11.06.09
My top secret “Mexican” Casserole recipe
My friends keep bringing up this recipe so I thought I’d post it for anyone who wants it.
The Story Behind the Recipe
Flash back to November 2008….I’d put about a tablespoon of taco seasoning into the hamburger I was browning for the Mexican casserole I was making for dinner when my nose told me that I’d actually grabbed the cinnamon – not the taco seasoning. My youngest child – the one who is our baker – assured me that it was fine. She has such a confidence about her that I didn’t stop and question what an she actually knows about Cinnamon-Hamburger casseroles. I swore my daughter to secrecy and dumped about 3x the regular amount of taco seasoning and used a whole can of green chili sauce on the casserole. After it was done, I put out plenty of salsa and jalapenos out for the guys to add to the casserole. I could both taste & smell the cinnamon but no one else seemed to notice. You’ve heard of tex-mex? Well, this was more moroccan-mex. To my great relief, there was only one piece of casserole left in the pan when dinner was done. Do you want the recipe? It was my friend Sharon’s recipe until I ”altered” it. 
An authentic ”Mexican” Casserole recipe by someone of Midwestern, Norwegian-Lutheran Descent
- Brown 1 lb. hamburger
- Add 1 can black beans
- Add 1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon
- Stop to freak out for a few minutes
- Try to remove the cinnamon with a spoon.
- Frantically add enough McCormick brand taco seasoning to somewhat mask the cinnamon smell. McCormick is the taco seasoning preferred by jello eating Norwegians throughout Minnesota.
- Send up a desperate prayer
- Pour canned green chili enchilada sauce in a baking dish.
- Put in a layer of store-bought corn tortillas
- Spread the hamburger mix across the tortillas
- Pray again
- pour some green chili sauce on the meat mixture, desperately hoping that’ll also cover the cinnamon
- top with a generous layer of spinach (spinach has a strong flavor, right? Do cinnamon & spinach go together?)
- Add a top later of corn tortillas
- Add the remaining green chili sauce
- Pray, “Oh God, please, please, please let this be edible.”
- Cover with shredded cheese
- Put in a 350 degree oven and bake until cheese is melted & slightly browned
- Sniff the air frequently for any hint of cinammon
- While it is baking, mentally abuse yourself. Suggested negative self-dialogue: “Good grief, you idiot, you have $200 worth of hamburger in the deep freeze -why didn’t you just cook another pound rather than risk ruining all those other ingredients? What is plan B, if this doesn’t work? Maybe nutmeg tuna noodle casserole? ARGHHHHH!!!!”
- Quickly chop and pour a selection of things like olives, green onions, salsa, tomotoes, avacados, jalapenos, Listerene, etc.to cover this fiasco.
- Say grace before dinner…it is called “grace” for a reason.
From the Kitchen of Someone Not Mentioned in Proverbs 31 .
Drink the kool-aid…
I happen to belong to a church whose pastor was involved in a sex scandal spectacularly enough to warrant media attention. The news reports seem factual and fair and don’t seem to be motivated by an agenda or venom. Our pastor – and the church by association – is being judged by the standards we claim and that’s reasonable. The part that is hard is the section at the end of the online version of the newspaper where people can respond to the article. Specifically, I’m having a hard time with the number of comments that say those of us who belong to the church should all “drink the kool aid” (in reference to the suicide method used by the members of Jim Jones’ cult). The idea that there are those in my own community that feel the world would be better off if Iwas dead is a bitter pill to swallow and even more painful than being the last one picked for dodge ball. It’s tempting to slip away from my church and brush off the “idiot by association” sign that seems to be hanging around our necks. It would be nice if I could just dismiss those commentators as mean people but it seems that God sometimes feels the same way. There’s a few instances in Scripture where it seems like God strongly considered getting rid of the current crop of humans and starting over from scratch (Noah and the flood, the Israelites in the wilderness, etc.).
