Sibling Assignment 2015.22 Three Favorites #3Siblings

Christy gave us our Sibling Assignment this time:

 

" Three Favorites" 

Review the archives of our sibling assignments and choose a favorite written by each of us. Link the post and share why it is a favorite.

Bill's three favorites are here, and Christy's three favorites are here.

One of my favorite blog posts was one I did that was caused me to be quite emotional while I wrote it.  I remember it bringing up all kinds of memories and emotions, and quite a few tears were shed while writing this post.  Bill assigned this post, focus on one piece of music you listened to between the ages of twenty-five and thirty.  With this piece of music, open the door to some aspect of yourself at this point in your life and what the song makes you think about in whatever way works for you.

One of my own favorite sibling assignment posts is:  here, based on a song by Michael W. Smith called "My Place In This World".

I liked when Bill would give us unusual assignments, such as this one where we took a piece of music composed by our family friend Tim O'Reilly, and then we had to take images and put them to the music.  One of my Favorite posts  of Bill's  is here.


Christy always does a nice job of talking about food and how food was such a big part of growing up.  Here she talked about birthday cakes when I gave the assignment to talk about one of Christy's birthdays in January.  One of my Favorite sibling assignments of Christy's is here.

Sibling Assignment 2015.21 Warm Stuffing Evokes Warm Memories #3Siblings

Turkey dressing, to take this topic in any direction.

This is the assignment Bill gave us for this week.

His assignment is here, and Christy's is here.

As I look back on Thanksgiving's past, some of my first memories of Thanksgiving was at Jerry and Corrine Turnbow's house.  And I am pretty sure we had stuffing taken right out of the bird.  It was moist and flavorful from being cooked in the turkey.

That is how everyone used to prepare it, I think.  Then I guess at some point people started getting sick, so people started preparing dressing and baking it in a pan. 

I think I have stuffed a bird or two in my lifetime of preparing turkeys.  But lately, it is stuffing.

Once we ceased joining the Turnbow clan for Thanksgiving, Mom would fix the turkey with her traditional stuffing and/or dressing.

I have this memory of one year, Mom deviated from the traditional dressing recipe, and tried something new.  I think it was mushrooms and carrots maybe.  I really need to ask her if this was a real thing.  I seem to remember Dad giving her flak over this stuffing/dressing recipe for many years to come, and it was kind of a family joke.

I remember one Thanksgiving while living in Glendive, Montana where one of our friends shot a wild turkey, and I was chosen to prepare it.  Another warm memory preparing a different kind of turkey and dressing.

My mother-in-law Pat makes a killer dressing.  The last three out of four Thanksgivings have been spent at her house in Meridian.  It was very yummy!!

Dressing/stuffing evoke warm memories for me.  This traditional side dish is always associated with something good.  People gathered together to give thanks.  People gathered to enjoy each other company and a football game or two. 

This year I look forward to a new dressing story that I am sure will evoke warm memories as well.  Our church is fixing a meal on Christmas Day complete with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, rolls, etc. for anyone who wants to come and eat and have fellowship with others.  Our family is going to go and help serve and be a part of creating warm memories for some other people, and provide some Christmas Day fellowship.  I am so excited to spend part of my Christmas Day this year serving others.

And I am looking forward to continuing having special and warm memories that involve my favorite part of the traditional Thanksgiving meal....the dressing.

Advent Thoughts: 12.04.15 And In Despair I Bowed My Head #advent

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

 

 

On Christmas day, 1863, Longfellow—a 57-year-old widowed father of six children, the oldest of which had been nearly paralyzed as his country fought a war against itself—wrote a poem seeking to capture the dynamic and dissonance in his own heart and the world he observes around him. He heard the Christmas bells that December day and the singing of “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14), but he observed the world of injustice and violence that seemed to mock the truthfulness of this optimistic outlook. The theme of listening recurred throughout the poem, eventually leading to a settledness of confident hope even in the midst of bleak despair.

 

One of my prayers this advent season is for people in this world to have a settledness of confident hope even in the midst of bleak despair.

 

Often we are stuck in the third verse of this Christmas song, one of my most favorite Christmas songs.  We bow our heads in despair and say there is no peace on earth.  We look at the hate that mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.

 

But the song doesn't end with the third stanza.  The fourth and fifth stanza offer hope....

The bells peal loud and deep, that God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.  We are reminded that the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.

 

The world revolved from night to day, darkness to light.

