What are My Future Plans?

     What do I plan on doing with my life? An imposing question asked often by others who are interested to know what I plan to do with my life. It is a fair question though, if I was in their shoes looking at a 21 year old girl who has never been to college but is not necessarily unintelligent I probably would be asking the same question.
    So what do I plan to do with my life? It is an intimidating question when people ask me because in a moment I want to run screaming out of the room screaming "I don't know" and at the same time I just want to melt into the floor and disappear. Usually I end up being rooted to the floor and either trying to answer the question, but not being very successful at it (I probably create more questions than I answer), or trying to deflect the question altogether.
      I have desperately wanted to have an answer but felt like I didn't have a really good one until this week.

     My mother told me that it is acceptable to say, in answer to people who ask this question, that I plan on doing whatever God places in front of me to do. Really, what more should I be doing? 

      There is no better place to be than in the arms of The Father and following his lead when it comes to where I should go and what I should do. Without God I am nothing. I'm just barely a blip of time on the whole of history. So doing and pursuing whatever God places in front of me to do is the best thing that I could be doing right now.

The Giver Movie Processing....

This past weekend I was with some friends and went to see the movie The Giver. It is definitely one of those "I need to process this" kind of movies. It is a movie that explores (imperfectly) the question, what it would be like if we could somehow take away people's emotions and pain and control their environment?

(Spoiler alert!)

    The boy (named Jonas) who we follow throughout the movie is chosen during a special choosing ceremony to be the next "receiver" for the community. The job of the receiver is to receive memories of what life was like before and experience pain. His mentor (called the Giver) gradually gives him memories of what things were like before the environment was controlled.
     Jonas eventually learns about what his father does and is horrified. His father sends people to "Elsewhere" which is another term for euthanasia. Anyone who doesn't meet the correct standard is euthanized and his father (because he has no emotion) just does it like he would do anything else. It's another job and another thing to take care of and he does it with a smile on his face. It's unnatural and Jonas' reaction is appropriate.
     He values life and people being able to experience life. I agree heartily with this idea as it is portrayed in the movie. I think that life should be valued and that people should be allowed to make their own choices even if those choices are bad ones.
     I do not agree with all of the ideas portrayed in the movie. In this film (and I imagine in the book as well) it is assumed that man is basically good and if we just control his environment there would be no war or fighting or stealing or lying. It is assumed that everyone will be nice to each other, there would be no competition, and no covetousness whatsoever. I do not agree with this idea.
     I believe that man is at his core basically bad (Psalm 51:4) and that even if you do control his environment he is going to want to do things that are wrong. I don't think you can medicate that out of someone by removing his emotions.
     It is true that people were doing wrong things because it was their jobs. Maybe it's harder to see the wrong that people were doing because they did it without feeling guilt. But then they could feel fear somehow. I'm still trying to work this whole thing out. Like I said its an "I need to process this" kind of movie.
    Obviously this is an imperfect attempt at trying to answer a "what if" scenario. But that is all that we are going to get from stories like this because they are written by imperfect people. This just goes to show that even a very good attempt still falls short of being perfect and that's ok. It got me to think and I hope it gets others to think too.
     This all being said. I thought that the value of life and the messages that we should be free to feel, think, and make our own choices were a good ones and would encourage those who want to see this movie to go and see it. Just realize that you may not agree with everything and that's ok. Discuss it with others and figure out what it is that you don't agree with and why.

Bound by Time

As I gaze at the city lights,

And all the cars rushing through the night,

I begin to wonder what it's like

To not feel time

We of this earth are chained to time

And it quickly passes from our hands

Your young one moment and old the next

Life passes by like patterns washed away in the sands

No matter how hard I try

Time will pass me by

And when our lives come to a close

Time just goes, goes, goes

You can't stop it 

You can't give it

You can only live in it 

Time's a blessing and a curse

Sometimes it's good sometimes it's worse

We are all bound by time.

Oh, what is it like to live outside of time?

To live forever but always be in your prime?

The Ripple Effect

    Robin Williams, funny man, is dead. Everyone has to die at some point but when we do it causes a ripple effect. Eventually people move on but you never really can replace the person who died.
     For Robin Williams things are no different. He was a great entertainer and performed for countless millions in his lifetime and will continue to even after his passing (just pop in one of his flicks and your good to go). Society, however, will not be able to create new works of modern art for him to perform in because he is just not there to do it.
      Society itself will move on, but will his family?
     When it's family it's more personal. The void is felt more for longer. There is a sense in which this person lived with you and shared life with you. The relationship is closer. He wasn't that old so I can't imagine what it must be like for those who did live with him to find out that he died. It must have been somewhat of a shock.
     People leave their marks on this world, some more than others. We each are making an impact, for better or for worse, and that impact is going to ripple out and impact others whether they know where their influence came from or not.
    Even after we are dead and gone there will still be at least fragments of our influence that last. I think of my great-grandma Eckdahl who died recently and remember some of the cute things she would say like, "those nuts are musty, I must have some more." Another of my great-grandmas (Edwards) passed down a book of poems that she and her sister used to recite along with some that she liked and a few written either by her or members of the family. (Which may be why I enjoy poetry so much.)
     People die but their influence in our lives is remembered. We can never replace them because there never will be a person quite like them again.

