Breaking the Moses Habit, Pt. 1

This is the first part of an essay I am in the process of writing. It began five years ago as a devotional for my high school youth group. Since then, I have put a lot of thought and prayer into this passage. Although I have not finished it yet, and have no idea how long it may eventually end up, I hope you'll follow along and add your thoughts on this topic.

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Breaking the Moses Habit

Stop for a minute and think about Moses. What do you know about him? The plagues, leading the people through the desert to the Promised Land, parting the sea, the Ten Commandments, and of course – all those laws! But before the Sunday School Moses, the popular Moses, there was an entirely different man.

I love the story of the early Moses. I see so much of myself in him. True, I have never killed a man (Exodus 2:12), but I have done more than my share of unthinking, foolish actions. And like Moses, my desire is to turn and flee. Moses fled to Midian, far away from his home in Egypt, where he joined a group of shepherds. He made himself comfortable. He took a wife, and had some kids, and (at least in my imagination) set his mind to forgetting as much about Egypt as humanly possible.

But God had other plans for Moses. He always has. Remember the basket in the water? From the very beginning, God’s hand ensured that Moses even made it to that fateful day out in the desert. The scene takes place in front of a miraculous sign: a burning bush. On one side, we see a normal, comfortable, graying and balding middle aged man. On the other, the Master and Creator of the Universe:

There an angel of the Lord appeared to [Moses] in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” Exodus 3:2-4

The following conversation stirs my heart. Our God knows the pain His loved ones have suffered at the hands of their Egyptian masters. He wants to heal them. He cares. He has a plan! But… oh Moses! When faced with his life’s mission, he refuses. Not just once, but fully five times does he present excuse and fears as to why he can not fulfill the role that the Lord has shaped for him.

The first time I read this – REALLY read it – my heart broke. For Moses, yes, but even more so for myself. I have heard each of his five refusals fly from my mouth on many occasions. When presented with an opportunity to serve the Lord and his people, I like Moses hesitate. See, although I am not a balding middle age man several centuries before Christ, I, too, am comfortable. I let my comfort and fears lead me to reject God’s will. Moses’ five objections are familiar, and represent the broad categories of excuses that we each fall into. They are:

1. Who am I?
2. Who are you, God?
3. What if they think I am crazy?
4. I do not have the skills.
5. Please! Send someone else!

I find myself returning to this passage repeatedly. Studying the conversation between Moses and God has helped me to understand myself better. More than that, seeing how God responds to each of Moses’ objections shines a light on His holy character. And since we have been promised that, “I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6), I can safely believe that God’s responses to my objections will be similar to those of Moses. This passage can help us to understand and overcome our excuses. Then, we can be free to pursue the challenges the Lord has planned for us.

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The first section, "Who am I?" is almost finished. I hope to post that in a day or two, followed by each of the other four excuses. I pray that this study will help you at least a fraction of as much as it has helped me!

Dehydrated Goodness

First off, I want to say thank you to all of you for your sweet comments on my last post. It's so nice to reminisce on weddings every now and again!

I've used my dehydrator 3 times now! The first time I already wrote about. Next, I made zucchini chips. Although they're a little bitter (I've never been a huge zucchini fan), they're so tasty and easy to snack. This only a fraction of what I originally made, since more disappear every time we walk into the kitchen. What a way to add veggies -- another thing I'm bad about!

The small jar with the black lid is celery. With student teaching this semester, I'm planning a bunch of homemade soup mixes to be ready in the cabinet for when I walk in from school. This is five stalks of celery; most of my recipes call for one, so this should make about 5 mixes. I was **shocked** at how much the celery shrank. I guess it really is mostly water after all.

The red-lid is 6 green peppers. Organizing Mommy -- I'm glad you laughed about wasting 1/2 a pepper. I realize it's not a big deal, I laugh at myself all the time, but it makes me feel better this way that I won't be wasting. Does this make me frugal or a fanatic? (LOL)

Finally, carrots. I love carrots in all shapes and forms. These will be chopped a little smaller to go into the same soup mixes as the celery. I love being able to make my own convenience food.

