The Great Pumpkin

Who knew there were so many holiday flavored foods?  The pumpkin bagels are awesome, but the marshmallows are a little . . . gross.  I'm going to put the cranberry jello in the Christmas stocking of a friend of mine.

Bagels

Cream Cheese

Waffles

Marshmallows

Jello?

The real deal.

Cranberry relish is the first holiday dish I make every year.  

It gives me an opportunity to fire-up the food processor that I purchased with my uncle's Whirlpool Kitchen-Aid employee discount and break out the red bowls I bought at the Crate and Barrel in Oakbrook.  I also wear my blue U of M Football sweatshirt to hide the cranberry stains.  I like to joke that the main reason my mom got divorced was to ensure that I would go to CU-Boulder.  Growing up in the Chicagoland area, I dreamed of attending either Northwestern (a bad football team) or the University of Michigan (an awesome football team).  My cousins bought me the sweatshirt when I was in Ann Arbor a couple of Christmases ago.

Cabbage Anyone?

I love just Cabbage Rolls.  The King Soopers where I shopped in Boulder sometimes carried frozen cabbage rolls made by a company that markets kosher entrees for Passover.  Deli Tech, the awesome deli I frequented when I worked in the DTC, also made wonderful cabbage rolls.  Several years ago, my first feeble attempt at cabbage rolls landed in the disposal.  Keep in mind that I have trouble assembling burritos and making jello (really).

This past week, I decided to try again.  Cabbage, after all, is remarkably inexpensive. I used a recipe from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook  blog.  The Mennonite Girls – most of whom who live in beautiful British Columbia – receive 7,000 visitors per day to their blog which features tasty recipes that aren’t overly fussy.  The proceeds from their two successful cookbooks – Mennonite Girls Can Cook and Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Celebrations – have built a greenhouse at an orphanage in the Ukraine and will provide clean water for children at a Mennonite school in Kenya (a place I like about as much as I like BC). 

  

The recipe is remarkably straightforward.  It uses Savoy Cabbage which is more pliable – think Romaine lettuce – than the more pedestrian cabbages that look like pale green bowling balls.  Lovella's recipe instructs cooks to freeze their cabbage overnight.  This serves to break down the fibers in the cabbage leaves.  Don’t skip this step.  Also be sure to allow plenty of time for your cabbage to thaw.

Bring on the Tomato Gravy

Stuck on You

Several Saturdays ago, I pulled a can of tuna out of the cabinet to lure my cats into the utility room so I could wash the kitchen floor.  Sleepy as I was, I noticed a pool of brown goo on the bottom shelf.  Ebenezer, who periodically sneaks into the cabinet to monitor the tuna supply, had most likely tipped over an unopened jar of Grandma's Molasses.  The lid loosened a bit - just enough to cause molasses to ooze out.  It took a good 10 minutes of hot water and elbow grease to remove the sticky mess.

Who me?  I didn't do it.

Perhaps you should check with Isabelle 

or that new cat . . .

Inexpensive Blessings

Some of my favorite fall things are a little pricey – like Dale of Norway sweaters.  Others are more reasonably priced.  Seeing that I’m short on cash, I thought I’d share some of my favorite inexpensive blessings with you.

Do Something for Someone Else

One of the best ways for me to get out of a funk is to do something for someone else.  Perhaps someone in your neighborhood needs help raking leaves, winterizing their sprinkler system or would like a friendly phone call? 

It’s also Operation Christmas Child shoe box season.  Here’s more information on how to pack a shoe box.

Enjoy a Cup of Tea

Summer's finally over and most of the trees have lost their leaves.  I just found a coupon for Celestial Seasonings. I think I’ll make myself a cup of tea.

Hug Your Companion Animal

You walk your dog.  You scoop your cat’s box.  Give your pet a hug.  They’ll love you for it.  Did you know that owning a pet is good for your health?  Check this out.

Make Homemade Bread

Flour, salt, yeast, water.  If you purchase flour and yeast in quantity, making bread is really inexpensive.  I buy my yeast in bulk from the King Arthur Flour website.  They sell a nice container which holds a TON of yeast. 

