God's Math

   Our Sunday school lesson yesterday was on the contest between 450 prophets of Baal and one prophet of God. Elijah laid out the challenge for the contest. Each contestant would lay an animal on an altar and the god who sent fire would prove to be the one true God. Of course, Elijah's God won the contest because Baal was a powerless figment of their imagination and did not exist.

   We can learn some lessons from this story. First, Elijah had great faith in his God. He laid out the challenge and trusted God to send fire in answer to his prayer.

   Second, it might seem he was taking a great risk. What would happen if no fire came? Elijah was not afraid because he knew his God. What He says He will do. Do I have such great faith? Do you hesitate when God asks you to do something that seems impossible? "For with God nothing shall be impossible."

   Third, Baal was a pantheistic nature god. They believed he brought rain. God had shut off the rain and Baal was not able to do anything about it. God could have used some other method to deal with Israel, but the three-year drought underscored the truth that the rain god was a fraud. Baal let them down in bringing rain and failed again by not responding to their frantic pleas for fire. The false gods people serve today (money, fame, etc.) will let us down too. There is a God-size hole in our hearts that only He can fill.

   Fourth, when the fire came down and totally burned up the Elijah's sacrifice, (wood, stones, water, and dust) the people acknowledged Elijah's God was the true Lord God. The prophets of Baal were destroyed and the drought was broken with a tremendous rain. Repentance always brings blessing. 

   I had the lesson prepared when I went to bed Saturday night. Before I was fully awake Sunday morning, God's math equation popped into my head. Adding faith subtracts fear, multiplies blessing, and divides sorrow. It was the cherry on the top of the lesson.

100 Years and Counting

 The extended Stauffer family always has a chicken bbq the Saturday after Labor Day. Since Leroy's mother's birthday is September 1, her birthday is always recognized at the bbq. This year the bbq was expanded with a full-fledged 100th birthday party. We rented a school for the event, which was a good thing because we had the largest crowd ever and it rained and hailed just as we were ready to eat.

  Here are a few pictures that tell the story.

Sarah with her birthday cake

Chicken bbq, baked potatoes, baked beans, homemade bread

The salad bar

The crowd enjoying the meal

Sarah with her ten children

Twenty of the 29 grandchildren (4 deceased, 5 missing)

Some of the 71 great-grandchildren

Seven great-great-grandchildren, held by either a parent or grandparent.

There have been a lot of changes in the world in 100 years. But the earth keeps turning and God keeps sending new people to replace those who died. What will the next hundred years bring? Only God knows. What we know is that He keeps His promises and we are secure in Him no matter what happens.

The First Hundred Years

 Yesterday the Stauffer family celebrated the 100th birthday of their mother, Sarah Stauffer.

Seven of her ten children and their spouses met in the Richland Home where she lives to have lunch with her. There will be another birthday party for the extended family on September 9. Leroy is the oldest of her ten children. How many people who are about to turn eighty still have their mothers? What a blessing! (My parents were both gone when I was 46.)

We had a nice lunch with a long gab session afterward.

In the evening, the Home had an ice cream party for all the residents and their families. It was a lovely evening for an outdoor party.

Mom had a hard start in life. Her mother died when she was ten years old. She was shuffled around among relatives and strangers for many years. She was the last of her siblings to return home after her father remarried, and then she soon got married herself. She lived through the Depression and two World Wars, was a farmer's wife, and raised ten children who are all still living. Maybe a tough life made her strong enough to live 100 years. As one centenarian once said, "The first hundred years are the hardest."

Mom has started her second century. How far will she get in this one?

Chances and Choices

    Life is a strange mix of geography, circumstances, and choices. I often wondered what my life would have been if I had been born at a different time or in a different place. Would I have been one of those who saw and rejected Jesus when He lived on earth? Would I have been a starving African or someone killed in the war in Ukraine? Who would I be if my mother had married someone else? Who would I have married if I had lived in another state? 

   Those questions have no answers. I can only believe the time and place I was born was not by chance but determined by God for a reason and thank Him that I am here now. 

