I interrupt my thoughts about my John Piper study to bring you some taste bud lovin' deliciousness. If you ever were a guest at Ansley & I's house there's about a 150% chance that we cooked for you. If you were ever there in the fall or wintertime, there is about a 90% chance we cooked chili with cornbread (and for awhile, the cornbread was in the shape of owls because we got a precious new baking pan and were really hip and trendy).
Well, as I've been cooking for my friends here, I've been trying to cook food that is good for groups. (That way I'm not baking 10 pieces of chicken and mashing 30 potatoes with my flimsy metal fork because I can't find a potato masher in this entire country.) So last night I went grocery shopping to hop on the chili train. So they had about 90% of what I was looking for, and the other 10% I decided that I'd improvise. I should improvise more often. It was seriously, the best chili I've ever eaten. (Not to be prideful) Here's the recipe for all you chili lovers out there!
Guateflauged Chili
*About 1 pound (maybe a little more) of hamburger meat
*2 green peppers
*3 small yellow onions
*2 cloves of natural garlic
*1 can of presoaked black beans (you can fresh soak them if you want to be really cultural)
*1 small can of corn
*1 can stewed tomatoes
*1 can diced tomatoes
*1 small can of tomato paste
*salt & pepper
So, I browned the meat covered in a few shakes of sea salt and pepper (just the meat. didn't add any extra oil)
Chopped all the vegetables into bite sized pieces and dumped all of it into the pot. Let all of the vegetables and meat simmer together on the "3" setting on my stove dial, which would be between medium and low. Let the mixture simmer for about 20-30 minutes so that all the flavor seeps out and it becomes a bit liquidy. Added a little more salt and pepper and mixed it all together. We served it with fresh tortillas from the tortilleria down the street (piping hot off the comal - can't beat it), but I'm sure it would have been just as delightful if you used cornbread or Fritos!
Aaaaand Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
{devotion}
In this 15 Day Challenge of mine, I've been studying scripture each day to follow along with the point written in the blog I'm following. My friend Emily has also embraced this challenge with me, and what a J O Y it is to confidently express our struggles and encouraging points with each other through our study each day.
Day Two~
"The promises of Christ be trusted in so fully that peace, joy, and strength fill your soul."
This day was met by particular challenges of a day of dysfunction and stressfulness. It always seems that when seeking after Him, the Lord provides us with the perfect medicine to heal our hearts. On Tuesday when doing this, I was preparing for school to start, and felt about as overwhelmed as could be. My attitude was short, my heart was full of distraction, and then I read. THEN I read these scriptures:
"He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."
{isaiah 40:29-31}
"And my God will meet all your needs according
to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."
{philippians 4:29}
*This one broke me. highlighting MY God will meet all your needs. It's said so simply. There isn't a whole backstory. If you do [this] He'll meet your needs. If you do [that] He'll meet your needs. NO. HE IS MY GOD, and daily, hourly, per minute, He will meet my needs. Because he cares for me. Because he loves me: with a love so strong and unchanging.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as
you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit."
{romans 15:13}
Day Three~ The fullness of God will overflow in daily-acts-of-love so people can see us & give glory to God.
This day [Wednesday] was the first day of school. I was c h a l l e n g e d that day, to not show anything but love all day. Not to let my frustrations and feelings get the best of me. (If you're a teacher, you know that the first day of school is joyful time, but c'mon, let's be honest, we all want to scream at the top of our lungs about 6 times throughout the day)
"It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
{1 corinthians 13:7}
"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."
{1 john 3:18}
*One of the actions that comes along with the definition of love is kindness. I read somewhere (and I can't remember where now, and I didn't write down the reference, so give me grace people and don't pop me for plagiarism), but I read that "To be kind is to be useful, serving, and gracious." And let me tell you. Think of the kindest person you know. If they don't fit that description, I don't know what does.
I asked my students what kindness was. My sweet Carmen responded with: "Para tener Dios, siempre en nuestras corazones." {To have God, always, in our hearts.} My little monkey couldn't be more right.