Go here if you want to learn how to make If you want to learn how to make No Knead Bread.  This link contains food writer Mark Bittman's original interview with Jim Lahey, the No Knead Bread king.

Make Homemade Soup

I just bought a big bag of lentils for $1.37.  Lentils, chopped carrots, chopped celery, a little onion, two bay leaves, salt, pepper.  I use chicken stock in most soup I make, but you could probably use water and save more money.

Read Scripture

I’m a Christian, so the Bible’s my book.  If you practice another faith, your scriptures may be different than mine.  Many of us own multiple copies of scripture, but don’t spend much time reading them.  You can use this plan to read through the Psalms and Proverbs in a month.

Turn On Your Fireplace

If you live in a reasonably new dwelling in the Denver Metro Area, your fireplace uses natural gas and not logs.  My fireplace generates a fair amount of heat and absolutely no nasty soot.  Turn on your fireplace

Watch the Sunrise or Sunset

I don’t think I need to elaborate on this one.

Leafy

Taking pictures is one of the things I do 

to pass the time while I wait for Access A Ride.  

It's supposed to snow on Monday evening, so I thought I would take some last-minute pictures of the leaves.  

Some are from my neighborhood.  The rest

 are from the property surrounding the 

Mineral Light Rail Station.

Yellow

Orange

Rainbow

Red

If I had taken a picture of the crows in my neighborhood, you'd know how fake these scarecrows really are.

Book Bag

Being jobless is getting to me and I have been experiencing insomnia.  Some toss and turn.  I read.  I thought I would share some of the books I've read recently.  

While the Moody Bible Institute is a wee bit conservative for my educational tastes (as was Denver Seminary), I think Moody Broadcasting does an incredible job creating original Christian programming.  I am picky about my radio.  I listen to secular radio like NPR and KBCO as well as Christian stations.  Just because a radio outlet is Christian, that does not necessarily mean that the content is high quality.  I discovered Moody's live stream several years ago when I was homesick at Christmas.  I listen to a lot of their programming online.

I received a copy of The Post-Church Christian when Moody invited people who listen to the Bring to Mind podcast to enter their names in a drawing for a FREE book. 

THE POST-CHURCH CHRISTIAN: DEALING WITH THE GENERATIONAL BAGGAGE OF OUR FAITH

Who are the millennials?  They are the 80 million people born between 1982 and 2000.  In the introduction to their book, The Post-Church Christian, Paul and Carson Nyquist write, “In the past few years, considerable research has clearly documented the millennial migration from the church.  David Kinnaman provided groundbreaking research in his books unChristian and You Lost Me.”  Millennials love Jesus, but they are unsure about the evangelical church.

The Nyquists, Paul, a baby-boomer and the president of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and his son Carson, a millennial and pastor serving in Wisconsin, divide their book into three parts.  In Part 1, Carson gives voice to the millennials’ frustration with the existing evangelical church.  In Part 2, Paul asks millennials pointed questions  including, Can I love Jesus and not love the church?  Can the church change and ditch its sad reputation?  What do I do with the alienation I feel?  In Part 3, the authors discuss the future of the evangelical church.

Says the younger Nyquist, “Our generation is messed up and we know it.  But we also want a place to belong, to be known.  To us, ugly reality beats fake beauty any day.  Perfection is a standard no one can meet.  But many of us grew up in homes and churches where image management was king.  As a Christian, it was your goal to convince others how spiritual you were.  Reality was irrelevant.  Perception was everything.”  Ouch.

In his section, Paul Nyquist asks millennials a series of pointed questions and provides his perspective on some of the issues millennials have with the Evangelical Church.

Do I Need to Be Part of the Church to Follow Jesus?

"You need the church and the church needs you.  The MBI president points to Hebrews 10:24-25 which states, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another -- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” 

How Do I Deal with the Current Reputation of the Church?

°        Admit the flaws

°        Churches get stuck

°        There is still hope

What’s My Responsibility to Those Who’ve Hurt Me?

