evangelism

A Peek Inside the Parsonage

RefreshHer3 Comments

Yesterday I wrote these words in my praise journal:


Home, sweet home. I loved getting settled back in yesterday; unpacking, straightening, cleaning, nesting. I love my home; this place that Dale and I share together. It is a safe haven from the world and we love being here together.

After just returning from a trip by myself to Halifax, Nova Scotia, it may sound funny when I tell you this, but I am very much a home body.  However, I never want to get so comfortable here that I cannot pry myself away and go and serve my God.  I want my life to count for Christ, and that will require ministry outside these parsonage doors. 
 
It would be very easy for me to nestle into my  home and busy myself every day doing what I wrote in my journal…and loving every minute of it.  But there’s a world out there that needs the Gospel.  There are people – Christians and non-Christians alike that I could serve.  That will not happen if I stay comfortable.  So, this past weekend I packed my suitcase and headed to Halifax, where I had the rich privilege of speaking to a group of women who gathered for a ladies’ retreat.  First however, came the trip that would take me to the camp…
 
We rose at 2:00 am so that we could make the hour trip to the airport and get there an hour before my flight left Asheville at 5:30.  God’s grace was evident even in this, giving us strength to not only rise so early, but to also feel good while doing it!  My first flight was a quick one that took me to Charlotte, my favorite airport.  After a relatively short layover I headed to Newark Airport.  All I can say is, “Wow.”  I felt like Dorothy on Wizard of Oz – “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore!”  It is a huge airport!  People, ground trams and air buses were everywhere.  The Lord is always my traveling companion.  I am so aware of His presence, guiding me, comforting me, and getting me from Point A to Point B.  I found my next gate and seated myself, armed with reading material to occupy myself until my next flight left. 

As I was seated on an aisle, I was distracted from my reading with the people who were passing or waiting on their flights.  My heart broke with a truth that was lived out in front of me –the people of today are absolutely consumed with this world and have no heart for God.   I don’t want to sound like Elijah who thought that no one but him was serving God, but all I observed were people absorbed with everything this world has to offer. 

I watched one young family with two children come to be seated at the gate.  The father got on his cell phone to (loudly) call his buddy, who was obviously taking care of their dog, as well as his business.  Cursing words and ugly statements came from his mouth.  His two sons were treated, I’m sure, with far less respect and love than the dog he left in the care of his friend.  A group of young people had joined me on the air bus earlier when I was making my way to my terminal.  Their words and actions were that of people who had been blinded by the god of this world.  They are caught up in the snares, and cares of this world’s system.  Others rushed past my seat, headsets firmly in place, or cell phones buzzing and ringing, calling for their attention, and adding to the “noise in their soul.” 

I’m not suggesting that there’s anything wrong with devices such as I’ve mentioned, but when they become a means, not of communication, but of distraction, it takes our hearts away from the God who loves us and desires to have a relationship with us.   I sat and wiped away the tears that came to my eyes as I watched scores of people pass, who needed the Light of the World in their dark hearts. 

God did give me some opportunities to share that Light with some, and I thank Him, but there are so many that are unreached, and I’m afraid I’ve been so guilty of being too comfortable to reach out and give them hope for their darkness. 

I love my parsonage home, but I pray He never lets me forget the faces of those that passed me that need to hear the Gospel.  Their hearing will only come by me getting out of my comfortable place and stepping into the world where they are.  They aren’t just in big cities at busy airports  – they are in the houses across the street, they shop at my grocery store and I meet them in the quiet library.  One is seated in the doctor’s office where I wait and another stands behind the teller window at our bank.   I must step out of my “Home sweet home” and minister to the “World, lost world.”

For whom are you burdened?  Are you willing to get a little uncomfortable and reach out to the lost that are around you?  May we be willing to reach outside our own door and rescue the perishing.

From my parsonage window,

main dish

Finally…What’s Been Cookin’ in the Parsonage

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Okay, I’m feeling back to myself a good bit now!  It required two naps yesterday, however!  I think that means I’m getting old! 

I can’t wait to share with you all about my trip to Nova Scotia.  That will come in pieces this week, but let me just say, my heart is overflowing with joy from the things the Lord taught me, the blessings He gave me, and the people He allowed me to meet.  Speaking of which, I’d like to say hello to my new friends in Nova Scotia. None of you will be forgotten!  What a blessing you were to me!

My poor little kitchen was cold and unused this weekend in my absence.  How about yours?  Has it been smelling wonderful while you’ve been stirring up some good recipes? Let me share a super simple recipe with you that I’ve been making for years.  I hadn’t made it in a long time, but when Alli came home from college recently this is what she requested.  I’d forgotten how good these little gems really are.

Barbecue Cups

These are fast and super simple to make and kids love them (big kids too!).  You will need:

1 pound  hamburger
Barbecue Sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese
1 Can of 10 biscuits – I like to use a nice buttermilk or butter biscuit that will stretch into the muffin cup.  The cheaper biscuits tend to shrink up.