   The other variable is the choices our parents and we have made in life. When I was five years old my parents were asked by their home congregation to help start a small mission outreach in Berks County. After commuting back and forth for many years, they decided to move closer to the church. My dad left a good job and lost the possibility of a large pension in making the move. My mother said many times it was not the best decision financially but the best for the family spiritually. Their home church had become more liberal and continued to slide until today it is barely surviving. Mom often asked, "Where would our family be if we had stayed there?" Good question. Would we have had the backbone to stand alone when the church started sliding? Were we doing what we did because we believed in it or because that's what was expected? Was our belief strong enough to resist peer pressure? The choice to be part of a conservative church removed the peer pressure of the liberal trend in the home church.

   Sometimes when I see the choices some young people are making, I wish I could make the choices for them. But then, I wasn't much different at that age. I thought about the here and now instead of where that choice might lead. I've seen so many people start making small changes that led to more and bigger changes. They left their church for something more liberal and kept on going until, in some cases, they completely lost out spiritually.

    The most important choice in my life was choosing to accept and follow Jesus. I have not been perfect, but that choice has spared me a lot of trouble and sorrow. The second most important choice in my life was who I married. I was too young and foolish to make a good choice myself. It was God who led my husband and I together. We balance each other out and work well together. Either one without the other would be severely handicapped. 

   We have made some choices in life that were not so good, like making a poor purchase or missing an opportunity. We made plenty of parenting mistakes and personal failures. But underneath we had a solid foundation on the Word of God to help us correct the course and try again. I'm glad I have a God who allows second chances when I make poor choices. 

   

Frozen Pie Fillings

   We are in the thick of the annual canning and freezing marathon of summer. We are eating like kings with all the fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season. And with what we are preserving we will be eating good all winter. 

    One of the things I have been doing for years is freezing fruit pie fillings. With a supply on hand, I can easily whip up a pie on short notice. I had used up all the fillings I had and started a fresh supply of peach pie fillings today. It's quite simple and requires no cooking.

Here's the recipe:

Peel and slice enough peaches to fill a 9 in. foil pie pan.

Mix 3/4 cup of sugar with 3 tbs. instant clear jel

Add peaches to the dry mix and stir until coated

Put pie filling in the foil pan, cover with foil, and freeze.

To bake:

Remove pie filling from foil pan and place in an unbaked pie shell.

DO NOT THAW

Sprinkle with nutmeg and cinnamon.

Dot with butter

Top with crust or crumb topping.

Bake at 350 until fruit is soft and bubbling (45-50 minutes)

I also make apple and cherry pie fillings like this too. Any kind of fruit can be used.

I always get compliments when I take one to a meal somewhere because they taste like fresh fruit. The secret is not thawing them.

Big Sister

    Our youngest son and his wife were married nine years when their first child was born. Her birth was the culmination of years of tears, prayers, red tape, and medical help. She was conceived an unconventional way through embryo adoption. For an explanation on how that is done, see my blog post from March 6, 2020.

   Abi is a delightful little girl and will be three in September. Her parents wanted a second child so she doesn't have to grow up alone. There can be all kinds of complications when doing an embryo adoption. If things had gone the way they hoped, they would have had a second child a year ago. Again, prayers ascended daily as we went through three failed attempts (for various reasons).

    We are happy to announce that God had granted our desires and given life to another frozen embryo. What will it be? A brother or a sister? We will find out in January. 

    Thank you Jesus! We are getting one more grandchild in our old age. How about that!

Bloom Where You Are Planted

    "God answers prayer and sometimes He goes far beyond anything we thought could happen."

     Late last summer our son brought us a kitten and built a box to shelter it. We decided to put the box at the southwest corner of the patio where it would be handy for feeding during the winter. I had some Calla lilies planted at that spot so I dug them up.  The box was placed in position on an orange foam pad and the cat moved in. 

    Winter passed and spring came. I planted the bulbs I had dug up and stored in the basement all winter. In June I was amazed to see a Calla lily had forced it's way out from under the cat's box and had a small bud. I obviously missed one when I dug the bulbs, but how could it grow with the box setting above it and getting no rain?

    I wasn't praying for that bulb. I didn't know it was there. That it could grow and push out from under the obstacle above it was far beyond anything I thought could happen. 

    What major obstacle is in your way today? Take courage from the Calla lily. In its dark underground surroundings, it sensed the light above and reached out to it. There is Light above the darkness of your obstacle. Reach for the Light, push out from under the obstacle and bloom where you are planted.