Don't Miss Out!

     Christians who don't seek to share the message of the gospel with others are missing out. There is so much life that happens when you share your faith that it really is too bad for those who don't do it. Now sometimes God gives us seasons and times when it's harder for us to share with others because it's harder for us to get out and be on the streets sharing the wonderful gift given to us in Christ Jesus, but there is something about being out there sharing our faith with others that gets you pumped and wanting more.
     You feel like you have feasted at the Lord's table and that you're here for Him and Him alone. There is something about that that just makes me want to scream to the world what Jesus did for me and for them if they would choose to repent and believe. It's something special that happens between you and God that is really really hard to explain other than you are pumped with adrenaline and ready for action, ready to do whatever God puts in front of you to do.
     If you've never shared your faith with someone else before you are missing out. I'm not saying this as a judgement, just stating it as a fact. It's like people who go their whole life eating Gerber baby food you would say are missing out. They are missing out on really enjoying food as it really is.
     When you share the gospel with others it brings clarity to what you believe and more importantly why you believe what you believe. A soldier can say that he is brave all day but until he is actually on the battlefield will he know for himself that he is brave. That is what going out and sharing your faith is like.
     It's scary at first. You are in a battle against both your desires of the flesh and the spiritual realm. Once you've started into sharing it becomes less and less scary.
     The basic gospel message is this:
 God is perfect (Psalm 22:3)
 We have sinned and deserve punishment, (Romans 3:23, Revelation 21:8)
 Jesus, the Son of God, came and lived a perfect life and was crucified for our sins (Hebrews 9:22, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4)
 We need to repent of our sins and turn to Jesus and follow him and then we will escape the  punishment that is coming (1 John 1:9, Acts 3:19)

Realize that this is very very basic and that you will probably want to add more to the message than that and go into more explanation behind each of the points.

Here are some websites with information and resources that can help you to share your faith with others:
http://www.livingwaters.com/
http://www.livingwaters.com/audio/way-of-the-master/hells-best-kept-secret
http://www.tractplanet.com/
http://www.cefonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=601:wordless-book-training-available-online&catid=23:online-training&Itemid=100057

I do not necessarily agree with all of the views on this particular page but they do have some good free resources if you plan on using the wordless book to share the message of the gospel (plus they give the history behind the wordless book which I find interesting).
http://www.squidoo.com/the-wordless-book

   So go out and share the gospel. Get excited for what Christ did for you!

Cooking Gluten Free

     How many of you know people who have to be gluten free but you aren't one of those people? Have you ever wondered how to prepare a meal for these kinds of people? If your answer to both questions is yes then this post is for you!
     My family and I were blessed to have been able to live with celiac friends and learn really what it meant to be gluten free. It was a little more expensive but it was well worth the education that we got in learning what it takes to live like that. It's not that hard to feed your celiac friends it just takes a little extra looking on your part to make sure that your friends go home with full bellies and no achy sick feelings.
     First you need to start with buying your ingredients. You must make sure that whatever you buy does not contain wheat or gluten (wheat is where gluten comes from). To do this check the labels in the ingredients list.
     Another label to watch out for in the ingredients list is "natural flavors." This label can hide a lot of ingredients that go into a product, gluten being one of them. Another label that might have gluten but usually doesn't is "artificial flavors," this one you probably don't have to worry about but if you have a question call your celiac friend and see if they know if a particular product is safe or not.
     A lot of companies are making it much easier to figure out if there products are gluten free or not by either labeling their products as Gluten Free or saying directly on their websites whether their products contain gluten or wheat.
     Meats are usually gluten free unless they are swimming in marinade of some kind or have been injected, then they might not be (check the ingredients list). When it comes to sausages and meatballs and other mixed meats like this and I know I'm serving celiac friends I only buy ones that are labelled gluten free because I don't want to risk them going home feeling bad.  
     Once you have gathered all of your ingredients it's time to cook!
     I have learned that when I'm cooking for celiac people I am very aware of the surfaces that I am placing things on or in. (Does this surface have even one crumb of gluten on it? kind of awareness.) You have to be this way if you are cooking for people who are celiac and you have wheat based products around the house. Being that our house is not a gluten free environment there is always the chance that something could become contaminated with gluten especially at the preparation stage. Just make sure that everything is clean.
     A good go to meal for serving to celiac friends is Costco rotisserie chicken, steamed rice, and a bag of vegetables from the freezer section and/or a green salad with fresh veggies. This is great for busy days when you don't really have time to cook.
     When I actually have time to put into preparing a meal I'll make something, being careful not to put anything in the dish that would contaminate it. I have found a couple of good recipes Here, Here, and Here. As you can see from the recipes, I like chicken. I also like diversity from the simple garlic and brown sugar crusted chicken, to the fresh take on chicken salad with avocado and cilantro, to the yummy chicken curry that doesn't take all day to make.
     As people become more and more aware of he celiac condition it's becoming easier and easier to find things that are gluten free. (Makes it easier for me to feed my celiac friends! Yay!) Look for things labelled as gluten free or with an ingredients list that contains no wheat or gluten in the list of ingredients. You might be surprised to find out just what you have been eating that contains gluten. I know soy sauce got me (it still gets me).
      Now go forth and have a celiac friend over! (It's much easier than you think).