Baked oatmeal

it’s a new day

and it started with Baked Oatmeal.

Made up the night before (I’ll post the recipe later).

But basically, it was like oatmeal cake. For breakfast.

With delicious cinnamon.

Put it in a baking tin, and refrigerate overnight. Cook in the morning at 350 for 40 minutes.

40 minutes!!!

Which meant I got up at 6. I hopped up, turned on the oven, and exactly ten minutes later, when it beeped to alert me of it’s readiness, I hopped back out of bed (where I had returned for a precious ten more minutes of sleep) and put it in. 40 minutes later, it was delicious! It really made the morning special. That, and lounging around in bed until it was ready. Made for a much better start to the day.

Stupid, elusive happiness

-_-;;

Keeping it all in

there’s so much I don’t say.

Suffering

Suffering is not a sign of weakness.
Suffering is not a commentary or payback on my past.
Suffering invites a review or inventory of life.
Suffering demands intense focus on myself that can sometimes be overdone.
Suffering forces choices between bitterness and avoidance, versus thankfulness and cooperation.
Suffering creates opportunities to learn how to accept help.
Suffering often triggers concern among friends that can be awkward to receive.
Suffering can be a school for faith development.

“[God] has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.”
(Paul in Philippians 1:29)

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings… But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief or a criminal or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear his name.”
(Peter to the exiled believers in I Peter 4:12-16)

Lord, thank you for the sobering challenge of sharing in Christ’s suffering and the impact it has on my knowledge of myself, you and the gift of life. Help me discover your presence in it.

by Pete Hammond from here.

Tentative front cover

of wedding album

I’m not making this stuff up

This is a screenshot from the official Pepsi rebranding manual. It’s a pdf called the “pepsi gravitational field.” They basically suggest that they have created the “Pepsi Golden Mean” and that they’re tapping into universal values of beauty to create this thing.

o.O

Learning to preach

Last night I did a lil’ bit o exegesis at our college and careers night. At least, I tried to.

I didn’t BOMB, per se, but I don’t feel soaring-over-moon happy about it.

But I am excited that I felt like I learned a lot that I wouldn’t have known if it had gone tremendously well.

Here are some notes to myself:

• take more time to prepare. Andy Stanley has his sermons ready three weeks before he preaches them.
• practice more, hone in on exactly what you want to say
• you can’t think on your feet as well when you’re presenting because you’re nervous.
• if you want to say something, you have to write it down
• point form notes don’t always trigger the memory. Write it all out.
• Practice.
• watch sermons by pastors you admire and respect – not lectures – before you present, or else you’ll sound like you’re lecturing, not preaching. (I watched TedTalks…and was probably influenced by them because I came across a little professor-ish. Monotone. Ack. That was the nerves, too.)
• be more comfortable (PRACTICE)
• speak to your audience…you wrote this with them in mind…look at them. talk to them, not at them.
• use anecdotes, make it interesting. vary your voice and tone and get people engaged.
• You procrastinated and wrote essays in a couple days for university. Your average was in the seventies. If I were to have graded that, I would’ve given it a 67 or a 76.  God – and those you love and want to serve through your teaching – deserve better than that. Step up your game. Take this seriously. Unlike the essays you wrote on Shakespearean prose, this actually has eternal significance.
• Work on your conclusion. REALLY REALLY work on your conclusion.

Problems I can identify in preparation:

Starting on Friday. Spending probably 5 hours total on it (it was 15 minutes long in practice, and 10 minutes long when I did it at the front of the church). Practicing it out loud once with one other person. My notes in three different places because I didn’t have a pad of paper to write on. Being distracted by Facebook while I tried to write. Not having a good conclusion.

On the bright side, I learned a lot personally from the study.  I made Steve Mah laugh at one point by suggesting we were in Africa (that was a really good point, and one of my major points, and I had a funny & memorable way of explaining it – I should’ve done more with that).

Bah, well anyway. First sermon. Sort of. I’m glad it kinda sucked. I feel like it’s a challenge to do better next time.

The Pouring Rain

Walked to work in the pouring rain today. My pink rainboots up to my knees keeping me dry from the knees down. My umbrella doing what it could for the rest of me in spite of the wind.

I actually had good fun.

I felt for the first time that my route to work, if I just imagined hard enough, could be England.

It made me want to go to England. Or Ireland. Just anywhere green and lush where there is a culture of umbrellas, rainboots and classy rainjackets.

Oh that would be fun and romantic.

(two other awesome things: Paddington bear and puddles)

Lost track of time

You know when you enjoy doing something so much you lose track of time? And the only thing that interrupts you is the need for food, the bathroom, or sleep?

I haven’t done that in a while. I haven’t had the free time or the solitude.

Last night, I was on the computer from right after dinner, until bedtime (and I stayed up later than usual) using blurb.com’s book-making program, BookSmart. It was…
FUN.

It felt like I was in high school again. Spending hours on the computer doing graphic design. Enjoying myself. Feeling proud of my work. Getting excited about the end product.

The joy has followed me into today.

Burning Coals

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.