Daily 5 - Day 229

Today's Daily 5:

1. Full moon tonight.
2. Holy Week
3. Took the long way home on the bus tonight, got some much needed quiet and space for reflection.  Thinking I might try it again tomorrow.
4. The quiet space left me free to actually accomplish things when I got home - I love the feeling of checking things off of a list
5. Figuring out how to slice piping hot pizza when the knife options are limited to a dull paring knife with a 2 inch blade or a serrated bread knife that I'm pretty sure is as old as the house (like maybe 40 years).  And being able to laugh at how ridiculous it seems is that a month ago I lived with a roommate in a well-equipped kitchen because we both loved to cook, and now I live in my grandma's house where pizza gets baked on odd pans because there's no pizza pan in sight, and it gets sliced with a dull 2 inch paring knife, because that's more functional than a decades old bread knife!
6. Finished (and wrote the review for) the book it's felt like I've been slogging through for a while now.
7. Anticipating starting to read a book I purchased a few months back.  Looking forward to starting this title, Jesus Freak by Sara Miles, particularly during Holy Week.
8. Trading a few emails with a dear friend
9. Wrote a snail mail card for another friend, ready for mailing tomorrow.  I love sending (and receiving for that matter) real mail.
10. Thinking about the story of Hagar, and the God who sees.  Something profound in that as I walk through some very uncertain moments right now.

Review: The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

The Hole in Our Gospel is the story of Richard Stearns, formerly a CEO in corporate America, now president of World Vision USA.  Essentially he challenges the reader to consider the idea that a Christian faith without an emphasis on caring for the world’s poor, is not much of a faith at all.

I had high hopes for this book.  I care passionately about issues of poverty, but to be honest, the book fell flat.  There was nothing here that was new information for someone who’s taken the time to educate themselves on issues of poverty and social justice.  At times it felt a bit as if Stearns had taken it upon himself to preach the same set of tired facts, and I found myself wishing that the book has been more of the memoir of his transition from corporate CEO to president of World Vision, as the book jacket copy seemed to promise, and less of the sermon it turned out to be.  It’s usually stories that inspire me to action, not facts, and this book was light on stories and heavy on facts.  That said, it would be a good read for someone who had very little concept of the poverty crisis facing the world today.

Disclaimer:  This book was provided to me free, for review, by Thomas Nelson Publishers via their booksneeze.com program.

New Recipe Project: March #2

The second new recipe for March was Mediteranean Beef Pitas.

All the fixings, lettuce, parsley, lemon, hummus, tzatziki, feta, the beef, and pitas.

The beef.

My assembled pita.

Waves

Emotions seem to come in waves at the moment.

They came that way all weekend.

Anger.

Despair.

Compassion.

Hatred.

Worry.

I received some very unsettling news on Friday evening, and a clarification (sort of) of that news on Saturday.  News that will likely have a drastic impact on my life in coming days.  I can't share it yet, but will as it becomes more clear.

This morning I'm feeling a bit tossed around by the waves.

Last night there was deep compassion for some of those involved.

Today there is anger, that all of this can be happening in the first place.  That things have come to this.

And so, I pray and wait.

I try to let the more positive waves carry me, and push the dark and heavy ones far from me.

And even in this I choose.

And in these moments when I again really feel as if I'm sinking, I remember the quote from Kelle Hampton that I posted on the weekend, "Every time I begin to sink, I remind myself that I am a rockstar. And rockstars know that life is beautiful. Life has challenges. Life teaches you things. And life is all how you look at it." (Kelle Hampton)

I'm a rockstar.

I can do even this.