Sometimes I think God sees those “Lord save me from your followers” bumper stickers and He understands the sentiment completely. I always hated those “Christians aren’t perfect – just forgiven” bumper stickers. The more accurate statement would take a huge bumper or maybe a whole snow blade but it would say, “Christians are perfect…perfectly stupid and perfect jerks sometimes. If it weren’t for God, there’d be no hope at all. Come back in 10 years; if I’m less of a jerk then recognize it for the miracle it is. If you’re a jerk – there may be hope but it’ll take a lifetime and the power of Someone much greater than yourself to make a change.” What it lacks in clever wordplay, it makes up for in accuracy.
If you think you have a solution to the problems with humanity, you may be interested to know some of the approaches God has tried through the years:
1. In the Beginning (Start with Genesis 1:1) God made a beautiful world that provided everything human beings could possibly need. We were well fed, naked, and without shame. There was only one rule and it only forbid us from the fruit of one tree….that’s it. Simple, right? Nope – we blew it right away.
2. Hard times bring out the best in people, right? Nope. Things got harder after we got ourselves kicked out of the Garden. It didn’t build character….we are what we are. So God spelled everything out with straight-forward instructions (found in the whole Bible but really spelled out in Exodus and Leviticus) about what we should not do, “Don’t eat roadkill, don’t kill people, don’t steal things, don’t poop in the camp, etc. etc.” He explained the things we’d need to know to live in peace with one another and in peace with God. We’re pretty smart, right? Having it all laid out logically should be enough to keep us from messing up, right? Nope again. We couldn’t even follow fairly obvious rules like, “Don’t throw your children into fires in order to get some stupid ‘god’ you made with your own hands to do something for you…duh!”
God has also taken a very empathetic approach. He came to live among us in human form. He was born like us and lived among us and was known as Jesus. He was fully man but so, so much more. He could command the storms to stop, turn water to wine, walk on water, and heal the diseases that afflicted us. He told us how to live: “Love your neighbor / forgive one another, etc.” and -because we are so dumb sometimes – He was killed by us. Because He wasn’t merely a man, He didn’t stay dead – he rose from the grave and continued to walk the earth until He went up to heaven on His own schedule. He dealt with reality: human failings, disease, arrogance, etc. and He told us straight out that we were never going to get it right on our own. We need God’s forgiveness and we need God to change us from people who always get it wrong to people who can get it right. We just needed to come to grips with this reality and ask Him to begin the repair process. Then we need to commit to sticking with God’s work in our lives because it’s a short road back to the land of the stupid and arrogant. Let me tell you, there are some deep ruts in that well-travelled road.
This is where I fall into the plans to redeem the human situation. At times I have amazing clarity into my own condition and know that, without God’s active work in my life, I’m going to mess things up. When I remember that, it goes okay for awhile. Then I start thinking I’ve got it all figured out and – WHAM! - there I am, falling on my butt again. I use my circumstances act as an excuse for my selfishness. I know I’m precious in the sight of God and that’s fine right up until the moment I forget that you too are precious in His sight. I’m not “more precious-er” than you. It’s no wonder those looking on might want me to “drink the kool aid”. I have only excuses – no good reasons for letting others down. And I’m sorry for blowing it…well, sometimes I’m not but God is doing something in me and He makes me want to be the kind of person who at least knows enough to be sorry for messing up.
Check back in 10 years. It’ll take a miracle but please let me know if you see any progress.
