Refractions and Reflections

Sometimes I run down my news feed on Facebook and am touched when I read a post that screams with passion...especially passion for the things of God. But something troubles me about these posts, too. It seems often when God does not work in/through someone's life like they expect or desire...someone who earnestly desires and tries their very best to please Him...their thoughts always fall back to some form of, "What is wrong with me/in my life that God isn't moving?" or "Something about me must just not be good enough. God doesn't seem to want  to use me." Our faulty, legalistic theology has taught us to think in this way. I have been in Pentecostal circles all my life, so I know a few names of people through whom God did miraculous things - healing the sick and diseased, casting out demons, and even raising the dead. Smith Wigglesworth is the one that always comes to mind first. From all accounts, he spent so  much time in prayer and study of the ...

---1--- Who. Okay, I got tired of being the last person on earth to have not seen Doctor Who, so I commenced watching on Netflix this week. It took me at least two-thirds of the way through the first episode to decide the "fascinating" factor overpowers the "creepy/corny" factor just by a smidgeon. Wow! I think I'm hooked! The first episode even had zombies without having disgusting, dead...zombies. Impressive. (We'll ignore the fact that episode 3 may or may not have real zombies.) I think this is what the nerd in me has been looking for in a TV show. ---2--- What .  Would anyone be interested in a new linkup I am thinking about starting, called the Weekend Nostalgia Bloghop? I think it would either be on Saturdays or Sundays (maybe Sunday so as to separate it from 7QT on Friday), and in it you could feature a memory, a childhood toy, an heirloom, a song, something you miss, a place you used to visit, a favorite Doctor Who episode (haha)...

I have been watching Doctor Who. In Season 1 Episode 11, the time lords take the last remaining member of the Slitheen family aboard the TARDIS to return her to her home planet and save the earth from her scheme to destroy it. The prisoner tells her captors they are taking her to her execution. The character Mickey tells her she deserves it. She responds that he is very quick to assume so. She says, "You're awfully quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me how, exactly?" On one hand, an answer might be that the Slitheen's fate has been decided by the authority of Law - who are the time lords to interfere with what has been deemed just? In a subsequent scene, when the Slitheen describes the tortuous way in which she will be executed, the doctor stoically tells her, "I don't make the law." She responds, "But you deliver it. Will you stay to watch?" On the other hand, most people who take up a cause of "justice...

---1--- Another bloghop I participate in is the Friend Connect Bloghop on Tuesdays. Through it this week, I stumbled onto another bloghop and visited some of the posts and found a recipe for some amazing almond butter that I then successfully made! I got to use my little tiny food processor for the first time (my mom got me several small appliances for Christmas last year)! It took some doing, but it came out great.   Since I can't remember where I found the recipe, I will just share the recipe with you.   Ingredients: 1 cup almonds (unsalted) 1 cup cashews (unsalted) 1/2 cup shredded coconut 3 tsp guava or sugar dash of salt   Directions: Preheat oven to 300 F. Spread almonds, cashews, and coconut over nonstick baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes. Add ingredients to food processor and pulse. This part will take a good 20 minutes, and you will have to break up the mixture frequently with a spoon or something. (At first it will...

Early today I came across a blog post from a former hospital chaplain about one of her experiences in the NICU, helping young parents say goodbye to their newborn. Not only did it bring tears to my eyes, but also peace to my heart. It reminded me what one of my true passions is: helping people through grief. A while back I thought very seriously about doing some Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at a local hospital here and becoming a hospice chaplain. I am now thinking about it again, but not hospice. I think hospital chaplaincy might be more what I am looking for. My plans aren't sure yet, and I know I will pursue my doctorate before too much longer; but I just might go ahead and get certified for chaplaincy between now and then. It is something I want to do, and I think it would only enrich my experience for a future career in teaching. This evening before work I was talking with a coworker who shares some of my interests, and we noticed also how when people are dying, as mo...