Oh, and as an aside, the cake in the back is our anniversary cake. Funny story. When we got home from the wedding, we found a cake about the same size as the one shown here. Somehow, with the exhaustion of moving and marriage, it didn't even sink in that that was the top layer we were supposed to freeze for a year! We ate the whole thing in a week. I didn't realize what we had done until, oh, 2 days before our anniversary. My mom found humor in our situation and didn't want us to be cakeless, so she took the original photographs and re-made us a top layer. French vanilla cake with nutella (hazelnut) spread in between the layers. And, if I may brag on my mom a tiny bit, her version actually looked much prettier and more like what we wanted than the baker's. I'm so proud of her and her cake baking hobby.

My husband's preoccupied with martial arts belt testing all weekend, so I intend on writing several more posts between now and Sunday. One may even be intelligent!

Time Flies... and a present!

Sorry I've not been around all week; it's been hectic. Part of the busyness -- and a huge helping of joy -- is that my dear husband and I celebrated our very first anniversary last Sunday, August 2nd. Some days I can't believe it's been an entire year. And others, it feels like forever!

We had a very plain, very beautiful wedding at the church I grew up in. We wanted to keep it simple so we could invite everyone we knew. And, the church is pretty on it's own. As you can see, we added essentially nothing in terms of decoration.

Then, we just had cake and punch.. and a tiny bit of dancing... in the fellowship hall downstairs.

But enough about last year! Since money is tight this year, my anniversary gift had to be practical. It had to be something that I could use, and wanted, and would help improve our life for more than just a day. So I got something I've been pining over for several months now: a food dehydrator.

It's nothing fancy, a Nesco Snackmaster with four trays. But, it's quiet and very fast. The first night I had it I wanted to use it right away, but I hadn't been to the store to buy anything specific to dry. I wandered through the house and came up with some fresh mint from the garden, a big can of pineapple, and some leftover sausages from dinner (they had spinach and all sorts of loveliness in them). I flipped the machine on right before bedtime and got up in the morning to perfectly preserved food! Shaune took the sausage-jerky for lunch and we've been snacking on the pineapple all week. The mint's been added to teas every morning.

Today I finally got to the grocery store, so I've got tons of in-season produce to work with tonight. I'm making carrot and zuccini chips for snacking (tossed with a tiny bit of olive oil and salt). I'm also drying several green peppers. Many of my recipes call for a half pepper or less. I never get around to using the second half. Hopefully, drying will help cut down on our waste.

I'm so excited! LOL. I'm going to my father-in-law's garden some day this week to collect tomatoes and other produce he wants me to dry for him. This is an excellent new hobby.

New Blog

My husband and I have started a new blog together, The Preston Persuasion, as a family blog. The primary purpose is to write about the exciting adventures God is calling us to persue -- such as a missions trip in January that will take us to Africa! If you're interested, hop on over and check it out. I'm still working on the layout and everything, it is definately a work in progress.

Thanks!

Our Daily Bread

One of the hardest adjustments I’ve had to being married is only cooking for two people. At home, I would cook for 5 – myself, my parents, my brother and sister. In college, I would cook for a bare minimum of 3, but we had so many friends in and out of our apartment that left-overs never lasted more than a couple hours. If I didn’t feel up to cooking, someone else would step in, and if they didn’t, the local pizza place offered $5 pizzas ready when you walked in to pick it up. No planning was required.

Well, life isn’t like that anymore. I’ve had to adjust to cooking for two; one of whom (myself) has never liked left-overs and refuses to eat them if it can be avoided. Shaune’s a good sport and usually takes last night’s dinner for lunch to the office, but we still seem to have more food than we can handle. I’ve tried halving recipes or freezing some for later, various things that all seem to work at least sometimes. But one of the things I’ve practically given up on is fresh, hot, wonderful, homemade bread.

Until now!

