Moving the blog.

I really love this blog.  I’ve enjoyed it as a place to discuss and dream.  In this place new friends have met old, stories have been shared and people have connected.  I really have enjoyed my time on wordpress.com.

That said I’ve felt a prodding lately.  Opportunities have come my way that I’ve sadly had to pass up. I was feeling a little constrained in terms of design and personalization and wanted more from the blog.  I kept feeling like it was time to move but wasn’t listening to those feelings.  I was ignoring that urge and just kept plugging along.  Until now that is.  I’ve finally decided to listen.

I’ve found a host, I’m taking the leap and I’m going to build the site I feel is right for me.  At first you won’t notice a difference, the domain name will remain the same and the format will be as well but as time passes and I get a little more comfortable I’ll be able to personalize it, I’ll be able to make it more of what I think it should be and I’m excited about that possibility.

That being said I’m absolutely terrified.  I’m terrified of failure, of having made the wrong decision.  I worry about losing all of my followers and you are lovely people, I don’t want to lose you.  I wonder if I’m misinterpreting this prodding and have gone off in a direction I shouldn’t go.

Ultimately I cannot live a life in fear, I must take that leap of faith and I think now is the time.  When we are frozen in fear we are frozen in place and that is never a good thing.  Without movement there is no growth, without growth there is no opportunity.

If you have subscribed through email I should be able to keep that going.   I hope so anyways!  If you have subscribed through wordpress.com we may lose touch for a while.  I hope you come over to my site http://ministrytomotherhood.com and visit.  I’ll have a subscription service set up or you can catch my RSS feed through your reader so we can reconnect.

It’s time to make the move.  It’s time to act in faith knowing that what comes next will be another interesting adventure…

Conversations between my husband and I about the Higgs boson

I should begin by saying that my husband studied Physics in his undergraduate years.  This makes him infinitely more knowledgeable than me when it comes to science in general but physics in particular.  Imagine my delight when I discovered that scientists had made a great discovery in the field of particle physics before he did.  Here are some of the conversations from today…

Before Breakfast:

Becky: Did you know they’ve discovered the Higgs boson particle?
Alvin: They discovered it, when?
Becky: Last night/today.  I knew something about Physics before you!
Alvin: Do you even know what the Higgs boson particle is?

Over Lunch:
After much reading on my part… 

Becky: So this Higgs boson particle hasn’t been seen but they know it’s there?
Alvin: Hints of it have been seen?
Becky: Hints of it?  So it hasn’t been seen…
Alvin: It’s not really a particle per se, it’s more of a field
Becky: So it’s a giant force field holding us together?  Something would need to be holding that force field in place.  There has to be something making it all happen.
Alvin: Strings.
Becky: Strings?  Really?  Who controls said strings?
Alvin: The hands of God.
Becky: Ahhh.

Slightly later during lunch:

Becky: So if this force field is what holds us all together imagine if you could find a way to break the rules of the particle.  You could create a transporter just like Star Trek.
Alvin: No you couldn’t.
Becky: Yes you could.  You’d just have to figure out how to break the field, send the particles to another place and put them all back together again.
Alvin: I guess in theory it’s a beginning.
Becky: I guess the hard part would be keeping people alive.  They’d likely be dead when they got there.
Alvin: Probably would.
Becky: I guess that’s why I’m not in charge of designing transporters…

Later again:

Becky: You could say that Jesus was the one time that God decided it would be okay to allow part of himself to be confined by the Higgs boson force field.
Alvin: Huh?
Becky: Well he lived within it for a set period of time.
Alvin: I think that theory would tick off the Evangelicals and the Scientists…

@RichardDawkins

I’m always on the lookout for new people to follow on twitter and quite regularly pop over to their page of suggested people for me to follow.  Today I was rather surprised to find @RichardDawkins suggested on the list.

I have nothing against Mr. Dawkins.  We’re all entitled to our own opinions and views on the world and the fact that Twitter thought I should follow him interested me enough to make me click over to his site.  As I was reading through a few articles and statements there was one thought that continually struck me…

Athiests seem to spend a lot of time talking about a God they state doesn’t exist and discussing religions they don’t believe in.

It’s a little weird, right?

On top of this they seem to have created organizations where they discuss and affirm one another in their own beliefs.  Kind of a hold each other up scenario if you will.  Sounds an awful lot like church to me.

