Thanksgiving Cranberries

I hope everyone out there in blogland had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I got to have two Thanksgiving celebrations this year. The first was with my fiance and his parents which was fun. We had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner and talked for most of the afternoon and evening. It was very enjoyable. The second Thanksgiving dinner was on Saturday with relatives. This was also fun as the meal was a little different - still traditional Thanksgiving foods but with a little twist.
However, this year I re-discovered that infamous fruit that appears on every Thanksgiving table in one way or another - the cranberry. Now, I am not a fan of cranberry sauce that comes slip sliding out of an Ocean Spray can. I'm sure it's great, but it just doesn't look appetizing.
No, my adventure with the cranberry came from some fresh cranberries given to me by a friend. I had no idea what to do with them - I'm not even a big fan of cranberry juice so what would I do with cranberries not even juiced yet.....I serached online and found a recipie for Cranberry Upside Down Coffee Cake. So I thought I'd try it and come Thanksgiving morning I was in the kitchen cooking. The cake came out wonderfully and tasted so good with cranberries and brown sugar/butter mix on top and warm cake underneath!! A sucessful cranberry adventure. But my adventure was just beginning......come Satruday Thanksgiving dinner we had cranberries galore. There was cranberry stuffing, cranberry relish (fresh), cranberry salad (also fresh), and even cranberry apple sparkling cider. Which if you haven't tried is quite good and fizzy! So I have developed a new love for the cranberry.
And I've read that is it also good for you - to prevent UTI's...........so read up on that because you certainly don't want that for next Thanksgiving....or anytime inbetween!

Time?? What's That?

Wow, I have been so busy these past weeks that I haven't had time to post. Things with work get crazier everyday. My job as hotel liasion requires me to know everythign there is to know about the hotel & convention center for Collide Winter Conference in December. And WOW.......people want to know a lot.

I feel like my brain is constantly on information overload because if I'm not sending information to someone they are asking me questions trying to get information. It's a constant barrage at times and makes me feel very overwhelmed.

But I can't do anything but take refuge in my God who promises to give me peace that passes all understanding! I hope you will do the same no matter how busy life gets.

United

This is my soapbox post of the month: where I get up and tell you all what I think should change in the world. Doing it online seems a bit safer than actually standing on a box in the middle of the city..........especially here in Portland! So if you feel like throwing any old vegetables at me - throw them at your computer screen, but just remember you have to clean it up.

I am finding myself more frustrated and confused about the lack of unity within the Christian faith - I know it has been happening since bible times but it seems to be rearing it's ugly head closer to home for me now.

This is not to say that I feel like we should be tolerable of everyone and every religious practice even when we know it goes against biblical teaching. But there is always a better way to draw people to the Truth and to God then to judge, ridicule, and persecute them. However it seems that this is what it has come down to.

What I really want is for people to consider the possibilities of what could happen in the body of believers, what God could do here on earth for His kingdom if we really tried to live out unity and the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. First, I think the word unity needs to be defined. According to the dictionary, unity is defined as: absence of diversity; unvaried or uniform character; concord, harmony, or agreement. Take a moment and really think about what that means.

I recently did a study on Acts Chapter 6 where seven men are chosen to take over the task of distributing food to the widows to make sure it is done correctly. The Twelve disciples are teaching people the Word of God and so they tell the people to chose seven men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom to do this task. It doesn't mean they are saying they cannot distribute food because it is somehow below them. No, it is important, it needs to be done correctly, but so does teaching the Word of God. A brief summary: people need to serve within their giftings in the church.

Just look at the results in Verse 7:"So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly". Not only did the number of people responding to God increase, but it did so rapidly.

Now this is what I drew from this: Everything in the church was working well. People were working together to serve and they were working within their giftings. The apostles were free to teach the Word of God to many more because they knew there were trustworthy people serving in all the other areas of the church. God has created all of us differently so we can each have our contribution within the church and when we realize each job is important and needed, God is then free to move within the church and bring many more people to Christ.

Wow, what a great picture of unity. Time now to get off my soapbox and out of the rain.