Day Four~
"Be a woman of the BOOK - love, study, and obey the Bible in every area. Meditation on his word be a source of hope and faith."
I've studied this topic for what seems like years. Yet, still, it inspires me every time I read it. It makes me care to superglue this giant black book to my hands, and never let it go, so that in each and every situation I can dig into it.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so
that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
{2 timothy 3:16-17}
"I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you."
{psalm 119:11}
*This takes me back to being 5 years old and riding in the backseat of my mama's forest green Chevy Suburban. We would listen [until the CASSETTE TAPE] unraveled and fell apart, to Steve Green's "Hide 'Em In Your Heart" . Here's a little clip of this song so that each of you can revel in my childhood scriptural goodness that hums along in my heart everyday.
I'm going to stop at Day Four, and let you catch up with me. I will try to post about every four days, so that I don't overwhelm you with words on a page. Take courage, find devotion in our Jesus, find devotion to His word.
{I'm actually SIX days in today, so let me tell you, the discipline to read one specific thing and meditate on it has been a true blessing to this scattered-active-I-try-to-do-everything-for-600-people-in-one-day-girl.}
Day Two~
"The promises of Christ be trusted in so fully that peace, joy, and strength fill your soul."
This day was met by particular challenges of a day of dysfunction and stressfulness. It always seems that when seeking after Him, the Lord provides us with the perfect medicine to heal our hearts. On Tuesday when doing this, I was preparing for school to start, and felt about as overwhelmed as could be. My attitude was short, my heart was full of distraction, and then I read. THEN I read these scriptures:
"He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint."
{isaiah 40:29-31}
"And my God will meet all your needs according
to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."
{philippians 4:29}
*This one broke me. highlighting MY God will meet all your needs. It's said so simply. There isn't a whole backstory. If you do [this] He'll meet your needs. If you do [that] He'll meet your needs. NO. HE IS MY GOD, and daily, hourly, per minute, He will meet my needs. Because he cares for me. Because he loves me: with a love so strong and unchanging.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as
you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope
by the power of the Holy Spirit."
{romans 15:13}
Day Three~ The fullness of God will overflow in daily-acts-of-love so people can see us & give glory to God.
This day [Wednesday] was the first day of school. I was c h a l l e n g e d that day, to not show anything but love all day. Not to let my frustrations and feelings get the best of me. (If you're a teacher, you know that the first day of school is joyful time, but c'mon, let's be honest, we all want to scream at the top of our lungs about 6 times throughout the day)
"It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
{1 corinthians 13:7}
"Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."
{1 john 3:18}
*One of the actions that comes along with the definition of love is kindness. I read somewhere (and I can't remember where now, and I didn't write down the reference, so give me grace people and don't pop me for plagiarism), but I read that "To be kind is to be useful, serving, and gracious." And let me tell you. Think of the kindest person you know. If they don't fit that description, I don't know what does.
I asked my students what kindness was. My sweet Carmen responded with: "Para tener Dios, siempre en nuestras corazones." {To have God, always, in our hearts.} My little monkey couldn't be more right.
Day Four~
"Be a woman of the BOOK - love, study, and obey the Bible in every area. Meditation on his word be a source of hope and faith."
I've studied this topic for what seems like years. Yet, still, it inspires me every time I read it. It makes me care to superglue this giant black book to my hands, and never let it go, so that in each and every situation I can dig into it.
"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so
that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
{2 timothy 3:16-17}
"I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you."
{psalm 119:11}
*This takes me back to being 5 years old and riding in the backseat of my mama's forest green Chevy Suburban. We would listen [until the CASSETTE TAPE] unraveled and fell apart, to Steve Green's "Hide 'Em In Your Heart" . Here's a little clip of this song so that each of you can revel in my childhood scriptural goodness that hums along in my heart everyday.
I'm going to stop at Day Four, and let you catch up with me. I will try to post about every four days, so that I don't overwhelm you with words on a page. Take courage, find devotion in our Jesus, find devotion to His word.