Nyquist suggests that millennials be gracious to those in the church who’ve hurt or offended them.  “Don’t lob a grenade.  Forgive them.  Thank them.   Engage them in a conversation.

What Freedom Do I Have to Engage Culture and the Unbelieving World?

The elder Nyquist was taken aback when his Bible-believing son got a tattoo.  He didn’t know what to think at first.  “You are born of a different culture with a unique set of values.  You see the world – and Christianity – through different lenses.  Seeking to be true to those values, you have not found wide acceptance by baby boomers, such as me.  Instead, you have experienced judgment, frustration, alienation, and deep hurt.”

Millennials in their attempt to engage contemporary culture will encounter gray areas where they will be unsure how to proceed.  Dr. Nyquist encourages them to ask themselves the following questions based on material contained in First Corinthians:

1.    Will it be helpful for me?  (1 Corinthians 6:12)

2.    Will it dominate me?  (1 Corinthians 6:12)

3.    Will it cause another believer to stumble?  

       (1 Corinthians 6:13)

4.    Will it build up your neighbor?  (1 Corinthians 10:23-24)

5.    Will it bring God glory?  (1 Corinthians 10:31)

6.    Will it offend an unbeliever?  (1 Corinthians 10:32-33)

Carson Nyquist concludes his section with the following, “I have incredible hope for our generation.  I believe the church is in a unique place, unsure of its place in society as she tries to balance dogmatic tradition and future innovation.  In this moment we need leaders in our generation to dream about the future of the church – not to change our faith but to find new ways to express it.”

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, A Small Town, and the Secret of a Good LifE

I read the Little Way of Ruthie Leming in one sitting, literally.  This non-fiction book, written by journalist Rod Dreher, is simultaneously the memoir of his teacher-sister Ruthie who died of cancer in her forties, and the story of Rod’s making peace with his small-town Louisiana family and his returning ‘home’ with his wife Julie and their kids.  The Little Way of Ruthie Leming reads like a novel and – even though Ruthie loses her battle with cancer – the story is far more inspiring than it is depressing.  While it does not come with ready-made questions, I think this would be a great Book Club book.

FIERCE WOMEN AND KINGDOM WOMAN

You don't have to know me really well to know that I struggle with the Christian community's concept of submission.  I grew up in a family where my father - who is not what most people would term a man of faith - used his gender/leadership role to subjugate my mom and me.  

Luckily, I had other men in my life who respected women.  That does not make submission any easier for me.  I once told a man that I was dating that "I did not go to college to stay home and cook your dinner."  I am pretty sure he wanted to cry - as he bought me my first microwave and my first Wusthof knives.

Submission, as set forth by Kimberly Wagner in her book Fierce Women, and Tony Evans in his book Kingdom Woman  (and other Evangelical authors as well) holds that while men and women are equally valuable, they fulfill different roles in marriage, the church and society.  In places like Ephesians 5:22 and 1 Peter 3:1, God exhorts women to voluntarily follow their husband's leadership.  While I understand the concept, I have a hard time visualizing what submission looks like in real life in the 21st century.

In this day and age where women increasingly possess advanced degrees and may make more money than their husbands, Wagner and Evans assume most Christian women marry and bear children in their twenties and are stay-at-home moms for the duration of their adult lives.  

Many believing women either choose not or cannot afford to stay home for the duration.  Furthermore, some of us choose not to get married.  So far, the only book I've read that addresses submission in these situations is Dancing With the One You Love: Living Out Submission in the Real World by Cindy Easley.  I'm just saying . . .

MORMONISM

Not unlike submission, Mormonism is a topic that I have visited and revisited over the years.  My roommate from my sophomore year of college was Mormon.  Some of you know that I've spent more Thanksgivings and Christmas Eves with my long-time friends, the Johnsons, than I have my biological family.  The Johnsons are Mormon.  