Submission, personal power, and the value of a woman
There’s an article on crosswalk today that brings up some interesting points about submission and freedom. You can see the article at http://www.crosswalk.com/11610749/
Here’s the part I found very interesting:
“That quietness and gentleness our Father loves in our Lord’s mother is not a mousiness; it’s not being muzzled by her culture or certainly by any man. The quiet spirit comes from the fact that she “does not fear anything that is frightening” (1 Pet. 3:6). “ The author said of his wife “My Maria’s quietness, I have recognized in retrospect, was peace. She trusted the Lord to provide her with a husband, with a family, or with whatever else he had for her. The quietness was also submission. She was submissive to her future husband, whoever he was to be, and not to any other man. (emphasis added) She guarded her affections, her attachments, and her expectations”
The author goes on to talk about “a culture of women pictured as having value based simply on what men think of them, for their sexual attractiveness or sexual availability or their earning power or the sheer force of their wills. Even in the so-called “conservative” subculture in America, the exact same phenomenon persists in the culture warrior princesses on the talking-head argument shows on television.” And he continues, “Every day, though, my sons see a peaceful woman who submits to the Lord and to a man…but only to one man.” (emphasis added)
That’s a very interesting thought – isn’t it? Imagine living like you have intrinsic value – not relative value. Does the idea of submitting to only one man mean not having to concern yourself at all with the opinions of the other 3 billion men on the planet? Could this be divinely intended as a freedom for women? We see so much mysogyny (hatred or dislike of women) in the world and throughout history. We also see the objectification of women. Could the Scripture really be saying, “Woman – I don’t expect you to jump to every man’s expectations. Here is a clearly defined boundary to who matters and who doesn’t”? Does the very fact that the Almighty God asks women to submit themselves (choose their own actions – make their own decision) speak to the value and intelligence of a woman? After all, the Scriptures don’t tell men anywhere to make their women obey.
I have a couple of really beautiful friends who find their value and self-worth in being able to attract a man and they’ve gone through a string of really horrible boyfriends / husbands trying to feel good about themselves. Both of these women look like the kind of Barbie dolls who made a nerdy bookworm like me miserable in high school. They should be my sworn enemies and I regularly marvel at how they are both truly nice people; I’m better off by having them in my life. Any man in his right mind should be grateful to get one of these beautiful, smart, and nice women but it doesn’t seem to work that way. Somehow they keep ending up broken hearted and looking for the next guy, hoping he’ll be the one who will make them feel worthwhile.
In retrospect, it seems that I was actually better off by not having that elusive magic that makes men sit up and take notice. I don’t think I would’ve had the wisdom necessary to wield that kind of power starting at a young age. I’d like to think it would be fine for God to make me instantly gorgeous now that I’m in my forties; that I’d handle it well now but, in truth, there’s still too much of the junior high girl inside me who craves the approval of those around me. I’m probably better off as a hobbit in the Shire with a hobbit husband who fell in love with a view of me that isn’t quite so vulnerable to the ravages of time. It once seemed like the cheerleaders had all the power but maybe that attention is a blessing and a curse; like having a way-cool car that you can’t drive on a snowy day.
Maybe I’m free to hold my head up and say, “I’m good enough. I’m smart enough. And, gosh darn it, God likes me.”
What do you think?
06.29.09
We are not as strong as we think we are
This has been quite a week – senators having affairs, the deaths of several celebrities, and the John & Kate divorce. It makes me think of that Rich Mullins song that says,
“We are frail
We are fearfully and wonderfully made
Forged in the fires of human passion
Choking on the fumes of selfish rage
And with these our hells and our heavens
So few inches apart
We must be awfully small
And not as strong as we think we are”
Lord, help us remember that we don’t know everyting we think we know. Speak louder than the voice of our own rationalizations. Keep us from breaking the hearts of the ones we love. Amen.
04.10.09
Zipporah, Moses, School House Rock & Pronouns
In my last post, I mentioned that Jewish & Christian scholars have a hard time with Exodus 4:24 – 26. Part of the reason for the confusion is that the pronouns involved lend some confusion to:
- Who was circumcised? Some think it was Moses and others think it was Moses’s son.
- Who Zipporah cast the foreskin to to – was it to God, Moses, or near the son?
- Who she called the “Bridegroom of blood” – was it Moses or was it God?
