Grace Notes

This afternoon I spent time in my kitchen making cookies!!  Chocolate chip pan cookies, to be exact.  The recipe was given to me when I was nine years old by my mom's sister-in-law Carol Hill.  These cookies are awesome.  They melt in your mouth, just delectable.  You ought to try a batch yourself. One thing you should note -- this is a very stiff dough. When I was younger I made two or three batches at once, in a huge metal bowl.  No, I wasn't greedy, I just had a lot of brothers and a sister (still do).  And younger brothers eat a ton of cookies.  My arm would start aching, there was so much stiff dough.  But I always preferred these cookies to any other, because once you were done mixing, you just dumped the entire mess onto cookie trays, smoothed them out flush with the edges, popped them in the oven and baked them.  No re-loading endless (for me, anyway) cookie trays, baking cookies for hours! Unlike in the past, today I only made ONE recipe.  But

On the way home from church this afternoon I was listening to my Kutless CD (Strong Tower) when one of my favorite songs came on -- Take Me In . This song says it all for the Christian.  We no longer have to stand on the outside looking in, going through a man to reach God.  Instead, we have the awesome freedom to go directly to the Lord Jesus Who is always ready and willing to hear us.  God made a way for the ancients to come to Him, to have their sins covered, by going to the temple and offering sacrifices through the priests.  The priests would then sprinkle the blood on the altar, the mercy seat (the place where sins were atoned), in the holy of holies.  No one other than the appointed priest was allowed to go directly into the presence of God in the holy of holies ( Hebrews 9:6-7 ).  When Jesus came to earth in the form of a man, He willingly gave His life on the cross.  When He died, the veil that separated the holy of holies from the rest of the temple (separation from

Season One, Episode1: Ordinary Secrets By Olivia Newport Published in 2013  Shiloh Run Studios, an imprint of Barbour Publishing, Inc. It sounds like a new TV show, one shown on a weekly basis, that leaves you in suspense waiting for the next week.  One that is full of interesting characters and gives a glimpse into one day in the lives of the characters, not enough for the whole picture or even the whole truth (things may be very different than they seem), but enough to make you wonder...   In the first episode, which happens to be Ordinary Secrets , the scene is set for a gala honoring the town's most loved teacher, Quinn.  That's his last name, by the way.  His real name is Ted or Teddy, or Theodore, something like that, but everyone just calls him Quinn.  He has been the high school history teacher for thirty years now, and because of the impact he has had on his students and his town, a gala has been scheduled to honor him.  The only thing is, he doesn't

As I was reading in my Bible this evening, I was so impressed by a prayer of the apostle Paul for the church in Colossae that I wanted to share it with you.  This is a very relevant prayer for all Christians, one I want to read frequently and apply to myself, which comes from Colossians 1:9-14: Father, may they clearly know Your will and achieve the height and depth of spiritual wisdom and understanding.  May their lives be a credit to You, Lord; and what's more, may they continue to delight You by doing every good work and growing in the true knowledge that comes from being close to You.  Strengthen them with Your infinite power, according to Your glorious might, so that they will have everything they need to hold on and endure hardship patiently and joyful.  Thank You, Father, as You have made us eligible to receive our portion of the inheritance given to all those set apart by the light.  You have rescued us from dark powers and brought us safely into the kingdom of Your Son