While I do not agree with Mormon theology, I have developed a profound respect for many things LDS from my friends.  I bought a number of books on Mormonism - most written by respected authors from both perspectives - when I was writing a paper a couple years ago.  I recently re-read How Wide the Divide by Craig L. Blomberg and Stephen E. Robinson and Understanding Mormonism by Andrew Jackson.  Nerdy, I know.  Still, I was stunned by some of the incorrect perceptions of Mormons and the LDS Church when Mitt Romney was the Republican candidate for president.

Happy October

Zuzu

This is Zuzu, my new housemate's cat.  

So far, my cats have been surprisingly well-behaved.

No flying fur and minimal hissing.

Great Pumpkin

I love all things pumpkin.  Here are two pumpkin recipes I recently made.  The first is for Pumpkin Bread.  The second is for Pumpkin Cookies.

PUMPKIN BREAD

1 cup raisins – preferably golden ones

2/3 cup boiling water

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs beaten

1 16 ounce can pumpkin

1 cup chopped pecans

3½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Soak raisins in the boiling water for 5 minutes.

Combine sugar, oil, and eggs.  Add pumpkin.  Sift together dry ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture.  Add pecans and raisins with water.  Pour batter into three greased medium sized loaf pans.  Bake 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing.  If you want your slices of pumpkin bread to look nice, refrigerate the bread for an hour or two before you slice it.

PUMPKIN MOLASSES COOKIES

½ cup butter, room temperature

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

¼ cup molasses

½ cup pumpkin - I used canned 

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 2/3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

Granulated Sugar for rolling cookies

l

• Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.  Add egg, molasses, pumpkin and vanilla.  I used a hand mixer for this step.

• Whisk dry ingredients together and add them to the wet ingredients just until combined.  Refrigerate dough for an hour or two.

• Scoop tablespoons of dough, roll in balls, and roll in sugar. The dough is sticky so this is a bit messy.

• Place 2" apart on parchment lined baking pans.  Bake in 350º oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

• Let cookies cool on the baking pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

• These cookies have a subtle pumpkin spice flavor and a really soft texture.  When I first took them out of the oven, I thought I had not baked them long enough.

Jobless

Since May 28, I have been without a job.  Unlike many in the faith community, I’ve not aspired to be a wife and mother.  I’ve always sought to be gainfully employed, to serve in church and to serve in the community.  As one friend said, “Some people work to live, and some people live to work.  We all know which one you are.”  In addition to the painful reality of not being able to make ends meet, being without a job is demoralizing.

During this protracted period of unemployment, my pets have been a continual source of comfort and entertainment.  When Isabelle became mine nearly six years ago, I bought purchased some cat toys and placed them in a ‘toy box’ in the living room.  Did she play with them?  No.  I have found that both animals particularly enjoy playing with this purple ribbon.

Book Bag

I thought I would share my thoughts regarding some of the books I’ve read over the last nine months or so. It’s a short list of books, but a rather long post.  While all are 'Christian,'  the concepts in Help, Thanks, Wow and Troubled seem applicable to other faith traditions.

BONHOEFFER: PASTOR, MARTYR, PROPHET, SPY

I like Dietrich Bonhoeffer. First, he’s got a tremendous last name. Second, he’s written some outstanding books including the Cost of Discipleship and Life Together. Life Together, his treatise on community – written long before ‘community’ became a buzz word, is my all-time favorite Christian book. I like the prolific Eric Metaxas as well. In addition to Bonhoeffer, he’s written a well-received biography of William Wilberforce, the kids’ picture book Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving and some great Veggie Tales scripts.

Though I bought the book when it first came out, it took me quite some time to wade through Metaxas’ best-selling biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. I have a degree in journalism. I like to write short sentences, short paragraphs, and short papers. I could never write a book. At this stage of my life, I don’t read many 500+ page books either. While Metaxas’ book was excellent, I thought it was a bit too long.

CROSS SHAPED GOSPEL

The Cross Shaped Gospel by Bryan Lorrritts is the best book I’ve read so far this year.  Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church, in Memphis, TN, Lorritts maintains that the gospel and the cross are so closely related that we cannot see one without the other. “The gospel is the cross. In fact, we need not look far to get a very clear picture of the gospel; just look at its shape. The two beams of the cross – one vertical, the other horizontal – tell us all we need, to know about the gospel. The cross-shaped gospel has to do with man being reconciled to God (the vertical beam) and to one another (the horizontal beam) through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Messiah who died in our place for our sins.”

