Where do I go from here ...

Father God, put me where You want me.

If I'm already there, let me know it.

If I'm not, move me.

Rain, rain, rain ...

When I asked God what I was like? God said:

You are like a river.
Your banks are those you love and care for.
Your current is the spirit that you move with from birth to death.

When I asked God what He was like? God said:

I am the rain.
I am the valley through which you run.
I am the ocean toward which you flow.

Peace

The Holiday Season (Thanksgiving through Christmas) is a much anticipated and potentially blessed time of fellowship with family and friends. Sadly, most of us have experienced (or are experiencing) just the opposite … anxiety, sadness, pain, loss, loneliness, and maybe even anger. Focusing inward, usually unconsciously, on our own feelings and needs is very human. Self-focus, or self-centeredness, is a self-defense mechanism that almost always has the side effect of blinding us to life’s blessings. We hope it will be better this year, we decide we’re really going to try, we’re definitely going to be happy and get along with everyone, no matter how big of a pain in the butt they are, but ultimately …

“Any effort that has self-glorification as the final endpoint is bound to end in disaster.” – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.^**

So my suggestion is to just stop trying so hard to be happy, or to make other people happy, or expecting others to make us happy and this year focus on being peacemakers.

Peacemakers …

“… plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of goodness.” - James 3:18

So what are the seeds of peace? Well, paraphrasing James 3:17, the seeds of peace are …

• Gentleness
• Flexibility
• Compassion
• Good deeds
• Impartiality
• Sincerity

So this year plant some good seeds, and my hope is that you and yours will have a peaceful and blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas!

^** James says something very similar to this in 3:16

Post election thoughts ...

These shall be interesting times ... Developing ...

Random election thoughts

I’m just …

• thinking Karl Marx probably would have endorsed Obama too.

• wondering if anyone else finds Obama’s plans to “spread the wealth around” just a little disconcerting.

• wondering when the young working productive Obama supporters will realize that your income is the wealth he plans to redistribute.
  

• puzzled, but not at all angry with the many believers that support Obama; but I am curious how you can align yourselves with a party that tends to disdain your faith and has a platform that seems so anti-everything that really matters.
  

• thinking that if the dems weren’t so anti-faith, anti-life, anti-family, and anti-freedom I’d probably be one too.
  

• thinking "redistributive change" is going to be really expensive for all of us.
  

• really wondering why Jesus said, “You will always have the poor among you, but I will not be here with you much longer." … apparently He didn’t know anything about “change” or Obama?

Developing ...

Opossum on the half-shell

Things started getting weird a couple of weeks ago when the wife thanked me for putting a load of dirt in the front flower bed.  It was nice of her to thank me, but I hadn't done it, so I naturally responded "What the heck₁ are you talking about?"  

After examining the piled up dirt and the fairly large hole I quickly came to the conclusion that an armadillo had moved in under our front porch.  Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against armadillos I just think they should all live a little closer to busy roads.  Well, after the  failure of chemical deterrents in the form of a bath towel soaked with ammonia stuffed in the hole … I called in a pro.  They came the same day and set a total of four traps in my yard and flower bed.  A couple of days, and no armadillos later we left for Gulf Shores … Gustav was on the way, but we had reservations and decided to go anyway.  Around now I’m having doubts about whether the armadillo was even still around, and I'm thinking I probably just threw my money away.  Things definitely turned around on Saturday when we got a call at the beach informing us that an armadillo had stumbled into one of the traps.

I was elated, but my daughter was genuinely concerned about the ultimate fate of the captured creature.  I told her not to worry; they probably took them to a nice place with no interstates, soft dirt and lots of worms₂ … kind of like an armadillo heaven.  We have subsequently captured a second, and hopefully the last, member of the family.  For now, at least, my porch is saved, my flower beds are my own, and two armadillos are definitely in a better place.

 

 

1)      Those of you that know me will undoubtedly note that this is probably not exactly what I said

2)      Wink, wink

What's in a Name?

I've decided I should give a little explanation about the name of my BLOG, “Gizzards and Dumplins”. Where do I begin ... a few months ago I decided to make a list of the things that, when I think of them or experience them, make me feel really good …give me that “peaceful easy feeling”. The list turned out to be pretty long ... and contains things like:

• Kissing my children on the forehead and telling them I love them
• Getting up early to do anything I really want to do
• Mowing the grass
• Big trees and waterfalls (any size)
• Finding a snake
• Doing anything that I didn't think I could do
• Naps on Sunday afternoons
• Time spent with family for no particular reason
• Psalms
• Old things - furniture, buildings, people, fossils ...
• Going home

all wonderful things (to me anyway), but at the top of the list was "Gizzards and Dumplings". I’m not sure why this was the first thing I thought of … but I do know why it made the list.

I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky; the same city where both of my parents were born, and where all my relatives lived. I was very blessed as young child to have known, and spent time with both sets of Grandparents and even my Great Grandparents on my Father’s side of the family, MacMomma and MacDaddy. I can remember going almost every Sunday to visit my Grandparents. My Dad’s mom, Grandma, who was divorced from my Dad’s father, Grandpa, lived in a big nice house (at least that’s the way I remember it) in an older, quiet, almost park-like part of Louisville. Grandma was some kind of lady, redheaded, barely five feet tall, went to church every Sunday, could wield a mean switch (being a single mom with three buck wild boys helped her to hone this special skill), and she loved me and I loved her.

My mom’s mother and father, Ma and Pop, lived in an older less affluent part of Louisville called Portland. This part of the city was a lot different than where I lived, and I won’t lie to you, it was just a little scary going to their house. The house was older and kind of dark, dank narrow alleys between it and the buildings on both sides, other people rented rooms upstairs, there was always something going on upstairs or outside, and the whole area had a, not unpleasant, but different aroma. Needless to say, as a child I probably should not have been as comfortable or happy at Ma’s as I was at GrandMa’s, but I liked it there, and there weren’t any switches.

Ma was a large loving woman, a fair part Cherokee, born and raised in the hills of Appalachia (Adair County), born again, baptized, Holy Spirit filled, Bible believing, Southern Baptist; who loved me like my momma, took me to church every time she got the chance, read to me from The Psalms, and she made me … gizzards and dumplings. I’m not saying she made this special dish for a family dinner (I don’t think my Dad would have touched them), she made them just for me … and I loved them … and I loved her … and that made me feel really special and really good.

I didn’t know this was considered “soul” food until some years later when I was trying to find a recipe for “Gizzards and Dumplings” and the only one I could find using Google was on "the chitterling site" also known as “the soul food site”. I don’t think I’ve had Gizzards and Dumplings since the last time Ma made them for me, and I’m not sure I ever will (maybe I’m afraid they won’t be as good as the memory), but if you want to try them here’s a recipe:

GIZZARDS AND DUMPLINS

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 lb. chicken gizzards (note: Ma always pealed them for me, because I didn’t like the tough skin around them)

1 tsp. salt

1 recipe of dumplings

2 cans cream of chicken mushroom soup or cream of chicken (undiluted)

Pour water over gizzards until they are just covered.

Add salt.

Bring to boil.

Lower heat and cook until tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

Add 2 cans soup to broth and blend. Add dumplings and serve.

Dumplings:

2 c. Bisquick (note: I’m betting Ma made hers from scratch, but Bisquick has been around since the 1930s and I've only been around since the 1950s)

2/3 c. milk

Mix for soft dough.

Drop by teaspoon into rolling boil stew.

Cook uncovered over low heat for 10 minutes.

Cover and cook 10 minutes more.