I don’t know Hebrew and am not qualified to offer an educated opinion but the whole problem did remind me of my very favorite Schoolhouse Rock – the one with Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla and the benefit of pronouns, especially if you have an ardvaark, a kangaroo, and a rhinocerous. I thought I’d share it with you:
Zipporah, the Bridegroom of Blood, and What They Mean To You And Me
I was reading from the book of Exodus and ran across this strange (to me) passage:
At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met (Moses) and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched (Moses’) feet with it. Surely you are a bridgroom of blood to me”, she said. So the Lord let him alone. Exodus 4: 24 – 26.
I grew up in Sunday School and have heard of the Isrealite’s exodus from Egypt about a zillion times but, strangely, this particular account was never depicted on the flannel-graph for our enlightment and edification. Likewise, we never sang any catchy little songs with foreskin-flinging hand-motions. My mother-in-law was the Sunday School Superintendent when I was a child – maybe I should bring up this glaring omission from my religious instruction next time I see her. Maybe not. Maybe you and I should just puzzle this one through together and leave our mothers-in-law out of it.
I did a quick online search for commentaries on this passage and discovered – to my great relief – that both Jewish and Christian commentators find this passage difficult to understand. I saw some rather elaborate commentaries that seemed to find a lot of information “between the lines” but I”m not comfortable with the number of assumptions that are made to “support” some of these conclusions. For our purposes, let’s just go with what we find in the text.
Here are the somethings that seem obvious:
- God was displeased enough with Moses to kill him, if the something wasn’t corrected immediately.
- Zipporah (Moses’s wife) felt that the most reasonable course of action was to immediately circumcize her son.
- This resulted in the Lord sparing Moses’s life.
Okay – here are some of my conclusions; let me know if you think they’re out of line.
Why was this such a big deal? Rushing out to circumcise your son seems like a strange form of conflict resolution unless they (Moses & Zipporah) already knew that circumcision was required. The requirement of circumcision was already given to the Isrealites a long time before Moses arrived on the scene:
Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner – those who are not your offsprings. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” Genesis 17:9- 14
This was important because Moses was not fit to represent God to Pharoah and expect Pharoah to be responsive if Moses himself was not obedient to God’s covenant.
What did Zipporah mean when she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me”? Honestly, I have no idea. Some scholars say she was contemptuous – basically saying that the requirement of circumcision was barbaric and bloody. Other scholars say that she (who was Midianite, not Jewish) was saying that her children – though of mixed race – were a part of God’s covenant to Israel because they were circumcised. I’m not smart enough to figure this one out. I wasn’t there and don’t know what she meant.
How should we apply this:
- Sometimes God does ask us to do things that seem counter-intuitive. Some of His demands seem harsh or unreasonable. We have to make a decision about whether or not we’ll obey Him when His commands seem arbitrary or harsh. We have to figure out if He is good, and therefore worthy of our trust and our obedience even when we don’t understand. If He is not good (or not even there) – we’re really in this alone and need to plan accordingly. You’ll have to work this out with the Almighty for yourself. In my life, I’ve found Him to be good and worthy of my trust even though I don’t always see the plan in it all.
- Zipporah’s actions saved her husband’s life. As women, our actions can have a huge affect on the lives of those around us – husbands, children, friends, extended family, co-workers, etc. Don’t ever be fooled into thinking your existance is unimportant, passive, or inert! For better – or for worse – you have the power to make things happen. What will you do with the power you’ve been given?
02.28.09
Anne of Green Gables and the God who sees
I just ran across* this segment from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery:
Anne promptly departed for the sitting-room across the hall; she failed to return; after waiting ten minutes Marilla laid down her knitting and marched after her with a grim expression. She found Anne standing motionless before a picture hanging on the wall between the two windows, with her eyes astar with dreams. The white and green light strained through apple trees and clustering vines outside fell over the rapt little figure with a half-unearthly radiance.
“Anne, whatever are you thinking of?” demanded Marilla sharply.
Anne came back to earth with a start.
