Book of James

Casting Crowns's Mark Hall is doing a video Bible study on the book of James.

Check out the first video here.

"God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way."

Godly Marriage

**I want to warn the casual reader that I'm about to get real deep in something God has put on my heart recently. If you're not in a spot in your life where you're comfortable discussing God, you may want to skip this post 'casue it's full of Him.**

Recently, it's like God has been making me think about marriage -- mine in particular. no, there's not "trouble in paradise" but there are things that J and I agreed to when we got married that we've kind of fallen through on. The idea that he should be the head of me, to lead us in prayer/devotions/what have you is something that we took seriously two years ago as we said our vows, but we haven't particularly delivered on that promise.

There are verses all over the Bible, particularly the new testament that discuss the role of the husband and the wife. Husbands are to be the head of the family, and the wife is to submit to her husband. This makes people incredible on edge: "My husband will not control me." "That's right woman, I'm in charge."

Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church did two sermons about two years ago about the role of the man and the woman in marriage. I haven't listened to all of the one about women, but J and I listened to the message about men. Warning: He is BLUNT. I mean, he doesn't skirt around the issue. Towards the end, he even YELLS at his congregation (and those of us listening), telling men "shame on you" for not respecting women in a way that God calls them to do.

I also listened to this teaching from Marcus Mecum of Seven Hills Church (we went there one Sunday last summer as we passed through Cincinnati on our mission trip and were incredibly impressed). This one is about men's role in the church. It's not as blunt as Driscoll's teaching, but it is still very straightforward -- men have to counsel younger men in being leaders in the church. Women outnumber men in the church, partly because so much of the "church experience" relates to aspects that women identify with -- feelings and "talking" and whatnot. Young men are getting lost in the shuffle because older men aren't taking the time to mentor them, and older men aren't taking the time to align themselves with God's image anyway.

I'm trying not to be too preachy, because my husband and I have dropped the ball as well, but God intended marriage to be this way for a reason. "As goes the father, so goes the family, so goes the community, so goes the world." That was something a professor of mine said in one of my ministry classes in school, and I think it's incredibly true, especially now. If men would step up and take care of their families, we would start seeing a difference in the world.

Series Finales

I'm a sucker for 'em. I love seeing old clips from the series and most of the time I cry because I am incredibly sentimental. Boy Meets World is one finale that ALWAYS gets to me. It ended almost eleven years ago and I have seen the finale at least five times, but the last scene when they're with Mr. Feeny gets me every. single. time.

Paint Advice...

We currently rent our condo, but the owners are allowing us to paint if we want so long as we prime it before we move out. (we know we dont want to buy it because we want to buy a house when the time comes.) One of the things I want to do is paint our kitchen. We have this nice little nook that would fit a round table nicely, so when my friend and her fiance take the rectangle one back, that's first on our list to buy (when we graduated college, J and I needed furniture and she needed storage, so it all worked out nicely).

First things first, though, I would like to paint that nook but I can't think of a good color. originally our kitchen color scheme was going to be black, white, and red, but that isn't really a priority... I want the kitchen to look nice but I'm kind of on a budget and I'm decorating challenged.

So my question for you all: what color should we paint that nook and why?

(oh, and please ignore that crap on the table...it's kind of our catch all for junk since we only easy at it when we have company...)

Wordless Wednesday

Cooking

I've never been much of a cook. I am too afraid that I'll burn/overseason/undercook whatever I'm making and waste all that food. I really need to take some lessons with more experienced cooks, like G at church whose food is DELISH. As a result, we have the same things over and over again.

Here are some staples in our house:
-Tacos
-Sloppy Joes
-Jambalaya
-Burgers and homemade fries
-Zesty BBQ Chicken

I've started to explore other things to make, especially those on SkinnyTaste.com. Gina takes classic recipes and finds a healthier way to make them. She posts all nutrition info, including Weight Watchers points (old and new). About a week and a half ago, I bit the bullet:

That is "Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili" (image from the website). I made it a few weeks ago and it was AMAZING. Last time I made it I only used half a can of kidney beans because I am not a bean person, and because I was making it for 2 people. I also only used one can of diced tomatoes. And I didn't have any cumin or cilantro and I didn't add chili peppers. It was plenty spicy, though, because the only taco seasoning I had in the house was the hot and spicy blend by Old El Paso. I ate it alone and with macaroni noodles, fresh out of the crock pot, and as leftovers. No matter when you make or eat this, it's wonderful. I'm making it again today and again for our church's chili supper in about 3 weeks.

The fact that we both enjoyed this (and I would say I can be fairly picky) means it's made its way into our meal rotation, and that I'm more interested in trying new recipes. I have a few more that are on my list to try:

Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Chicken Enchiladas
Lighter Macaroni and Cheese (mostly because J LOVES his mom's mac & cheese but I'm not a big fan)
Skinny Sloppy Joes
Baked Ziti with Spinach
Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Frieds

Mobile Blogging

I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for Google to release an official Blogger app an now they have,  so this is my first attempt at Blogging "on the go."  I have also activated a mobile template so if you view my blog in a mobile phone,  it is optimized for viewing.

I'm a geek.  I know.