For the love of garlic

Garlic is so awesome. You would think that perhaps too much of a good thing would be a bad thing. But with garlic this is never true. Take, for example, a dish called "Roasted Chicken with 40 Cloves" in which you stuff the cavity of a roasting chicken with 40 cloves of garlic. I am not even kidding. After you take the garlic out of the chicken you spread it on bread. Its like buttah.

Take, for example, Loretta's Penne Pasta with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Tomato Sauce which I am about to eat right now. You can probably smell it where you are sitting. If you came to our house you could smell it about a block away. Again, not even kidding. Ciao!

Such a buzz

Well, the missionaries are back and we were all together again yesterday for worship and the Word. Even though we all didn't get the opportunity to go to India, there is such a buzz in the air that we instantly realize that we are connected to what has happened over there. We are being built up on the inside just by hearing the stories and being near them.

Their faces radiate and there is a real tangible sense of the presence of God coming off of them.

What an awesome thing to be a part of. "How lovely on the mountains are the feet of them who bring good news."

Welcome home to all!

nothing

I think I need to learn how to put pictures on my blog. I mean, Tami has pictures, Loretta has pictures, Jeff has pictures, Bianca has pictures...Lex has moving pictures...(that's dinosaur talk for "YouTube" 'n such).

The big issue is, I don't take pictures so they would just be ones that I download from Office of families and children none of us know. But it would be better than whining all the time. Oops! Sorry, I'm whining about whining.

Hey, a guy from Portugal commented on my blog. His name looked familiar and so did his face, a little, but I don't think I know him. Can he do that? (I wonder if this is one of those "spin-off" bloggers that is coming in through the back door of Tami's blog. You know, that thing about, "now everybody in the whole world will be able to see your spot..." It happened right after I read the email, too. Hmmmmmmmmm.)

Anyway, here is a cool picture of nothing in particular. Oh, I forgot, I don't know how to put pictures on here, but I'll get the hang of it. Dinosaurs, unlike old dogs, can learn new tricks.

resisting extinction

Pastor's message this morning was really good. In part of it he was talking about change. Change is good when we can face it with the right perspective. Sometimes the reaction to change is fear. I have actually been facing the idea of some things chaning in my life and admitedly my reaction was not good at first. I used to be a person who loved change and even recently described myself in that way by saying, "I like moving into 'what's new and what's the latest'". Then the real prospect of change came my way. I found myself getting fearful. I thought, does my reaction mean I am getting old? I am turning into a dinosaur?

Here's the good news I received into my spirit today: "no matter what you are facing, if you've gotten this far by faith, God is not going to drop you now."

Bring it...

It's as simple as 1,2,3.

During prayer on Tuesday morning I wanted to pray out Ephesians 2:10. So I did. As it was coming out, I was getting all this understanding that God has a specific work for Church in the Word to do. He knew about the work from before time. He knew the people that would be in this Body right now and He has a particular thing for each one to do during this era of their lives.

Each one of us has been created in Christ Jesus for good works. God knows what each of our specific works are. The works are already in His mind; on His drafting table. We can see the plans if we want to. We have access to them; easy access. The plans come complete with directions that are simple to understand. If we take up the work, the specific work that is laid out on His desk with our name on it, He'll do it with us. Wow. Simple. The flesh and the devil lie about it and make it all so confusing. But its really simple. Access the plans in the presence of the Holy Spirit, look at the plans with the eyes of the Holy Spirit, do the plans in the power of the Holy Spirit.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.