“That,” she said, pointing to the picture–a rather vivid chromo entitled, “Christ Blessing Little Children”–”and I was just imagining I was one of them–that I was the little girl in the blue dress, standing off by herself in the corner as if she didn’t belong to anybody, like me. She looks lonely and sad, don’t you think? I guess she hadn’t any father or mother of her own. But she wanted to be blessed, too, so she just crept shyly up on the outside of the crowd, hoping nobody would notice her–except Him. I’m sure I know just how she felt. Her heart must have beat and her hands must have got cold, like mine did when I asked you if I could stay. She was afraid He mightn’t notice her. But it’s likely He did, don’t you think? I’ve been trying to imagine it all out–her edging a little nearer all the time until she was quite close to Him; and then He would look at her and put His hand on her hair and oh, such a thrill of joy as would run over her! But I wish the artist hadn’t painted Him so sorrowful looking. All His pictures are like that, if you’ve noticed. But I don’t believe He could really have looked so sad or the children would have been afraid of Him.”
Have you ever felt like that? Just outside of things; hoping and wanting to belong but afraid that you never will? Wondering if you’re too insignificant to merit the attention of the Almighty?
I can think of a few people from the Bible who also felt that way:
Luke 19:1-10 tells about Zacchaeus who had two points against him…he was a tax collector and he was short. But he wanted to see Jesus to the point that he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree in hopes that he’d see Jesus as the crowd passed by. Not only did Zacchaeus succeed in seeing Jesus but Jesus also saw Zacchaeus. In fact, he went to Zacchaeus’s home, despite the fact that the “cool crowd” didn’t approve. The encounter changed Zacchaeus’s life but the story gives home for you and I because, at the end of the story, Jesus makes this statement, “For the Son of Man (Jesus) came to seek and to save what was lost. (you & me). Truthfully, we probably are too insignificant to merit the attention of the Almighty but He sees us and seeks us whether we deserve it or not.
There’s another story about someone just outside the crowd, hoping against hope for something from Jesus – it was a women whose health issues kept her isolated from the community for 12 years. She came up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched the edge of his cloak, saying to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed”. The Bible says that Jesus turned and saw her and she was healed. (Matthew 9:19-22, Luke 8:43-48).
One of my favorite Biblical accounts of God stepping into pain, shame, and isolation is the story of Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid to Sarai (later re-named Sarah), the wife of Abram (later re-named Abraham). Sarai could not have children so she encouraged Abram to have a child with Hagar. The text doesn’t give any indication of whether Hagar’s opinion was sought concerning this scheme. Hagar became pregnant, Sarai become incredibly jealous, and Sarai made Hagar’s life miserable. Twice Hagar ended up fleeing to the wilderness and twice she heard from God. The first time, God sent her back to Sarai even though it was going to really hard but the Lord gave her promises about the son she would bear. The Angel of the Lord told her that “the Lord has heard of your misery”. I love Genesis 16:13 that says: She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Having our needs recognized and having someone really see us, or hear us is a very basic human need. If you’re not being seen or heard by the ones around you, find strength and hope in the knowlege that the Lord sees you. Not only that, but He also has the power to do something about your situation…He can change it or He can impower you to deal with your circumstances. Either way, you’re never alone.
Free to Be Me…by Francesca Battistelli
Have you heard this song? It’s a good one for all of us gettin’ it right sometimes, blowing it other times….
02.27.09
Can this be one point on my personal mission statement?
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit
the ground each morning the devil says,
“OH CRAP, SHE’S UP”!
(Sent to me today by Cathleen…a bosom friend!)
02.23.09
Hello world!
Hey there, and welcome to my blog!
Clearly (not?) the world has been crying out for my perspective onwomen in relationship with God, men, each other, themselves, etc. etc. I am absolutely, positively, 100%-ly convinced that girls and women are precious in the sight of God. Men & boys are too – this isn’t a male bashing blog; but they can just start their own blog. This is a girl’s club! I’ll be posting my insights and even my doubts as the weeks go on. You’ll also probably fall victim to some of my random ramblings too…sorry ’bout that.
So – yea! hooray! for the blogosphere! If you want to tune in and add your two cents worth, you can.