As the saying goes, no matter how things change they remain the same…

Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is notoriously unhealthy.  Loaded with mayonnaise and some other questionable ingredients it’s not something we really should be eating as it’s not the best thing for our bodies.  It is however something I adore and with the oppressive heat we’ve been living with for the last few days, I had a bit of a craving for it.  It’s one of those summer meals you eat at a picnic or on your back deck.  It’s something I knew I needed to make healthier if I was going to be able to indulge in it.

Yesterday after lunch I began the experiment and at dinner we sat down and feasted on the results.  My husband loved it, my son enjoyed it as well and I was able to satisfy my craving.  It was the perfect meal on a hot summer day.  If you have cookouts or BBQs ahead, give this a whirl.  I’ll be making it many times this summer as it was perfection and quite healthy too.  I hope you enjoy it as I did!

Pasta Salad:

Ingredients:

For the dressing:

• 1 pkg mori nu silken tofu (soft)
• 1 tbsp granulated garlic
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1/8 of a tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp pickle juice {from a jar of dill pickles}

For the salad:

• 1 jar of sliced olives {or 2 heaping handfuls}
• 2 15 oz can of chickpeas
• 1 jar of roasted red peppers {6 in total}
• 1/3 c sun-dried tomato pieces
• 1 box of whole wheat macaroni cooked and drained
• the prepared dressing

Instructions:

• In a food processor combine all of the ingredients for the dressing and process until smooth.
• In a large bowl, combine the olives, chickpeas, red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and macaroni.
• Add about 1/2 of the dressing and stir.  Assess the coverage and add more as needed.
• Cover the salad and chill in the fridge until cool.
• Enjoy!

Extra Information:

• If you like red onions, they would go perfectly with this dish.  Dice one up and throw it in.  Raw onions and I are not friends so they are not included in my recipe.
• You should have some dressing left over.  Put it in the fridge and use it on sandwiches or any other way you’d use mayo.  It should be good for a couple of days.
• Feel free to mix things up and throw in whatever ingredients you would like to make it yours!

Going back to the garden.

What is 28 days of faith and food?  This month we pledge to seek a more balanced approach to food as enjoyment and fuel.  Together we will discover delicious recipes, healthy tips and find a little food for thought as we dive into the Bible to discover a little more of what God says regarding food.
_______________________________________________________ Before we begin I suggest reading Genesis 3 to get a little background on the topic we’ll be discussing.
_______________________________________________________

The scene is set.  A beautiful garden, a lovely young girl.  Wandering through the garden seemingly aimless, uncertain of what to do next she is met by a friend or so she thinks.  This friend convinces her to try something that she knows is forbidden, he convinces her it will do no harm.

This moment filled with temptation, seduction and pressure.  We’ve all had a moment like this.  A day when we’ve been trying to eat right and a friend hands us a donut saying it can’t hurt, it’s only one day.  A moment when a magazine ad caught our eye and those Oreos with rainbow frosting suddenly became irresistible.   We know the rules.  We know to avoid processed food.  We know to limit our portions.  Yet when we enter society there is so much around us, so much to tempt us and seduce us.  How can we possibly resist?

When we look at the story of Eve and this forbidden fruit we see that ultimately she makes a choice.  She chooses to take that bite, chooses to give in to the pressure that surrounds her.  We also have to make that choice.  Temptations today may not come in the form of an apple or a pomegranate, they might come in a bag of kettle chips or a slice of pound cake, but they are real.  The choices might not have the eternal consequences that Eve faces but they do come with consequences.  Each morsel of food has the potential to provide our bodies with antioxidants, nutrients and healthy calories it needs to keep going.  Our choices affect how we feel and function in this world.

In a way it’s rather humbling to realize how little things have changed over time. To realize that temptation is still such a force in our modern lives when things are supposed to be easier and experts have all the answers.   We are told what to eat, what not to eat and how much of everything.  In all of the rigidity, in all of the rules it would seem that we’ve forgotten something very important.  God has given us food to eat and enjoy.  In the story of Adam and Eve there is only one tree that’s off limits, we’ve got the whole world to explore and enjoy.

There is so much available to us in the world.   So many fruits and vegetables, beans and lentils and so much more.  God has given us a world of food to explore and discover.   Unfortunately we’ve lost sight of how appealing this food is, we’ve discovered ways to change and manipulate God’s gift to us to create some pretty unhealthy things.  It’s time to take our food back.

This week as we make our food choices we need to listen for our serpents, for the voices in our heads that attempt to sway us and drag us in directions we don’t wish to go.  We want to make healthy choices from foods that are given to us by God.  This week the goal is to discover the rest of the food in the garden, to find the things Eve overlooked when she was seduced by the forbidden fruit.

