2 Corinthians 5:21

"God made [Jesus], who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that, in Him, we might become the Righteousness of God."

Powerful words that rightly sum up practically the entire New Testament, and certainly the Gospel.

I've been reading John Stott's Magnum Opus: the Cross of Christ in my Bible study and have just finished a chapter on four different ways to view the effects of salvation.
1) Propitiation, from the Temple Mount.  God, through Jesus, satisfied His own wrath by fully and completely bearing it on behalf of sinful humanity.  In doing so, Jesus both fully absorbed God's wrath and fully bore our sins away from us, accomplishing the jobs of both the sacrificial Lamb and the Scapegoat on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16)

2) Redemption, from the slave markets.  God paid the price on our heads (life-blood) to Himself to satisfy His own code of law.

3) Justification, from the court room.  God pronounced us completely justified and "brought forward into the present the verdict that belonged to the last judgement...by sending His own Son in the likeness of our sinful nature to be a sin offering, God actually condemned our sin in the human Jesus.  It is only because He was condemned that we could be justified" (Stott, 189)

4) Reconciliation, from the family room.  God initiated the reconciliation of believing sinners to Himself by 1) removing His wrath from us and 2) removing our sin from His sight.  By destroying the grounds for enmity, God creates reconciliation.  And we, who were once far off from God and cut off from the covenant people are now brought near and bound to both God and His Church through Jesus.

Stott ends with the passage above and a quote from Martin Luther: "Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, I am your sin.  You took on you what was mine; yet set on me what was yours.  You became what you are not, that I might become what I am not." 

Bagels

So today, I attempted to make bagels from scratch.  Note the word "attempted".  Very important word.  I began with the recipe you find in Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  No biggie.  Love this cookbook and I have yet to find one single recipe that didn't work out perfectly.  So I followed their steps up until the actual boiling of the bagels.

That's right: BOILING!

You take these precious little lumps of dough...

And poke a MASSIVE hole in them and stretch the lump out until the whole is bigger than the previous exterior wall of the bagel.

 I'm guessing the theory is that it'll shrink in the wash, so to speak?  Well it doesn't.  It tears apart.  And then you end up with strips of gooey bagel mush floating in your stockpot of water:

 YUCK!  So, I thought: what if you only poke a tiny little hole in them?  Will that work?

 The answer is yes:

(though some work better than others)

I dusted them with sugar and cinnamon because the dough was plain.  

Not bad.  Though, what a mess.  

 How do they taste?  ........................uh......................... ask me tomorrow.................

That's My King

This video is based on a message by the Late S M Lockridge.  LOVE IT!

"The Bible says that my king is the king of the Jews, He's the king of Israel, He's the king of righteousness, He's the king of the ages, He's the king of heaven, He's the king of glory, He's the king of kings, and He's the lord of lords.  That's my king!  I wonder: do you know Him?

"My king is a sovereign king.  No means or measure can define His limitless love.  He's enduringly strong, He's entirely sincere, He's eternally steadfast, He's immortally graceful, He's imperially powerful, He's impartially merciful.  Do you know Him?

"He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizon of this world.  He's God's son, He's the sinner's savior, He's the centerpiece of civilization.  He's unparalleled, He's unprecedented.  He's the loftiest idea in literature; He's the highest personality in philosophy; He's the fundamental doctrine of true theology; He's the only one qualified to be an all sufficient savior.  I wonder if you know Him today?

"He supplies strength to the weak, He's available for the tempted and the tried, He sympathizes and He saves, He strengthens and sustains, He guards and he guides.  He heals the sick, He cleanses the leper, He forgives sinners, He discharges debtors, He delivers the captive, He defends the feeble, He blesses the young, He serves the unfortunate, He regards the aged, He rewards the diligent, He beautifies the meek.  I wonder if you know Him?

"He's the key to knowledge, He's the wellspring of wisdom, He's the doorway of deliverance, He's the pathway of peace, He's the roadway of righteousness, He's the highway of holiness, He's the gateway of glory.  Do you know Him?

