He is clearly seen.

I’m certainly not alone.  I love the ocean.  So much.

Before this last week I would have told you that I needed to get to the ocean regularly.  I felt desperate for it.  While I still do love it so, I realized something about it this time.  I don’t need it.  I have what I need right where I live.  Is that the most wonderful gift to receive while on vacation?  That realization?

I was walking through the airport yesterday and because I adore books, I walked into a newstand to look for a book.  This world is losing bookstores left and right so it’s been a while since I’ve been in one.  As I scanned the possibilities, I saw a title that pierced my heart.  When I saw it, I actually took a step back away from the shelf.  It read:  ”I hope they serve beer in hell”.

I like to think that I’m a girl who likes humor.  A girl who can laugh with the best of ‘em.  So, the truth is that I stood there for a while running through every kind of scenario that would allow me to laugh at this title.

When I reached my destination, I looked into the book.  It’s written by a Duke law school graduate and tells about his drinking exploits.  It seems there is a movie being released soon, too.

I’m not here to talk about the author, though.  I’m here to talk about myself because I have a confession to make.

Sometimes I try too hard to laugh at jokes and sometimes I try too hard to conform to this world.  I’ve thought about it a lot since I saw the book 24 hours ago.  Why?  And what is the line I need to draw?

Why do I try to find a way to laugh?  It isn’t because I want you to like me.  It’s because I want to relate.  I do not want to bury my head in the sand and lose the ability to understand this world.

I love that I saw this book and learned more about it.  I love it because I know it’s my Lord moving my heart to a different place.  A place that I confess that the book made me entirely sad and I found no humor whatsoever in the title.  I only found grief.  The truth is that laughing at the rejection of Jesus brings deep sorrow.  The One, True God – the creator of all that is good -deeply loves the man who wrote this book……..the man who jokes about being in hell.  Our Lord created cherry blossoms, sandy beaches, mangos and the very finger tips that wrote the book mocking Him.  And after He created all that is beautiful,  He came to earth so that the author of this book could decide whether or not he wanted to reject the One who came for him.  The One who came for him was murdered in an effort to save him who mocks the Great Love.

And so how can I go along with this world that wants me to laugh at such mocking?  I’m here to say, I can’t.  Never would I have laughed at the title of this book.  However, I’m here to say that I’ve got something to say – something that isn’t funny.  If the author continues on his current path, he will go to hell.  And it won’t be funny.  Our Lord is so great and so good that He does allow laughter in these days at that which is not humorous.  He is so great and so good that He sometimes warns.  Do you hear the warning?

He is a great God, the most High God.  He loves deeply and allows each of us to decide whether to love Him or to reject Him.  Do not take such a decision lightly.

I love salad.  Often times I’ll begin with a recipe and then just add things as I see fit.  We have different eating preferences in our family, so often I make at least 4 different versions of salad.  I start with the base and then add and subtract based on what each person prefers.  When it comes to the vegetables in salad, I don’t measure.  You can never have enough, I figure.

I recommend always – as much as you can – making your own dressing.  It’s so simple and you’ll get accustomed to it once you start.  It’s very rare that I purchase salad dressing.  I keep really good extra virgin olive oil in great supply and tons of different types of vinegar.   Those are the base ingredients for most of our salad dressings – along with herbs and dijon mustard.  Every once in a while I’ll make a creamy dressing but very rarely.

One last thing – we prefer really bold flavors.  So if you see a dressing that calls for three cloves of garlic for the dressing and you don’t like bold flavors, cut it in half.  The hottie and I both love garlic so we can still smooch after we’ve eaten our garlicky salads!  P.S. – it’s a very different story if he’s had some meat with his salad………but I won’t go into all of that

Tonight we had a Mediterranean Salad.  I like pasta mixed with greens, so that’s what my salad looked like.  The hottie had chicken in his and the girls just had the pasta.  I used pasta made with beets and spinach.

And because I’m a lover of music, I like to pair my salads with some great tunes.  I’m back in the 80′s these days because I took Miss M to a concert down at Purdue a few weeks ago and hung my head in shame that the poor child didn’t know “Jack and Diane”.  I know, I know……….that’s bad.  Really bad.  I’ve tried oh so hard to make sure they get it but I’ve failed them.  So, Mellencamp and Springsteen it is daily around here lately.

This salad goes really good paired with:  “Crazy Love”, Van Morrison; “Like a Rolling Stone”, the Rolling Stones;  “The River”, Springsteen; and “Small Town”, Mellencamp.

MEDITERRANEAN PASTA SALAD {w/greens}

1 lb bag good bow tie pasta

1 cucumber, diced

1 pint grape tomatoes, halfed

1/2 red onion, sliced thinly

3 T chopped pepperoncini

1 t fresh basil

1/2 t fresh oregano

5 sun dried tomatoes – sliced

1 – 3 ounces feta cheese

2 t diced olives

Dressing:

3/4 c extra virgin olive oil

1/3 c balsamic vinegar

1 t dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, finely diced

Boil pasta with salt (al dente).  Cool.  Wisk dressing ingredients together until smooth – add a little salt and pepper.  Add all ingredients to a large bowl and toss with dressing.  )You won’t need all of the dressing for this salad.  Just use what you need and save it.  That way you can make the salad the next day with the leftover dressing.)  Here is where I plate just what each person likes.  I add greens to the bottom of my bowl before adding the pasta mixture.  Add a little feta cheese to the top.  Add freshly ground pepper to the top of each salad.  We usually have a slice of bread with this one.

Dearest O,

When I sit down and write these posts, I know what I’ll say.  It’s usually knocking around in my head for a few days.  Not this one.  I sat here praying “Lord, what shall I tell Lulu today?”  And so I’ll tell you what the Lord impressed upon my heart.

I love you, sweet Lu.  Deeply and lavishly, my heart loves you.  Your smile.  Your 7 million questions each day.  Your ideas.  Your energy.  Your passion.  Your kind heart.  Your laugh.  Your laugh.  Your laugh.

Before you, I had never known a little girl like you.  I had known a serious little girl; one who also stole my heart – your heart too.  You, though, you burst into my life and wiggled it all up.  Oh, Lu, how I love the wiggled up feel of my life because you bounce around in it.

Recently, your wiggling around and joyful, overflowing spirit has shown me glimpses of God.  And my love for you increases evermore when I see those glimpses.  Just today I said “Thank you Father for loving Livy enough to show Yourself to her…………..Oh Lord I know this is an amazing gift………You have given her this gift………Thank you.  Thank You.”  I do not one moment take lightly that you love Him.  I promise you.  I have prayed and prayed that He be the light in your life.  And the other day when you pulled me aside and confessed something that you’d done over 9 months ago, I knew that He was inside of you.  I knew.  And I rejoiced with your Papa that very night.  The miracle of it all.

Auntie Danielia recently opened a gift for me – she told me that you and I are alike.  I fell back in my chair when she said so!  And then I thought about you, my Lu, your crazy ideas and your brain moving faster than mine even and I knew she was right.  Our mama/baby hearts are knit together in wonderful ways but this – that you and I move through this world in the same way – what a delight to me!!  I embrace you, Livy.  I adore you.  I cry tears that our Lord gave you to me.  Thank you, Father!

And so my heart beat fast in my chest today when you recited 1 Corinthians 13 at the speech meet.  You were beautiful up there, lovely girl.  Your heart for His Words shone right through your eyes and I delighted in watching you say His very words with boldness and conviction.  Oh my heart, today little girl, my heart was bursting.

Loved the words that came up when I did a worlde for the blog!