 

A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,

 

Of peace on earth, good will to men!!

 

I believe with all my heart that we can have peace on earth, good will to all men.

 

That is the message of Christmas.

 

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

 

 

 

Advent Thoughts 12.3.15. We Must Be A Light in the Darkness #advent

When I think of the season of Advent, I think of darkness.

When I think of Christmas and the birth of Jesus, I think of light.

The star guided the wise men and the shepherds to Jesus.

When Jesus was born, the Light had come.

In Isaiah 60:1-3 it says:

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
² For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
³ The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising

 

 

It seems like more and more, the world has plunged into darkness, at least the world we hear about.  Mass shootings are becoming all too common place, and I can't wrap my head around them.  They are the product of people plunged in darkness who have not seen the light.

 

Darkness has covered the people who reigned terror on Paris recently.

Darkness has covered the man who reigned terror on the abortion clinic.

Darkness has covered the people who reigned terror in San Bernardino, California yesterday.

 

I believe these people need to come to the light.

 

They need Jesus.  The darkness in this world needs Jesus.

 

Because Jesus is the embodiment of all that is good, and kind and loving and peaceful and hopeful.

 

If  you have never read about Jesus, I would suggest you take some time to really study His message.

 

Because I think we all yearn for what Jesus has for us.

 

He is the Light of the World.

 

 

Whoever follows Jesus will never walk in darkness.

 

I believe we need LIGHT in the world. 

 

Continue to share and be that light to others.

Advent Thoughts: 12.2.15 The Theme Tonight Was Hope for the Silver Valley

Tonight Paul and I attended a dinner that was filled with people who Dare To Imagine.

We gathered in the VFW Hall in Osburn.  The people in attendance were invited to come.

We were identified as "movers and shakers" in the Silver Valley.

The purpose of this gathering was to Dare to Imagine how we can make our community better.

But the focal point was God.

There were local pastors who helped facilitate the meeting.

But they were not the speakers.

And they were not the prayers.

We brainstormed ideas with the people around our dinner table on what are things that could better the Silver Valley.

Paul and I were asked to share our vision for the Arts & Media, and pray for them. 

The next three speakers were the superintendents of the three school districts in our community who shared their visions for  how they are daring to imagine how bringing community members together can strengthen the community.

And each of them included the message of Hope.....that Jesus Christ and the Word of God are where we get our Hope.

Then Mac Pooler, who is the Mayor of Kellogg, got up and prayed for the Government in the Silver Valley.

Lisa Cheney, the Athletic Director at Kellogg High School, prayed for all the schools.

Pastor Carey Schram shared about a program called Transform Our World where you can adopt streets across the U.S., and adopt Police Officers and pray for these things.  If you want to see how this program works, go to www.transformyourworld.org.

Jim Hendrickson, a Wallace relator, prayed over the businesses in our valley.

Ideas were shared from the brainstorming session.

Then we all ended praying the Lord's Prayer.

I left inspired.  I left in awe.  I left encouraged beyond belief to see a very diverse cross section of my beloved Silver Valley who Dare To Imagine unbelievable things for the Silver Valley.

And everyone who got up tonight believes it cannot be done without the help of our Heavenly Father...the true Hope.

Many lights shone bright tonight in that VFW Hall in Osburn.

Lights that will go out and help transform our part of the world.

We all received a bookmark tonight, and on the top of the side that says "Dare to Pray and Imagine", this Bible verse was printed.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

This is what I Dare to Imagine for our beautiful Silver Valley.

Advent Thoughts: 12.1.15 In The Bleak Midwinter....I will give my heart

In The Bleak Midwinter

By James Taylor

In the bleak midwinter, icy wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow on snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, Whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, Whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

 

 

 

I am thankful for the bleak midwinter.

 

 

I like to experience the biting cold as the month of November bids its farewell, and we transition into December.

 

I was fortunate enough to be outside yesterday to experience the bleak midwinter. 

 

 

 

 

The bleak winter helps us appreciate the warm summer.  The bleak times in our lives help us appreciate the full, rich, warm times of love and fellowship.

 

 

 

We experience Advent during the bleak midwinter.

 

 

James Taylor had the song "In The Bleak MidWinter" on his last Christmas album.

 

What a beautiful son with a beautiful message.

 

What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.

 

 

All Jesus wants is our heart.

 

I will give my heart.

 

Through the darkness, the bleakness, the cold, the fear.....I will give my heart.

 

 

 

And that is all He wants.