Last weekend I was perusing my various cookbooks for ideas and came across one for “Refrigerator Bread.” It is dough that you can mix up and leave in the fridge until you need it. In fact, it has to rise for at least 24 hours. So, I made up a batch on Sunday, then packed it into four separate containers. Each has enough dough for 6-8 rolls. Monday night I pulled out the first container – we had friends coming over for dinner and hot rolls were on the menu. Although the dough was very sticky, they turned out PERFECT! I gave one of the packs to our friends who came over. We cooked up some tonight to use as hamburger buns. We’ve got one left for fresh bread later in the week.

I think I’ve finally come up with a system for our small, bread-loving family. I can have fresh bread in less than an hour – ½ to rise, ½ to cook. I can satisfy my carb-tooth whenever I want. I think I’ll be making a batch of dough most weekends from here on out!

I wanted to share the recipe if anyone’s interested:

• 3/4 c hot water
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tbsp salt (I used much less without any ill effects)
• 1/4 c shortening (I used margarine)

Combine so sugar and shortening can melt. Let cool til lukewarm then add:

• 1 c warm water
• 2 packs Active Dry Yeast (I buy yeast by the pound and used about 1 tbsp)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 5 1/4 c flour, give or take

Beat until smooth. Dough remains soft and sticky. Place into greased bowl and cover with waxed paper/plastic wrap/lid. Store in refrigerator until doubled, or until needed up to 1 week. To bake, shape as desired. Allow to rise until doubled and bake at 375 until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Makes about 32 rolls.

It's Only Hair

Today we made one more step towards independence -- I'm excited! It's a tiny step in the grand scheme of life, but may be a big one in the long run.

I woke up this morning and realized that my husband's hair is absolutely shabby. It was time for a haircut. Shaune refuses (with my complete understanding) to not go to a Great-Clips type place or the beauty school... only an authentic barber shop will do. Unfortunately, all the local barber shops charge between $14 and $18 a cut before tip. That doesn't fit into our budget the every 3 weeks or so that he needs it. Usually we stretch it to 5 or 6 weeks, but the trade off is dramatic (he looks much older when it's long).

I decided to take the somewhat scary step of taking responsibility for my husband's hair. I found a well-rated hair cutting kit for the same price as one haircut and gave it a whirl.

Although I probably need some more practice (and confidence), it turned out very well. Now, I have the freedom to trim him as often as he needs, without worrying about money or the barber shop's schedule. It's a small step, but a rewarding one.

And, if I mess up, it's only hair. It'll grow back next week!

An Acceptable Offering

I was reading a passage yesterday in my Bible that really struck my heart deeply. It led me to seek a clearer understanding of sacrifice, of what we should offer to God. I wanted to share it here. The background of the passage is that King David sinned by taking a census of the people during peacetime, so God punished Israel by sending a plague. The whole story can be found in 2 Samuel 24.

18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" "To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped." 22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the LORD your God accept you." 24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

So often we give to the Lord out of our excess. We take care of our own needs and comforts first before seeing what we can spare for Christ. We pay the bills and write a check to the church for a reasonable amount of what's left... maybe $10 this month? Maybe $50? Maybe nothing? It depends on what's left over after everything else. This "me first" attitude is pervasive in our culture -- and persuasive, too.

It's also been a long problem.

All the way back in Genesis, Cain and Able make offerings to God (see the story in Genesis 4). One, Able, offers the choice piece of fat from his prized lambs -- the firstborn of his flock. His offering is accepted by God with pleasure. The other, Cain, brings "some" of the fruits of the soil. His offering is rejected. Now, I've never been to seminary or read a stack of commentaries, but I believe I can figure out why Cain's gift didn't make the cut. He responds by becoming "very angry, and his face was downcast" (v. 5). His attitude wasn't right; his heart wasn't in the gift. I always picture Cain as contemplating, "Now, if I do this for God, he'll do xxxx for me." His sacrifice didn't cost where it counts -- in the heart.

Selfish "gifts" were a problem in the New Testament, too. Ananias and his wife Saphirra try to lie about how much money they made for selling a piece of land so they could secretly withhold money for themselves (Acts 5). The Apostle Peter responds:

3Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."