As you head out this week to do your shopping pick up a fruit or vegetable you’ve never had before, grab some beans if you’ve never used them and experiment with the gifts in God’s garden.  If the ingredient list is a mile long or you don’t know what an ingredient is, put it back.  This week we embrace the food that God has given us.  This week we’re going back to the garden.  As we go through the week I’m will post some recipes as I experiment myself and if you have any great culinary success let me know and I’ll post a link here.  We’re all in this together!

Faith and Food Challenge:

Every week I thought I would add in an extra challenge for those who are interested.  This week’s Faith and Food Challenge comes from Michael Pollan who says “If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re probably not hungry.”  This week every time we’re about to mindlessly munch or grab a few crackers we should ask ourselves if we want an apple.  If I’m not hungry enough for an apple, I’m probably not hungry.

 

A letter to the bunny.

Dear Bunny,

I’ve been attempting to co-exist with you for many months now.  I understand that you require a place to live and am happy to let you live in my backyard rent free.  There are however some rules that were explained to you when you moved in that you seem to have forgotten.  I’ve written them here as a bit of a refresher for you.

1. Parsley is off limits.  We’ve cultivated our lawn to be a rabbit’s paradise. Filled with clover {and lots of it} you’re more than welcome to eat that. Unfortunately the parsley is mine, you have to stop eating it before I get the chance.
2. While I would prefer that you stay away from the strawberries as well my primary issue with your consumption of said berries is the fact that you don’t actually like them.  Taking my berries, eating a piece and throwing the rest on the ground is wasteful.  I would enjoy eating my berries {again I point you to the clover if you are hungry}.
3. Finally I’d like to remind you that there is an absolute buffet of clover for you to eat in the yard proper.  Please eat it.  Encourage your children to eat it.  I’ve seen you all lazily lying in the grass.  It’s time to start pulling your weight around here if you wish to stay.

Sincerely,

A frustrated gardener

It all begins with an apple…

This July I thought I’d do something a little different.  Last year I did a mid-summer project that involved families and God.  It was great!  We loved it and I am glad we did it.  This year I thought we would spend the month of July dealing with food and faith.  A sort of quick glance at what the Bible has to say about the food we eat and how in today’s world we process it all.

Why faith and food?  Ultimately we all need to eat.  It’s an important function of survival but in today’s day and age when processed cheese has replaced the small batch cheese from years of old and cookies are bought instead of made it can be difficult to figure out how to relate to the gift of food that God has given us.  We are made to enjoy food {as we have all these wonderful senses} but perhaps we have taken things to the extreme with our extra large slurpies and low-carb diets.

This month I pledge to seek a more balanced approach to food as enjoyment and fuel.  I will endeavor to provide delicious recipes, healthy tips that I’ve found from reputable sources and food for thought as I dive into the Bible to discover a little more of what God says regarding food.

Every Monday throughout the month of July I’ll be writing about this and I’d love for you to join me.  This week our journey begins with Adam, Eve and Temptation.  After all it all began with an apple, didn’t it?

Doubting God.

I was in the middle of writing a post about tomatoes, gardening and pruning {I bet you have an idea of where I was going with this} but then I ran across this article “Young Americans Losing Faith?  New Poll Shows 31 Percent Of Adults Under 30 Doubt God Exists”  This doesn’t surprise me.  Does it surprise you?

To put this another way, 1 in 3 Americans under 30 have doubt about the existence of God.  I would bet the Canadian number is higher if only because we might be slightly less afraid to admit it and we’re a more secular culture in general.

To me this means as a church we are dealing in an increasingly secular world.  A world that isn’t afraid to express doubt and acknowledge the possibility that God may not exist.  It means we are living in a world that is different from one we have in our church memory banks.

We have to change.

We have ignored this doubt.  We push doubt away and pretend it doesn’t exist.  It does.  It has to.  If we’ve never wrestled with our faith or really struggled with God, how can we mature and grow as Christians.  We need to allow doubt to be part of the conversation.

Things are not as they were 50 years ago.  People today see churches as places that are great for weddings and hold a great deal of nostalgia but are not relevant as a faith option.  Instead of coming to church people are turning to the internet, friends and celebrities for ideas on faith and God.  We’ve lost our influence.  We are no longer part of their conversation.

This loss of influence has frightened us.  Fear is not the answer, faith is.  In the Bible God constantly says ‘Be not afraid’ and yet we find ourselves living daily in fear.  We hide from the outside world and wonder what comes next.   The problem with this way of living is that we will never know what happens next if we do not do something to make the next thing happen.   We cannot show others light if we are hiding it from them.

