Salsa

This past week while at work I got a call from someone at one of ONE's other offices. She said there was a delivery there for me. Since I was obviously not at the same place, she'd send it to the surgery center where I work. I was so confused. The person on the phone did not identify herself or her location. I only knew it was the southwest office because the caller ID told me. When asked if it was personal or for the surgery center, she said personal and mumbled the word cousin. Now, my dad's cousin also works at ONE. She has a bit of an ornery streak in her sometimes, so I figured it was from her. The rest of the afternoon, I was looking over my shoulder, but no delivery ever came.

Tuesday morning I got up and swam at the Y before work. I even had time to go to Panera for a souffle' and some time for devotions. It was a good start and I was determined to have a good day at work. (Let it suffice to say that was tough a couple days this last week.) After about a half an hour, someone asked if I had gotten my bag at the front desk. Bag? What bag? Oh! The delivery! I walked up front, still perplexed. Here's what I found.

Several of my co-workers walked up and said, "OH! You got a candle! Who's it from? It's not even your birthday!" Nope, it's not a candle, it's salsa from my lovely cousin Heather. I was the lucky winner on her blog. How lucky am I?! It made my day! Look closer. Not only did a get a jar of homemade salsa, there's chocolate. How can a girl wrong with so much chocolate?

Now really, is salsa really that big of a deal? No. It's the thought. How many people get a homemade jar of salsa (with chocolate) packaged in a cute bag delivered to them at work? Not only was it delivered, but poor Donovan went to the Southwest office first and then brought it to the surgery center. Heather said he had appointments all over town, but still......it's a 20-30 minute drive depending on the traffic. I knew I had won, but expected to get it in the mail. That would have been fun all by itself, but this just made it that much better.

Apparently I'm pretty easy to please. Sure, big expensive gifts are sometimes nice, but really the small, thoughtful ones mean so much more. It really made my day. The rest of the week was a tough one. If that bright spot hadn't been there, the week would have felt like more of a total bust.

Thanks again, Heather and Donovan. Hopefully it works out to actually get to see you next time. I'm looking forward to breaking into the salsa with some chips and a good movie sometime in the future!

Self-Consciousness

Come unto Me." Matthew 11:28

God means us to live a fully-orbed life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, and we tumble into a way of introspection which we thought had gone. Self-consciousness is the first thing that will upset the completeness of the life in God, and self-consciousness continually produces wrestling. Self-consciousness is not sin; it may be produced by a nervous temperament or by a sudden dumping down into new circumstances. It is never God's will that we should be anything less than absolutely complete in Him. Anything that disturbs rest in Him must be cured at once, and it is not cured by being ignored, but by coming to Jesus Christ. If we come to Him and ask Him to produce Christ-consciousness, He will always do it until we learn to abide in Him.

Never allow the dividing up of your life in Christ to remain without facing it. Beware of leakage, of the dividing up of your life by the influence of friends or of circumstances; beware of anything that is going to split up your oneness with Him and make you see yourself separately. Nothing is so important as to keep right spiritually. The great solution is the simple one - "Come unto Me." The depth of our reality, intellectually, morally and spiritually, is tested by these words. In every degree in which we are not real, we will dispute rather than come.


This was the August 19th entry from My Utmost for His Highest. It's been on my mind a lot the last week. There have been times in the past that I kept up with Chambers' devotional for a year at a time or at least pretty regularly. I can't say that I've been so diligent in the last while. That in itself isn't bad, but I honestly can't say that I've been consistent with studying the Word the last several months. Whether it's with the guidance of some sort of devotional, studying a theme or book of the Bible on your own, or just opening It and reading every day, I'm convinced that it's imperative to spend time in the Word every day.

The above paragraph sounds good. I believe what I said. I mean what I said. I've not been living what I said. My brother and I have talked several times before about how much we enjoy Utmost. Oswald Chambers is deep. There is a more recently edited version that is slightly easier to read. Being a lover of words, I like the original version. Many times as I've read it, I've been amazed at the fact that a particular day's entry appears to have been written just for me. That was once again the case on the 19th of August. I've not been spending the time in the Word that I should. My relationship with God has been coasting, which always translates to skidding backward.

The above entry was a good smack in the head. I needed it. It's easy to come up with many excuses for the leakage that Chambers mentions. I like that description. It makes sense. It's true, what he says, that there is nothing more important than keeping right spiritually. Coming up with a myriad of reasons for allowing the leakage, or not even noticing the early stages of the trickle that quickly become a hemorrhage would be easy to do. It's a slippery slope to be avoided. I knew I was skidding a bit, but probably not being honest with myself about the current status. Reading this entry brought things back into perspective. Repairing the leak is not always easy. It is, however, quite simple. There's not a complicated formula to be followed. It's time to shore up the leak and move on.

What a good weekend!

I had such a rejuvenatinng weekend. I just realized, though, that before I say anything about that, I need to add the pix from the 4th of July that I forgot to post a couple weeks ago.

That's my "little" brother fishing on the end of the dock. It's been a pretty dry summer. As a result it took him over an hour to find a worm. I think he maybe gave up and just used a lure. heheh.....he took some ribbing over that! The kayaks my aunt and uncle have been storing at Grandma's are providing hours of fun this summer!
This was the first of a couple races. The course goes around the neighbor's buoy and back. The first one past the dock is the winner. I love the bright colors in this pic. From far to near, the kayakers are Luke Eichorn(one of my cousins), Matt (my brother), Joel Eichorn (another cousin), and Mindy(my sister in law).
Matt won! But it wasn't without some real grit and determination! The next pic shows my mom grilling. Note there are a few after. In all of them the women are hard at work. Isn't this a holiday? A day of rest? Just wait until you see the men hard at work as well.

Notice the women had two grills going to feed everyone. Vicki and Fran are doing a good job of setting out the rest of the non-grilled items.

And...........as promised.....the men at work!

Doesn't it look like Matt's asking for another drink?

Hahaha....it was a good day, but it cracked me up to watch lunch being prepared. I always thought grilling was looked at as men's work. Apparently not so much.

This last weekend was a good one. I went to my parent's in Michigan to enjoy more time at the lake. How could you not want more of what's in the pix above? There weren't so many people, but it was nice to relax.

Friday evening we enjoyed watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. I was definitely impressed with the detail and precision that went into such a show! I had to wonder, though, about all of the talk of harmony and unity, thoughts of China taking steps toward opening their doors to the world. At the same time they didn't allow Joey Cheek's visa because of his stance on what's going on in Darfur and China's involvement. I need to educate myself about the whole thing a bit more, but it smacks of hypocrisy a bit. Also, I was chatting online this evening with a friend who's working on the Africa Mercy. She said that she loved the opening ceremony, but was also bothered by the expense of it all. One of the Liberian translators on the ship pointed out that Liberia could be rebuilt for the cost of the opening ceremony. Hmmmm...food for thought.

Saturday we slept in, ate a yummy breakfast, hung out by the lake, reading and resting, and then had some fresh sweet corn and burgers on the grill. What a restful day!

This afternoon after church my sister, Laura, and her husband Jeremy rode their cycle up from Goshen. We spent the afternoon at the lake getting sun and kayaking.

I just love time with family and rejuvenation at the lake. There's nothing like time spent near water to just make things seem right in the world. Not all is right, but it feels a little closer after a rejuvenating day.

While there are issues with some of the things going on in China, I still love the Olympics. I LOVE them! That same friend on the AFM said she'll take the Olympics over sleep any day. I agree! I'm looking forward to the next two weeks!