Today, some believers disconnect the two beams and undermine the power of the gospel.  When we disconnect the vertical and horizontal beams, the Christ-follower and the church limp along, not functioning at full capacity. Lorritts suggests that we reach out by reaching up. “Our relationship with God is always first. But once you reach up to the Savior – or He reaches out to you – the response to His grace is to reach out to your neighbor. In fact, we make the gospel appealing to our neighbors and the world by our acts of compassion.”

While some facets of society, the workplace for example, have become increasingly diverse, it seems that our churches remain socioeconomically and racially segregated. I was curious to see what Brian, who is an African American and leads an ethnically-diverse church staff and congregation in inner-city Memphis, had to say about such things.

“Biblical community has always celebrated diversity, but because of the centrality of the gospel, diversity does not become a rallying cry; Jesus does. What this means is that Christ-followers have a reference point, a north star if you will, to challenge and encourage one another, to genuinely love one another and experience what the writers of the New Testament called fellowship. My race never becomes the focal point in Christocentric community; Jesus does.”

He continues, “Our conversations on race and our attempts to bring people together should not be divorced from the cross, because when this happens we turn into mere sociologists, diminishing the power of the crucified Christ. Racial diversity is not essential for salvation; the gospel of Jesus Christ is. However, where the gospel is truly and authentically preached and lived, we should expect to see diversity.”

HELP, THANKS, WOW

Several years ago, one of my pastor-friends shared Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith with me. I loved it. Though my perspective on faith is thoroughly evangelical and I vote conservatively, I generally feel out of place in the ‘evangelical subculture.’ I was not raised in the church. I rarely attended Sunday School and my mother has never gone to a Beth Moore Bible Study. That’s why I like Anne Lamott. Next to her, I look like the proverbial church lady. How many grandmothers do you know with dreadlocks?

Lamott, whose essays regularly appear at Salon.com, has experienced substance abuse and been both a single mother and grandmother. Even though I’m not a mom, I thoroughly enjoyed both Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year and Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son’s First Son. If you like to write, take a look at Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Though she writes from a Christian perspective, Lamott’s language is sometimes edgier than other faith-based authors.

In Help, Thanks, Wow, one of Lamott’s shorter books, she describes “three types of prayers – asking for assistance, appreciating the good we witness, and feeling awe at the world – that get us through the day and show us the way forward.”

The first prayer Lamott addresses is the prayer for help. She writes, “Most good honest prayers remind me that I am not in charge, that I cannot fix anything, and that I open myself to being helped by something, some force, some friends, some something. These prayers say. “Dear Some Something, I do not know what I am doing. I can’t see where I am going. I am getting more lost, more afraid, more clenched. Help.”

The second prayer Lamott addresses is the prayer of thanksgiving. “Saying and meaning ‘Thanks’ leads to a crazy thought: What more can I give? We take the action first, by giving – and then the insight follows, that this fills us. Sin is not the adult bookstore on the corner. It is the hard heart, the lack of generosity, and all the isms, racism and sexism and so forth.”

Wow is the third and final form of prayer addressed by Lamott. What is wow? “‘Wow’ means we are not dulled to wonder. We click into being fully present when we’re stunned into that gasp, by the site of a birth, or images of the World Trade Center towers falling, or the experience of being in a fjord, at dawn, for the first time. ‘Wow’ is about having one’s mind blown by the mesmerizing or the miraculous: the veins in a leaf, birdsong, volcanoes.”

TROUBLED MINDS

I’ve long believed that the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of our being are connected. For me, the church is much more than a building. The church is family.  Like all families, some churches are healthier or than others. These two broad concepts impact how I view the church’s role in serving those who experience mental illness.