Brown meat; drain fat.  Add about 1/2 – 3/4 cup barbecue sauce to meat and stir to combine.  Place biscuits in muffin tin.  Make a well in each biscuit to hold meat mixture.  Spoon meat into biscuit.

Bake according to instructions on biscuit package. Remove when browned.   Sprinkle tops with cheese.

Does your family have a favorite that they often request?  Is it a dessert?  Main dish?  Salad?  Tell us about it!

From my parsonage kitchen,

Refreshment

Freshen Up Friday

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Yesterday we talked about being hospitable.  Why not look today for a way to refresh someone else?  Buy a small gift (a book, flowers, CD or gift card), make a batch of cookies, or stop by the bakery and grab a loaf of yummy bread and pop in and pay someone a visit and present your gift. 

If someone stopped in at your door, wouldn’t that refresh you?  In refreshing others, you will yourself be refreshed!

With love,

hospitality

Hospitality – Who & How

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What exactly is hospitality?  Here’s my simple definition – Giving generously to meet the needs of another person. That could include a meal, a place to sleep, a cup of coffee, a listening ear.  We must be sensitive to realize the needs of others and do what we can, (by God’s enabling) to meet them.

People are just not into having people over any more! We’re all too busy to take the time, too worried that our house isn’t clean enough, or that we just won’t measure up on some way, shape or form.   We wonder how in the world we can fit one more thing into our schedule.  Here’s what Martha Peace said in her book,

“So where do we find the time to follow Mary to the feet of Jesus? Where do we find the energy to serve him?…Because we are his children, Kitchen service will be the natural result of Living Room intimacy with God. Like Jesus, we must be about our Father’s business. The closer we draw to the heart of the Father, the more we see his heart for the world. And so we serve, we minister and we love, knowing that when we do it to ‘the least of these,’ we have done it unto Christ.”- (Having a Mary Heart…pg. 10)

It’s after we’ve had the quiet time with the Lord that we desire to serve Him.  We don’t desire to just stay in the living room – we want to look for others whom we could serve.

We are out to bless – not impress! Perhaps this one thought is the most important.  Lay aside all the expectations of the Food Network and Martha Stewart and just set out to be a blessing and you are sure to accomplish that goal!
Let me share with you a few ideas to reduce the stress of being hospitable. 
1.  Do as much as you can as far ahead as you can. This one principle will give you more peace than you can imagine!

  • Set the table
  • Set out serving dishes
  • Prepare coffee pot
  • Make any dish ahead of time that you can
  • Slice vegetables for salads

2.   Bake dessert – freeze

  • Cookie dough in rolls
  • Cookie dough in balls – freeze on cookie sheet, then place them in a ziplock bag
  • Brownies
  • Cake layers
  • Uniced cupcakes

3.   Bake breads – freeze

  • Muffins
  • Crescent rolls
  • Sweet breads
  • Rolls

4.   Make casserole and freeze

  • Lasagna
  • Chili or soup

5.  Mix up salads (without dressing)

  • 7-Layer Salad
  • Fruit salad with citrus added to keep fruit from browning
  • Frozen fruit salads

6.  Keep some sweets in the freezer and keep boxes of snack foods like crackers in your pantry.

  • Angel food cake
  • Pudding mixes
  • Pound cake
  • Canned pie filling

7.  Use your crock pot.  Putting a meal in the crock pot will ease your schedule and allow you to do other things all day while dinner is cooking!

  • Put a turkey breast in the crock pot with Onion soup mix and a little water.  Cook on high 1 hour and low for 7 hours.

8.  Communicate – Talk to the Lord about your plans. Ask Him who you should invite over. Talk to your family. Talk to your guests. Do they have food allergies or restrictions?

9.  Fifteen minutes before your guests arrive, sit down with a cup of coffee and rest!  Pray and ask the Lord to help you be a blessing to your guests and demonstrate the heart of hospitality – To bless them, not impress them!

10.  Turn on some soft music and light candles before guests arrive.  Dimming the lights will make it cozy and hide any dust!

To whom would the Lord have you show hospitality?  Consider:

1.  Strangers – – Heb. 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares 

  • new church attenders 
  •  new neighbors. 

2.  Fellow Chrisitans –     Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
• Sunday school teacher/students

• Youth pastor

• Sunday school class members

3.   Unsaved – Phil 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

• Child’s teacher at school

• Co-worker

• Visitor at church

4.  The Weary – II Timothy 1:16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain

• Friend –Needs encouragement – New illness, stress, marriage problem, homeschooling mom…

• Missionary, Christian worker

• Evangelist

I pray this will encourage you to be on the lookout for someone the Lord would lay on your heart.  Be like Onesiphorus…Paul said, “He oft refreshed me.”!

With love,