separate things (the older boys using laptops, the youngest playing, and I would be reading), and it’s cozy — we’ll comment to each other in-between what we’re doing. Sometimes now I’ll be on-line but restrict my reading to Christian sites.

Sunday evenings have become one of my favorite parts of the week. I love coming home from church knowing that I don’t “have” to toss laundry in (of course, that takes planning to get it done on other days) or “get things done.” I can just relax and enjoy it.

Choir Proficiency Test

Posted on August 18, 2006 by Barbara Harper

This is one of the all-time funniest things I’ve ever seen. I received it several years ago in an e-mail, and it’s unusual that this hasn’t made the rounds again and again like so many things have. I don’t know where it came from, but it makes me smile every time I read it:

Continue reading →

“He Who Would Valiant Be”

Posted on August 17, 2006 by Barbara Harper

I was thinking of this hymn by John Newton this morning. I first heard it when we attended Mt. Calvary Baptist…and I’ve never heard it anywhere else, even on the radio or on CDs. It’s a shame! It’s a great hymn.

He who would valiant be ’gainst all disaster,
Let him in constancy follow the Master.
There’s no discouragement shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

Who so beset him round with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound—his strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight,
He will make good his right to be a pilgrim.

Since, Lord, Thou dost defend us with Thy Spirit,
We know we at the end, shall life inherit.
Then fancies flee away! I’ll fear not what men say,
I’ll labor night and day to be a pilgrim.

Wordless Wednesday: Jesse in the park

Posted on August 15, 2006 by Barbara Harper

My oldest son took this picture of my youngest at a local park.

See more neat pics at 5 Minutes for Mom’s Wordless Wednesday.

Works For Me Wednesday: Chicken Tenderloins

Posted on August 15, 2006 by Barbara Harper

I love using boneless, skinless chicken tenderloin. They can go straight from the freezer to the oven and bake for only 20-30 minutes. I make baked chicken that way, or a chicken and stuffing casserole. On Sunday mornings sometimes I’ll put the frozen chicken tenderloin in a single layer in a baking pan and pour Italian dressing over it, let it marinate until we get home from church, then pop it in the oven while I make a side dish.

I sometimes will put a plate of them in the microwave for 9-10 minutes, rearranging them about halfway through (bringing the ones on the outside of the plate toward the center and vice verse). If you sprinkle them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and minced onion, then cut them up into small pieces when done, you have chicken ready for a casserole or soup. If you do the same with the addition of chili powder, you have chicken ready for chicken tacos or enchiladas.

The only trouble is they are more expensive than other forms of chicken, so this is a time- and labor-saving tip rather than a frugal tip. You’re paying for the convenience of a shorter cooking time and being able to cook them immediately without deboning or skinning them. In our area they are sold in 2 1/2 lb. bags for $8.98, but they do go on sale fairly often, and sometimes stores will have a buy-one-get-one-free sale. Tyson makes them, but many stores have their own brand.

Here’s one of my family’s favorite recipes using them (you could also use leftover baked or stewed chicken):

Chicken Enchilada Bake

2 cans cream of chicken soup
2-4 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into pieces, or around 9 chicken tenderloin pieces, cooked and cut into small pieces
1 cup sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
3/4 lb. Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
6 flour tortillas or 8 corn tortillas
1 small can green chilies, diced (optional)

Mix soup, sour cream, chicken, chilies, and half the cheese, Tear tortillas into bite-size pieces and stir into chicken mixture. Pour into casserole dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Or, leave off the remaining cheese, microwave for about 3 minutes, stir, top with remaining cheese, and microwave for another 3 minutes.

Check out Rocks In My Dryer’s blog for great tips!

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

Posted on August 15, 2006 by Barbara Harper

My firstborn is 22!

Hope you’ve had a great day!

Love you!

When afraid to surrender

Posted on August 15, 2006 by Barbara Harper

Sometimes we wrestle with the thought, “If I really surrender all to God, what will He do to me?” Even if we have made that surrender before, that thought can come at odd moments. After all, Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed as a teen-ager and has been in a wheelchair for, I think, 30-some years. Elisabeth Elliot lost not one, but two husbands. A dear professor had Lou Gehrig’s disease for over 20 years…our minds can go on and on with other examples we know.

There have been whole books written about reasons for suffering, and we hear testimonies of God’s grace through those times. Yet that lurking fear or reluctance can still snake into our thoughts.

As I was pondering these things this morning, the thought came, “What’s the alternative, really?” Suffering will come to most of us in some form or another. We live in a fallen world and deal with its effects; we’re not in heaven yet, where there are no tears, sorrow, pain. We’re not going to stop these things from coming into our lives if we don’t surrender to God. We can’t somehow insulate ourselves or protect ourselves from any pain or trial.

But if we are the Lord’s, we can trust that He has a purpose in what He has allowed. We can trust Him for His presence, peace, grace, and help. If we’re surrendered to Him, we can face these things in a way that we can’t otherwise.

One comment that stayed with me from a forgotten article about a trial a lady faced was this: “I was glad, when this happened, that He was not a stranger to me.” It’s certainly better to face a trial with Him rather than apart from Him. Sometimes He does work through the trials of life to bring people to Himself from their position as a stranger to Him, or to bring His children back from a backslidden position, or draw His children closer. But after that, we can “glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).

We need not hold back our wills from the Lord for fear of what might happen. It’s futile to do so, really. But even aside from that, we can face whatever He sees fit to allow into our lives knowing that He will work all things together for good to them that love God (Romans 8:28) and by relying on His promises:

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness (Isaiah 41:10).

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Corinthians 12:8-10).