{I'm actually SIX days in today, so let me tell you, the discipline to read one specific thing and meditate on it has been a true blessing to this scattered-active-I-try-to-do-everything-for-600-people-in-one-day-girl.}
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Fifteen Day {and everyday after that} Challenge
So recently I came across an article that one of my friends had posted on Facebook. Typically, everyday I read some kind of excerpt from a blog, mostly John Piper's "Desiring God" {desiringgod.org}. On Monday, I hadn't read for that day, and was having an exceptionally horrific type of day, with everything going wrong that could possibly go wrong. After opening the page with the blog, I left it there for about 8 hours while I worked on other things (Lesson Plans because SCHOOL STARTS TOMORROW AND I'M NOT PREPARED) One of my friends later that afternoon asked me if I'd happened to read the blog that day. I said, "Well, it's been opened, but not really read. I need to do that. I really need to do that." (Obviously just by saying that I was convincing myself that I'd be disciplined.)
I went home, chopped vegetables for supper, downloaded the most recent episode of The Bachelor (because let's be honest, who DOESN'T want to watch Juan Pablo once a week?!), swept my apartment, made the beds, cloroxed the bathroom, and THEN (priorities people)sat down for a few minutes on my couch. I pulled up my internet with every intention of hopping on Facebook & Twitter to see what people were up to, when that blog slid right up from the bottom right hand corner of my screen.
So, I thought to myself "OH YEAH! This is a great time to squeeze in some time with my Jesus." (Squeeze in, THAT is the mentality that should be thrown out the window as soon as I wake up)
So, I read through the article which outlines 15 points of a Christ-like woman. I fully expected to be reading something about a "Proverbs 31 Woman". Which is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but it's kind of the go-to when discipling women. But THIS, written by John Piper in 1995, when I was a mere 6 years old, THIS gave me such perspective. Each point is written much like a to-do list for women, and consistently pumps the glory and delight of being a woman in love. A woman in love, so deeply, and rooted in the love and delight of Christ, that she is unshakable.
In this, I've decided to study each of the points. One a day, and research some scripture to tag onto them. So, for me, it's a 15 Day Challenge, that will last each and every day of my life, as I meditate on these truths of being a woman reaching for the Lord and saturated in each and every word He gives us.
Here's Day One:
1.That all of your life—in whatever calling—be devoted to the glory of God.
"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. ALWAYS!" {romans 11:36}
"It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." {revelation 21:11}
I went home, chopped vegetables for supper, downloaded the most recent episode of The Bachelor (because let's be honest, who DOESN'T want to watch Juan Pablo once a week?!), swept my apartment, made the beds, cloroxed the bathroom, and THEN (priorities people)sat down for a few minutes on my couch. I pulled up my internet with every intention of hopping on Facebook & Twitter to see what people were up to, when that blog slid right up from the bottom right hand corner of my screen.
So, I thought to myself "OH YEAH! This is a great time to squeeze in some time with my Jesus." (Squeeze in, THAT is the mentality that should be thrown out the window as soon as I wake up)
So, I read through the article which outlines 15 points of a Christ-like woman. I fully expected to be reading something about a "Proverbs 31 Woman". Which is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but it's kind of the go-to when discipling women. But THIS, written by John Piper in 1995, when I was a mere 6 years old, THIS gave me such perspective. Each point is written much like a to-do list for women, and consistently pumps the glory and delight of being a woman in love. A woman in love, so deeply, and rooted in the love and delight of Christ, that she is unshakable.
In this, I've decided to study each of the points. One a day, and research some scripture to tag onto them. So, for me, it's a 15 Day Challenge, that will last each and every day of my life, as I meditate on these truths of being a woman reaching for the Lord and saturated in each and every word He gives us.
Here's Day One:
1.That all of your life—in whatever calling—be devoted to the glory of God.
"For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. ALWAYS!" {romans 11:36}
"It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal." {revelation 21:11}
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