Once again, it's a heart problem. I don't see that the actual money is the problem. Rather, they make a show of giving a gift to the growing church while lying. They were not FORCED to sell the land. Again, I'm not a bible scholar, but I truly believe that if they had spoken truthfully that they wanted to keep some of the money for themselves, everything would have been fine. Because of their lies, they sacrifice their lives.

Through my study of these three passages, I believe that an acceptable offering needs three elements:

1. To be done in the right attitude -- praise and thankfulness (Genesis)
2. To be a true gift, not hiding an act of selfishness (Acts)
3. To truly be a sacrifice -- to cost something meaningful (2 Samuel)

I also firmly believe that, although these passages all deal with material wealth, the ideas about offering can and should be extended to all things we give to God, such as our time. We can't buy God's favor and we can't trick Him. Rather, we should pour our hearts out to Him and offer our best -- the first of our money, the freshest of our time, all of our worship. I don't usually use The Message Bible paraphrase, but I love the way it states 2 Samuel 24:24 --

I'm not going to offer God, my God, sacrifices that are no sacrifice.

Honest Scrap Award

Gillian who writes over at Delighting in Pure Song gave me this award, and I'm thrilled! Here it goes:





The Rules:


* Thank the person who gave you the award


* Post 10 honest facts about yourself


* Pass the award on to 7 others - I truly don't have 7 blogs I read that I can tag, so we'll see how many I can get...





1. My first anniversary is two weeks away, on August 2nd! I can't believe it's been a year already. It feels like a lifetime. Everything about marriage has changed me and made me a better person. I have no doubt in my mind that God designed this man to be my perfect match.



2. When I was 17, I nearly died in a white-water rafting accident. It was the most profound moment in my life. Two boats went over my head before I passed out and saw the Lord. I woke up with a rope over my shoulder, two paddles clutched in my hand, and singing "God of Wonders." I gave my heart to Christ the second they pulled me out of the river and have never looked back since.



3. I love to start projects. I'm horrible about finishing them. That's why in the house right now there's two quilt tops (with backing fabric stacked near them), two blouses that need hemmed, a nearly-done dress that needs some design tweaking, and countless stacks of magazine rip-outs and patterns (some with designated fabric already purchased and prewashed). This is a weakness I hope to cure... someday.



4. I love historical fashions. My Senior prom dress was a Regency-inspired gown that I spent months researching and designing. I get such a kick out of studying books of fashion plates and drafting up patterns to make the design elements work. I wish I had more chances to wear the dresses, though.



5. I am currently enrolled in my 3rd college. Technically 4th, if you count the dual-enrollment courses I took during high school. Every time I get comfortable, it seems that God changes the plan. I'm only one semester from graduation, though, so hopefully this is the last (at least until I pursue post-grad work). I was originally Business / French, then secondary English Education, and now, finally, Elementary Education. I'm student teaching at the most innovative, child-centered school in the region starting in August. I'm so excited!



6. I am spoiled rotten when it comes to sewing, because I grew up in a sewing store. It was always my mother's dream to further the arts of sewing and English smocking, so when I was eleven my parents opened a machine dealership. Although I was 18 before I owned my own sewing machine, I got used to picking any floor model I wanted to use for a project (and I ALWAYS picked the $4,000 top-of-the-line). I also got very used to having free thread lying around. The first time I had to buy thread I almost cried. I've gotten over that, though, and gotten much more thrifty in my sewing habits.



7. If I had a choice, I would curl up with a novel before doing almost anything else. I've read thousands of books. I learned how to read long before kindergarten and have never slowed down. My husband and I downloaded a list from a college that uses a "Great Books" curriculum and are starting from the beginning to read every last one of the works together. I have always desired a classical education. See the program for yourself here.



8. We are thinking very seriously about homeschooling our children. This seems like a huge break for someone who attended school from 3 years old to the present and has almost completed a degree in education, but the more I've been in school the less I believe it is the best place for our children (at least in our area -- yours may be different). Besides, once I have my teaching licence... who can object?



9. (Warning, this is completely silly) Even at 22 years old and married for a year, I still sleep with a stuffed animal. Daddy gave it to me the day I was born. Why break tradition?


