I am reading a book entitled A Long Obedience by Eugene H. Peterson. As you approach the weekend and the time on Sunday to go to church and worship, I’d like to share two paragraphs from his book for your consideration:

“This word of God is everywhere in worship. In the call to worship we hear God’s first word to us; in the benediction we hear God’s last word to us; in the Scripture lessons we hear God speaking to our faith-parents; in the sermon we hear that word re expressed to us; in the hymns, which are all to a greater or lesser extent paraphrases of Scripture, the Word of God makes our prayers articulate. Every time we worship our minds are informed, our memories refreshed with the judgments of God, we are familiarized with what God says, what he has decided, the ways he is working out our salvation.

There is simply no place where these can be done as well as in worship. If we stay at home by ourselves and read the Bible, we are going to miss a lot, for our reading will be unconsciously conditioned by our culture, limited by our ignorance, distorted by unnoticed prejudices. In worship we are part of ‘the large congregation’ where all the writers of Scripture address us, where hymn writers use music to express truths that touch us not only in our heads but in our hearts, where the preacher who has just lived through six days of doubt, hurt, faith and blessing with the worshipers speaks the truth of Scripture in the language of the congregation’s present experience. We want to hear what God says and what he says to us: worship is the place where our attention is centered on these personal and decisive words of God.”

There you have it. We need to worship with believers. Staying home and worshipping a television preacher isn’t an option and oh, the blessings are multiple!

See you in church!

This blog is about refreshing others. It’s such a need in my own heart, and that creates a desire to share with others what the Lord does in my life. Jesus went to a solitary place and prayed early in the morning. He got away with His Father before the crowds crushed in on Him. Even Jesus needed the refreshment of solitude and prayer.

What a contrast there is between what the world tells us we should have and be and what the Lord tells us in His Word! This morning as I read Proverbs 16 I saw several of these contrasts.

The world tells us we should follow our heart when making a decision. The Word says to commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established. (Prov. 16:3) In other words, we give to the Lord what we’re planning to do and we let Him guide our thinking and direct our steps. My heart will lead me astray, but the Lord will always lead me right.

The world tells us we need more money, more things, bigger house, better stuff. The Word says in Proverbs 16:8 – Better is little with righteousness than great revenues without right. It’s better to have little? Yes, when it comes from a life that is right with God. All our needs are taken care of when we walk with Him. We may not be listed among the world’s most affluent people, but at the end of this life it won’t matter.

Verse 16 of the same chapter says that wisdom is better than gold and understanding than silver! You will never read that in your local paper or hear that on a television talk show.

The world says you have to do whatever it takes to move up the ladder of success. Proverbs 16:12 says that it is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness and a throne is established by righteousness. Oh, that our politicians would follow that principle in their leadership!

The world doesn’t think much of senior citizens, but verse 31 says that the gray head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. Those that are godly seniors have earned a crown because they’ve walked with God, learned His ways, and honored Him in their many years.

This is another reminder to me as to why I need the Word daily. We are bombarded with worldly thinking every single day, and it contrasts the Truth that we need to obey. Let’s not chase after what the world dictates, but let’s let our goals and desires be lined up with the Word of God instead.

On the shed door I’ve hung a metal pumpkin decoration I found. It’s big enough to be seen at the road and goes well with the “plumey” plants on the porch.

The kitchen counter has been covered with a fall runner, small pumpkins, and a Brambley Hedge Autumn plate that belongs to my daughter whose birthday is on the first day of fall. The plate will be there until she realizes that I still have it. It would look really cute on her cabinet in her kitchen! But for now it looks nice in mine!
My corner shelf holds candles, a ceramic pumpkin, and an antique book that has a page about fall and giving thanks. I love to use old books to decorate – they have such character.

I put a pumpkin on a sconce that normally holds a candle. It’s fun to reinvent items and give them a new use.

On my coffee table are old Southern Living magazines from the months of September and October. I also have a book about autumn that gives beautiful ideas to decorate your home, fall foods to cook, and activities to do. I get inspired by books like these!

What do you do to decorate for fall? What inspires you? Tell me about it!

One of our dear church ladies shared some garden-fresh green peppers with us this week, so I used those for our Sunday dinner. What a perfect Sunday meal because I did all the prep on Saturday and they only had to be warmed up after we came home from church.

I love this recipe for peppers because of two things – the peppers are only boiled 3 minutes which keeps them a little crisp, and the meat doesn’t have a tomato sauce base. These are really tasty and came from a cookbook of reduced fat recipes! These peppers only have 8g of fat and 244 calories.

In large skillet cook meat and onion till meat is brown and onion is tender. Drain off fat. Stir in the tomatoes, uncooked rice, water, Worcestershire sauce, basil or oregano, and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 15 to 18 minutes or till the rice is tender. Stir in half of the cheese. Spoon meat mixture into peppers. Place peppers in an 8x8x2-inch baking dish. Spoon any remaining meat mixture into baking dish.

If eating immediately, bake uncovered in 375 degree oven about 15 minutes or till heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes or till the cheese melts.

If you make these ahead for Sunday as I did, add a couple tablespoons of water to the dish, cover with syran wrap and warm in the microwave until heated through (Mine only took about 5 minutes, but my microwave is pretty powerful. Adjust cooking time as needed).