Monday, June 28, 2010

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

At church Saturday night one of our Pastor's, Pastor Kremer, was preaching on 1 Peter 2:9-17. He was talking about a Christians role in the world of politics. He said lots of things that got me thinking, but one in particular really has stood out to me. After reading verses 13 & 14, which say;

"13. Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,
14. or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right." 1 Peter 2:13-14 (NAS)

Pastor Kremer began to say how he has heard people saying "I can respect the office of the President, but I can't respect the man." and how that is disrespect all the same. He then said that we are to respect all mankind as being created in the image of God Himself. That we don't have a choice to not respect them because of this or that.

Upon thinking about that and then reading verse 17;

"17. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king."
1 Peter 2:17 (NAS)

I began to think, "Wow, I know for certain I have failed in this area." I know I have not always "honored the king" (in our case the President). Because when you honor someone you don't speak slander against them and I know at times I have spoken quite ill of President Obama.

I've come to realize that though I may not agree with the opinion of some of those in authority over me I'm still called to respect them. Respect them as God's craftsmanship, respect them as being placed there in that position by God Himself, respect them as the Bible tells me to.

Peter was talking to Jews in Rome during the reign of Nero. Nero was a horrible dictator who persecuted the early church. If Peter can tell them that they need to respect and honor this man who was killing and tormenting them, because it's what God has called them to do, then who am I to say I can't respect a man who just holds a differing opinion to mine.

Here is a link to our churches site that has the sermon online to listen to. The sermon is called "Faithful Presence In A Politically Charged World" it's from June 27, 2010 by Mark Kremer. Sermon

Saturday, June 26, 2010

The Perks of Summer

I'm so happy Nick has the luxury of having only half days on Fridays. Since I don't normally work Friday afternoons it means we get to have a long weekend every weekend his doesn't have Air National Guard Drill. If I didn't work Saturday mornings it would almost make it feel like a holiday weekend.

Yesterday for the 2nd Friday in a row Nick and I headed to the lake around lunch time to enjoy the day. It's was nice. 93 degrees and sunny, only draw back was there was lots of wind.

The wind made it interesting to try to float on our rafts. We had to drag our rafts all the way to one end of the swimming area. Then swim them out to the buoys and begin our leisurely but quick float to the other end of the swimming area. That float was also not so smooth, because the water was kind of choppy from the wind.

All in all though it was a good time. And always bring food out to the lake always helps. Yesterday we had brought sandwiches, sun chips (garden salsa flavor, which is our favorite!), grapes and animal cookies. I couldn't help but get the animal cookies, they were on sale and the same kind my mom bought me when I was a little girl.


We didn't stay out at the lake too long. I felt like I was getting sunburned. But I had a great time. Maybe we'll go out there again with my niece that we're babysitting next weekend. That'd be fun!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Yum!

So last night I made the best dessert ever! It's called Snickerdoodle Cake. I never knew there was such a thing. I love snickerdoodle cookies and the cake tastes just like them, but more moist.

I don't make dessert often. I try to watch what I eat so I don't like there to be sweets or junk food in the house. But after I found the recipe I had to give it a try right away.

I'll share the recipe here. I'm a member of allrecipes.com. They have both free and paid memberships. I'm just a free member. I find recipes for dinner on there all the time. It's great!

So here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 2 c. white sugar
- 1/2 c. shortening
- 2 eggs
- 1 t. vanilla
- 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1 t. cinnamon
- 1 c. milk
Topping:
- 4 T. white sugar
- 4 T. brown sugar
- 1 t. cinnamon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 13x9 in. pan.
2. In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt and one teaspoon cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl cream together 2 cups sugar and shortening until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately add milk and flour mixture in three stages each, mixing well after each addition.
4. In a small bowl mix together 4 tablespoons white sugar, brown sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon.
5. Pour half of the batter in you pan, sprinkle on half the topping, pour the rest of the batter into the pan, top with the remaining topping.
6. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.


I used my mixer the whole time and it worked perfectly. It's a very easy cake to just throw together and the ingredient will just be in your pantry and fridge anytime. I think this recipe is defiantly worth a try.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Let's Give This A Go

I'm fairly new to the whole blogging thing. Well kinda...not really. I've tried it a couple of times in the past only to either get bored of it after awhile or to just forget about it entirely after the first post. I'm hoping this time could be different and I could keep it up. We'll see I guess.

I guess I should say a bit about myself (though I don't know who will be reading this but me) to start. Well I've been married now for a little over a year. Our wedding date was May 16th, 2009.


It was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. We got married in a same bed & breakfast with only our closest friends and family there. (About 50 in all) I actually wanted to elope, but my husband didn't think his family would be all too pleased. So we settled on a very small intimate wedding.

Everyday I thank God for bringing my husband into my life. I've changed immensely since meeting him and I've seen an enormous change in him as well. The biggest of which being his becoming a believer. We haven't known each other for all that long. Only 2 years in August, but for some reason with Nick it doesn't seem to matter. I feel we are the true definition of soul mates.

My life is fairly ordinary. I work 3 days a week (one of which being a 12 hour day on Wednesdays), I take care of our house and I take care of the cats. (We have three). My goal for my life is to be a stay at home mom/homemaker. Hopefully sooner rather than later that will happen.

The goal of this blog for me is to just document my feelings, thoughts and happenings of life. It's called Preparing for Eternity, because for me that's what I'm living for here on earth. I'm striving to live my life the way God intends me to, knowing that my life belongs to him.

Even if no one reads this but me, I feel like this is just a good outlet for all the thoughts that rush in and out of my head everyday. Some of which I'll want to remember, but without writing them down I'll forget. I've never been much for journaling so I'm hoping blogging will be a better option. We'll see I guess.