10. I believe in miracles. I've been saved from death, watched others be cured of incurable cancer, and seen way too many "coincidences" to believe in coincidence. Every day miracles occur on a regular basis. You just have to be willing to see them for what they are.

Most of the few blogs I read have already been tagged. I've not spread my wings too far into blog world at this point... but I can tag one!

1. My Song of Joy

Homemade Cake

This may sound lame to many of you who've been homemakers for a lot longer than I have... but last night I made my first cake that didn't come out of a box! I even made the icing. I just had to share. I don't think I'll ever go back to boxed, this was so easy and tasted so good.

The recipe came out of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook from 1955. I had all the ingredients on hand, which is part of why this recipe won out over other options. The cake is a basic recipe. The icing is butter cream flavored with creme de menthe candy oil I had in the pantry from Christmas treats. The mint leaves decorating it are from my very own, rapidly spreading spearmint bush.

Simplicity 1-Egg Cake

• 1 1/4 c flour
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 c shortening (next time I think I'll use butter for more flavor)
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg

Heat oven to 375. Grease a 8" cake pan. Sift together all dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Add mild and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Crack in egg and beat at least 2 minutes. Turn into pan and bake 25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.

Butter Cream Frosting

• 1/3 c butter, margarine, or shortening
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 3 c powdered sugar
• 1/4 c milk
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla -- I replaced this with a few drops of mint to taste

Cream ingredients until fluffy. Spread and serve.

PS I posted about my new skirt, but it is out of order since I started drafting it Friday. See below 2 posts!

Saying "Yes"

I've been feeling convicted by all the wonderful posts on marriage lately throughout the blogs I read. I spent a bit of time on Friday thinking, and I realized that so often when my husband asks me to do something, I say "no." It isn't typically big things... I just already have a plan I'd like to fulfill and would rather stick to it than deviate. So this weekend, I decided to commit myself to saying "yes" to my husband for 3 days to see what happened.

On Friday evening, I intended to stay home and sew. I'm working on 2 dresses and a skirt that I'd really like to get done as soon as possible. I spent most of the day Friday drafting the patterns and started cutting fabric. Well, when my dear husband came home, he informed me that his best friend would be joining him at Martial Arts class that evening and the friend's wife had invited me over to catch up while the boys were playing. I REALLY wanted to sew, but remembering my commitment, I agreed. It turned into a great evening to reconnect to dear friends that I've been pulling back from over the past few weeks. We had good conversations while cooking and playing together, strenghtening our relationships as well as pointing towards Christ (they're fellow Christians). It was such a blessing, even though it wasn't what I had planned. Saying "yes" to Shaune provided healing that my heart needed.

Saturday I got several hours of sewing time. But, right when I got to the finishing touches on my skirt (stitching the lining in place then the hem), Shaune asked me if I'd like to go for a drive with him to return a movie. By saying yes to that errand, we ended up on the best date we've had in months. We saw that two movies we were both interested in were playing at the drive-in theater. Now, we very, very rarely go to movies. I don't believe in spending so much each for an uncomfortable seat in a sticky-floored theater. I'd rather wait for it to hit the RedBox where I can rent it for $1 and watch it at home. But, Shaune loves going to movies, so when he asked I agreed.

Once again, saying "yes" turned into such a blessing. Our outting was a chance for us to reconnect and laugh together again, as well as talk about some of the multitude of things we've been through in the past few weeks. It definately strengthened our marriage. That special time spent together helped remind me just who my husband is and why I love him as much as I do. And it all started just by saying "yes" to a breif errand.

In all aspects of life, it becomes easy to fall into a routine. It is easy to stay where we are comfortable and do the things that we have planned to do. In faith and in marriage, we so often do what we've always done. This weekend has shown me how powerful simply opening yourself up to an interruption can be. Twice I said "yes" even though it disrupted my plans. And twice, that "yes" turned into an opportunity for healing in some very important relationships in my life. I feel stronger because of everything that happened this weekend.

Sometimes, the thing you need the most is the thing you expect the least.