Jesus called us to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

This is a heavy calling.  We are to live in the world and shine our light.  We are to add flavor and substance to our communities.  We aren’t doing this.  Our lights grow dim and our salt is losing it’s flavor.  In focusing on ‘not’ dying we’re not living.  In our struggle to stay alive we’ve forgotten our purpose and mission.

Imagine a church that lived according to the Gospel.  That was the light of the earth and recognized the need to live in community and care for others.  Imagine a church that could say the following:

We are Christ followers.  We gather together to worship and praise the Lord. We live in the world God created and care about it.  In our community we love, we laugh, we live. We long to serve and will find ways to help those in need. We know that our building is a resource but is not our God. We pray hard and fierce. We read the Bible and learn from it’s message. We are living a mission given by God to us in this time and place. We are Christ followers. 

I would go to this church.
Others would too…

 

Lost in Translation

X. ran around today shouting ‘die, die, die!’.  He did it at the store.  He did it on the driveway for our entire neighborhood.  He did it for anyone we ran into.  This made me want to ostrich very badly.  I was so embarrassed.  As I shushed him and tried to express how inappropriate this was, my head was filled with thoughts like ‘Where did he learn this word?’ and ‘Why is he running around shouting die, die, die!’.  It was not a good scene.

As the day progressed and he continued to utter death threats I just began to pray that eventually he would grow bored of this fun new word and move on.   When his speech therapist arrived for our last appointment of the year I had almost forgotten the events of the morning until he began doing it again.  And that’s when it hit me, he wasn’t saying ‘die’ he was saying ‘dive’.  When my little boy says the word dive it sounds like die because he has not yet mastered the v sound.

Palm to forehead.   Assume ostrich position. 

The speech therapist and I had a good laugh about this.  And it really made me wonder how much in our lives gets lost in translation.  How often do we just not get it?

As I read through the Prophets I have to assume this happens more often than not.  The people of Israel cry out to God and wonder why God’s upset when it’s been expressed repeatedly by the prophets.  The thing is, the Israelites don’t want to hear or are unable to hear.  The message is confused and puzzling to them.  They need to sift through it and find out what God is trying to say.

I think this happens to us in the church today as well.  When we deal with our desires and plans we often shove God off to the side and plan on using him if he is needed.  There is a sense that if we make enough plans and prepare enough events eventually things will work out for us.  If it doesn’t then we’re lost and confused.  We wonder why things aren’t happening.  We wonder why God isn’t answering our prayers.

Unfortunately for us, God likely is answering our prayers.  The problem is like that we don’t like the answer or we don’t understand it.  We have a hard time with the translation.  We have a hard time hearing what God wants us to do.  This is something we need to work on.  We need to start listening and discern the message God is sending us.  We need to begin the process of translation.

Banana Muffins: Just like Grandma used to make.

Well almost.  They are almost like Grandma used to make.  I’ve replaced a few things, changed the recipe slightly and added some chocolate but let me tell you, Grandma’s essence is the heart of these addictive beauties.  I am absolutely delighted with the outcome of these muffins.

I started with my grandma’s recipe and tweaked some of the ingredients.  The result is a slightly healthier albeit equally delicious rendition of her recipe.  It’s so good.  If you have bananas that are soft, make these tonight!  Your breakfast tomorrow will be the best part of your day.

If you’ve noted the Thomas the Tank Engine wrappers please understand that I live with a two year old who is obsessed with trains and cars.  Imagine the devastation when he realizes we need to remove them in order to eat the muffins. 

Banana Muffins
just like Grandma made 

Ingredients:

• 2 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 1/2 c soy milk
• 3/4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 c white sugar
• 2/3 c brown sugar
• 1 scant c unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
•  4 extremely ripe bananas
• Optional: 1 c chocolate chips

Instructions:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. 
• Line 2 muffin tins with liners.  Lightly spray each liner with cooking spray.
• Cream bananas, sugars, applesauce, and vanilla.  Set aside. 
• Combine soy milk with the apple cider vinegar to create sour milk.  Stir and set aside. 
• Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and corn starch. 
• Alternating dry ingredients with the sour milk, add to the banana mixture and stir until just combined. 
• If using the chocolate chips stir them in. 
• Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. 
• Enjoy! 

Extra Information:

• This makes 24 good size muffins.
• There are many add ins that would work with these.  I think walnuts would be delicious.  Some coconut or chopped dried fruit might be nice.  Anything your heart desires {and believes would go with banana} is a welcome addition.  Create your own masterpiece!