Flutterings...

No matter where you go...
you take yourself with you.



Respect the un-respectable
Just like you desire to be loved
Even when
your hair is sticking up &
you had garlic for dinner
the night before -



The onion has so many layers
-how does one learn to cope-
with the smell
& the tears.



Systematic theology
in a world full of mediocrity
Is like taking a pig shopping
in New York City.



Who will follow the scholar
into the halls of dusty books
When they can live life
stealing a sideways look
-at beauty
-at no cost
-without obligation
or responsibility?

Spicy Tortellini Soup

1 pkg of hot Italian sausage cut into bite size pieces & unsheathed
1 medium onion
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pat of butter
3 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 cup frozen spinach
2 boxes of chicken broth
2 pkg dried cheese filled tortellini
grated Parmesan cheese

In a 5 qt stockpot fry brown sausage in olive oil. After cooked through add butter, onion & carrots. Saute until onions are translucent. Add garlic and stir just for a moment, until you can smell it really well. Pour in 2 boxes of chicken broth and bring to a slight boil. Add spinach, return to boil. Add tortellini and allow to simmer for 30 minutes until tortellini is cooked through. Garnish with parmesan cheese & red pepper flakes (optional).

This will feed my family of 5 twice.

Heather's Potato Soup

5 pound of potatoes, cut & boiled
1 large onion diced
1 large bag of frozen corn
2 sticks of butter
8 oz sour cream
8 oz cream cheese
2 cups cheddar cheese
2 cups of milk
2 cups of heavy cream
season to taste

Saute onions in butter until soft. Add sour cream, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, milk and cream. Pour over potatoes & corn. Season to taste, cook until desired consistency.

***Option***
Omit corn. With onion brown 1 pound of bacon. Add green onions as a garnish. Then it could be loaded potato soup.

Dreamy Peanut Butter Pie

3/4 cup JIF peanut butter
3 oz cream cheese
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
12 oz whipped topping
1 9 inch chocolate cookie crumb pie crust
chocolate syrup

Mix together peanut butter, cream cheese & sugar. The stir in whipped topping. Whisk until smooth and no lumps remain.

Pour into pie cruse and refrigerate 3 hours. Drizzle with chocolate syrup for decorative garnish.

Shrimp Cavatappi Amatriciana

1 lb.box of cavatappi or spiral pasta.
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup dry white wine
2 cans (14 ounce each) diced tomatoes in tomato juice

1 pound of clean deveined shrimp
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Romano cheese

Cook cavatappi according to package directions; drain.

Saute onions, garlic, and red pepper flakes in olive oil over medium heat till onions are soft and translucent.

Add white wine and cook till nearly evaporated. Stir in tomatoes with their juice till slightly thickened (3-5 minutes). Add shrimp and cook until just pink.

Taste, and add salt and pepper as desired. Mix into cooked cavatappi. Toss with Romano.

Chicken Artichoke Bake

1/2 box of Bowties
1 chopped onion
1 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 1/4 milk
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 cups cooked chicken
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
14 oz can artichokes
1 box of frozen spinach (thawed and very well drained)
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cups soft bread crumbs
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Cook bowties & drain. In skillet cook onion in 1 tbsp butter until tender. In bowl stir together eggs, milk, seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir in chicken, cheese, artichokes, spinach, half of the parmesan cheese, pasta and onion. Put into a rectangular baking pan. Bake covered in foil 20 minutes. In bowl mix remaining parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, paprika and melted butter. Sprinkle over pasta and bake 10 more minutes or until golden.

Antipasto Rotini Salad

Salad

3 cups uncooked rotini pasta
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
4 oz thinly sliced Genoa salami, cut into strips
1 can dark red kidney beans
4 Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives

Dressing

3/4 cup Italian dressing
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 minced cloves of garlic
1 1/2 tsps course ground black pepper

Cook rotini, adding broccoli during last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain and rinse with cold water until cool. In a large bowl combine with remaining salad ingredients. Mix dressing and pour over salad. Toss until well mixed. Refrigerate 2 hours before serving.

Sanctification...and reconciliation...and joy

It is not a question of whether God is willing to sanctify me; is it my will? Am I willing to let God do in me all that has been made possible by the Atonement? Am I willing to let Jesus be made sanctification to me, and to let the life of Jesus be manifested in my mortal flesh? Beware of saying - Oh, I am longing to be sanctified. You are not, stop longing and make it a matter of transaction - "Nothing in my hands I bring." Receive Jesus Christ to be made sanctification to you in implicit faith, and the great marvel of the Atonement of Jesus will be made real in you. All that Jesus made possible is made mine by the free loving gift of God on the ground of what He performed, my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound humble holiness (there is no such thing as proud holiness), a holiness based on agonizing repentance and a sense of unspeakable shame and degradation; and also on the amazing realization that the love of God commended itself to me in that while I cared nothing about Him, He completed everything for my salvation and sanctification. No wonder Paul says nothing is "able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~Oswald Chambers

Man that guy can read my mail. If you have never done a year with "My Utmost for His Highest" I would recommend it. This morning it hit me like a ton of bricks. Agony of repentance...unspeakable shame - all replaced by His love for me. That even as we stumble through the process of reconciliation and sanctification...He is continuing to pour out His love usually faster than we are able to receive it. We cry, we hold on to the pain, the broken parts...but rarely do we reach out for the love that he purposes for us. That he wants to give us so freely. He never backs up, he never is always there...just waiting for us to realize His extravagance.

My earthly Father has to love me through his own pain. His own feable attempts at reconciliation. He can't love me, he doesn't receive the love and God and without it we are unable to love anyone else. God is love, without Him we just have a sense of responsibility for the warfare of. We just care deeply, but we can't love someone through their sins, through the hard places, unless He has filled us. It is because He first loved us that we are able to love others.

When we face trials, when more sin is revealed, when God puts His finger on the next layer and the process begins all over again, it is then that we are taught humility. That again, we needed corrected, again He wants to love us through a clean love and not through our filters. I think the lesson learned, is that He cares more about my position in Him than my circumstances. I think back to David, he consistantly fell but would fall towards God. God honored him. In 1 Kings 14 we are told by God himself that David followed God with all his heart. Even as David sinned God loved him and David allowed God to reconcile him to Himself.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation." ~2 Corinthians 5:17-19

Lord, hear my prayer this morning. In the words of King David, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Lord, I long for the joy. Lord, all I am is yours. Only you can satisfy me. I am not longer content with happy...happy is for everyone...I want joy. Overflowing out of my heart, contageously. Thank you Father, for the ministry of reconciliation. That we don't have to walk around the living dead. That in you there is eternal life, eternal love and eternal joy. Bless you...I love you. In the Name of Jesus I pray. Amen.