"Well, His life is matchless, His goodness is limitless, His mercy is everlasting, His love never changes, His word is enough, His grace is sufficient, His reign is righteous and His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

"I wish I could describe Him to you, He's indescribable, He's incomprehensible, He's invincible, He's irresistible.  Well, you can't get Him out of your mind.  You can't get Him off of your hands.  You can't out-live Him and you can't live without Him.  

"The Pharisees couldn't stand Him but they found out they couldn't stop Him.  Pilate couldn't find any fault with Him, Herod couldn't kill Him, Death couldn't handle Him and the grave couldn't hold Him!  

"That's my king!  That's my king!" 

Da Bulls

Last night, mum and dad, and J and I went to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to go to our first of the summer baseball games.

The beautiful Bulls Park.

Me and J.

Mum and Dad

 They have this great game where a little kid has to race Wool E Bull around the bases between innings.  He must have been no more than three.  He was adorable.  And he got freaked out by some giant Smurfs and wouldn't finish the race.  So the nice lady ing the blue shirt had to pick him up and carry him around the bases.  Wool E Bull did a great job being distracted and losing.  We all cheered!

 They hit a home run and the Bull board blew smoke from it's nostrils.  (sorry for the bad pic.  I was cheering too much!)

 Another homer, here you can see the smoke!

 SUMO TIME!!!

 Third home run and the bull's eyes glowed!!!

 We won!!!

It was a rollicking good time.  Dollar hot dogs.  Halfway decent beer.  Our team won.  Lots of fun was had by all.

I love baseball!

Perfect Corn

My mom discovered the best way to make perfectly cooked, not mushy, hot, delectable corn-on-the-cob.  I will share this (hopefully with some pics).

Begin by filling a stock pot with enough water to cover the corn and boil on high heat.

Shuck two ears of corn and get as much of the corn silk off as possible.

 When the water boils, place the two ears in the boiling water.  Bring the water back up to a roiling boil and then TURN THE HEAT OFF!!!

Place a bowl over the corn to keep the ears down in the hot water.  

Set the timer for three minutes.  At exactly three minutes, remove the bowl with a pair of tongs and pull the corn out.

Voila!  Perfect corn.  Works with 2 or 20 ears.  No more mushy corn ever.

jobs.

EOG proctoring went fairly well today.  Except for the part where they were done and my four boys had to stand in line behind about thirteen kindergarten boys waiting for the bathroom, and missing lunch.  But they were very good.  Or very scared of me (I threatened horrible things if they spoke in the halls).  One more day and then I am NOT driving to the Bull City again this school year.

The

End

So I got out and raced down to the library to give math lessons to a young lady who speaks French, is learning Spanish and Arabic, translates Egyptian hieroglyphics in her spare time, reads above the college level, and is doing 7th grade math.  She is sweet and lovely and makes teaching uber fun.  In one lesson we covered ratios, proportions, percentages, percentages of whole numbers, different kinds of triangles and how to make permutations easy (ie: not listing out EVERY SINGLE COMBINATION JUST TO FIND OUT HOW MANY OF THEM THERE ARE!!!).  I had fun.  She got good at all these things.  AND I got paid for it.  love my job.

Also really enjoying my job as a wife, right now.  (well, always, really.  J is the best husband EVUR!!11!1!!one! and makes it really easy to do wifey things.)  Last night I decided that I wanted cheesy scalloped potatoes.  So I made them.  (And didnt' take pictures...which I should have done because I love it when people post recipes with pictures in them so I shall endeavour to do better).  But here is the recipe:

Preheat oven to 350.
Peel 3-4 medium sized potatoes and thinly (like 1/4-1/8 of an inch) slice them.  Boil the slices in hot water until partially cooked (a knife will go through them with a little resistance).
In another saucepan, melt 1-2 Tbsp butter on medium heat and saute a minced clove of garlic and 1/4 of a medium sized onion (diced) until tender.  Add 1 Tbsp flour and mix into the butter.  Add 1/2-3/4 cups of milk and allow to heat.  Then add a good handful of shredded cheese.  Stir until melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Drain the potatoes and spread out in a greased 8x8 baking dish.  Pour the cheesey gooey goodness over the potatoes.  Bake UNCOVERED for 30-35 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Tonight: Burgers and Mum's Perfect Corn.  (which I shall write up and post here WITH PICTURES!)

So I wait for You