Amy Simpson, author of Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission, is editor of the Christianity Today website – Gifted for Leadership – and managing editor of marriage and parenting resources for Today’s Christian Woman. Her father served as a pastor for ten years and her mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia when Amy was young.  In her book, Simpson shares from her personal experience as well as the research she did for CT.

How common is mental illness? “According to the National Institute of Mental Health and other experts, about one in four adults – a little more than 25 percent of Americans ages 18 and older – suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. Yes, one in four. That equates to around fifty million people in the United States. Because many mental illnesses (like depressive episodes) are short-term and not chronic, a higher percentage of people are affected by mental illness at some point in their lives.”

Though 80 percent of 500 church leaders Simpson surveyed, said they believe mental illness is ‘a real treatable and manageable illness caused by genetic, biological or environmental factors,’ only 12.5 percent of them said mental illness is openly discussed in a healthy way in their church.

What can/should congregations/congregants do to support congregants experiencing mental illness and their families? When planning Sunday School lessons, the first question I ask is: What do I want the children to remember or What do I want them to be able to do?  On pages 180-195 of her book, Simpson provides a list of things – in order of complexity – that churches and individuals can do to assist those impacted by mental illness.

She states, “I believe Christ is calling his church to a great outpouring of love, overflowing from the bottomless well of living water he has placed within each of his people. I believe that he wants that love to reach people with mental illness and lift them in a great wave of healing and hope – right where they are, among those our society considers untouchable, avoidable and justifiably condemned to the fringes.”

Does Isabelle get dizzy when

she sleeps with her head upside down?

Boxed In

Several months ago, I ordered some shampoo and conditioner online.  I've had psoriasis most of my life and cannot use skin and hair products containing excess chemicals.  The shampoo I use costs half as much online as it does at Whole Foods.  The online retailer packed my products in a corugated cardboard box containing the following recycling suggestions. . .

Mile High Baked Beans

It has taken me almost as long to learn how to cook Homemade Baked Beans as it took me to learn how to make Homemade Chicken Soup.  I have always liked Baked Beans.  I did not eat them much growing up.  My dad did not like Baked Beans.  When my father did not like something - be it baked beans or red shoes - they weren't allowed in our home.  My mom stored her red shoes and  red dress at her parents' house.

Here is my recipe for baked beans.  Part of the problem with cooking beans at high-altitude, is that they take forever to cook.  The baking soda eliminates that problem.

COOKING BEANS AT HIGH ALTITUDE

Put any amount of dried beans in a Dutch oven or stockpot (no soaking necessary). If you add two cups beans to the pot, add four cups water. If you add four cups beans, add eight cups water and so on. Add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon baking soda to the bean + water mixture (depending on how many beans you are cooking).

Bring the beans to a boil over high heat, then lower heat to keep the beans at a simmer for about 1 hour to an hour and 15 minutes. Taste the beans to see if they are done to your liking, they should be soft enough to eat, but relatively firm.

Pour cooked beans into a colander and give them a quick rinse.

Store the cooked beans in an airtight container in your refrigerator or continue with your recipe, as desired.

BAKED BEANS FROM SCRATCH

• Two pounds cooked beans (I use navy and pinto beans)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• ½ pound, bacon chopped
• 1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar
• 1½ cups of tomato sauce or catsup

Saute onion, bacon, and bell pepper in a Dutch oven. Drain grease as necessary. Add all other ingredients except beans. Cook ‘sauce’ over medium high heat until it begins to bubble. Add beans. Cook over medium until done. Be careful. The sugar and molasses in the sauce cause the beans to burn easily.  Add additional water as necessary.

No More, Mama

If Ebenezer wants something while I am using my computer, he will come up and lie on top of my left hand so I cannot use my mouse.  Often, he'll place his paw(s) on the keyboard as well.

Rubber Stamp Theology

As many of you know, I have had a challenging last year and a half or so.  I left Denver Seminary sans degree, and have been trying to re-establish myself in the work world.  Let's just say that it hasn't been easy.  One of the things I do to relieve stress is to make cards.  I've been making lots of cards lately.  The messages on these rubber stamps really speak to me.  Perhaps they will speak to you.