Java with Jennifer Journal

Passover Seder Dinner

This Easter weekend, we enjoyed a traditional (well, modified slightly)!  Passover Seder Dinner with family and friends.  It was so meaningful because we celebrated our Messiah with every part of the ceremony.  But, my favorite dish was CHAROSET.  It was especially delicious with a dab of horseradish on a matzo!  You must try it!

CENTRAL EUROPEAN CHAROSET

Source: The Jewish Gourmet Cook by Judy Zeidler

•           2 apples unpeeled but cored and finely chopped

•           1 cup finely chopped walnuts

•           1/2 cup raisins or dates, chopped

•           2 Tbs honey

•           1 tsp cinnamon

•           1/4 cup sweet Passover wine

Combine the apples, walnuts, honey and cinnamon in a bowl and mix well.  Add enough wine to bind the mixture.  Serve in a bowl or roll into 1-inch balls and arrange on a serving plate.  Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

March 2011 Taste This!

What I Am In To Lately

 

Spring Break sent us south to Waco, Texas to visit our son Clayton who is a junior at Baylor.  We had an absolutely delightful time.  We went to Cameron Park, Common Grounds and even had dinner at The Coffee Shop Cafe'-- President George W. Bush's favorite eatery near Crawford!   (Hail to the chief and the fried okra!)

 

Probably the biggest "touristy" highlight for me was visiting the Armstrong Browning Library on the campus of Baylor University. It's a 19th-century research center honoring Victorian poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  It features the world's largest collection of Browning material.  Since I am such a crazy fan of dead authors, I was totally jazzed about this beautiful, inspiring place.  It is charming and interesting and is definitely worth a visit when you're in the area.  Did you know that between them, they wrote 573 love letters to each other before they married?  Amazing.

 

Here are two quotes you may recognize from the poets. Robert, who was very optimistic for a Victorian- era poet wrote:

 

"Grow old along with me!  The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made.  Our times are in his hand who saith, 'A whole I planned, youth shows but half; Trust god: See all, nor be afraid!'"

 

And Elizabeth, who was quite an independent-minded Victorian woman, wrote:

 

"If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say,
'I love her for her smile . . . her look . . . her way
Of speaking gently . . . for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and, certes, brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee- and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so."

 

Ah, beautiful, isn't it?

 

After Waco, I traveled to speak at Extraordinary Women in Greenville, SC.  It was...was...well, extraordinary!  It was extraordinary because of the women who attended and spoke.  I was so enriched.  I was with "Mama T" aka Thelma Wells and she always makes me happy just to hear her laugh.  I was with Lysa TerKeurst and she encouraged all to see how the Messiah takes our mess and makes it a message of hope.  Chonda Pierce is like therapy to me!  She makes me laugh so hard, and it's certainly more entertaining than crying in a counselor's office and much cheaper.  God really has created some extraordinary women!  But, girl, I must tell you the big heart surprise I found was Candace Cameron Bure.  She played DJ on Full House as a child and currently stars in ABC's Family "Make it or Break It." Her genuine spirit was so captivating and her message blew me away.  Her candid, wise, vulnerable rendering of truth was refreshing and unique to what I often hear at Christian conferences.  If you haven't heard her, check her out.  You will not be disappointed in her depth and boldness. 

 

I found a great filtered water bottle that traveled with me this month, and I saved lots of money not having to buy $3 water bottles in airports and hotels!  (Leaves more cash for chocolate!)  And, of course, it's more environmentally wise to use.  It's the "bobble" and it made tap water in Atlanta, Greenville and Waco taste excellent!  It's lightweight and not very expensive.  I am sold--just don't call me a bobble head!

 

Well, that's about it... for now!

 

So, give these things a taste test:

 

1.  Armstrong Browning Library, Baylor University

 

2.  Extraordinary Women Conference

 

3.  Candace Cameron Bure

 

4.  The bobble (filtered water bottle)

March 2011 Fresh Grounded Thoughts

What God Has Been Teaching Me Lately 

I Know How You Feel  

 

Scott was just 24 years old when he moved from his home, family and dearest friends in Arkansas.  He and his young wife loaded their moving van to hit the long road leading to their future. They wiped their tears as they pulled away and had a hard time keeping them from falling again as they traveled west.  Their hearts felt as heavy as the weight they carried behind them.  A lifetime of memories packed away in boxes, about to be unloaded in a place where no one knew them. 

 

Few times do we feel as alone as when we are somewhere between the familiar that grounds us and the future that beckons us. There is an uncomfortable self-awareness that just makes us feel downright alone.  It's a hard feeling to carry.

 

After traveling several hours, Scott pulled the bulky moving van into a restaurant parking lot in Springfield, Missouri. He and his wife ate lunch and talked about what they had just left and what they were about to encounter in a new place with new people.  After paying for their meal, they made their way back to the van. 

 

As Scott reached for the door handle, he noticed a note tucked between the windshield wiper and the windshield. He unfolded it to see that a stranger had left a quickly-scribbled, penciled sentence. It read,

"I know how you feel."

 

"I know how you feel."  What a statement of empathy and compassion. Thirty years later, Scott still remembers the kind statement from a stranger who cared enough to show empathy.  He remembers how that single statement bolstered him and encouraged him for the miles he traveled and the years that followed.  There's something stabilizing about knowing you are not alone.  Others know how you feel. 

 

We have a God who knows how we feel, too.  He is described in scripture as "compassionate."  The original Latin word from which we gain our English word is compati.  "Com" means "together with."  "Pati" means "to suffer."  He is a God of compassion. He is "together with, to suffer."   He is with us in our sorrow, grief and pain.  He feels it.  He has experienced it, too.  He knows how we feel. 

 

There is a statement written across history.  It began in a manger and was punctuated on a cross.  It is God writing "I know how you feel."  When Jesus subjected Himself to the confines of our humanity, it was as if He said, "I know how you feel."  When He allowed Himself to suffer with the weight of our sin and be crucified, it was as if He said, "I know how you feel."

 

He is a compassionate God of empathy.  He knows how you feel because He has felt it.  Next time you feel alone in your grief, alone in your sorrow, alone in your illness or alone in your hardship, remember-- He knows how you feel and He cares about you enough to show you.  Look for how He is writing that sentence all around you and let it remind you that He sees and He knows.

Well, that's what's been percolating in me lately.

March 2011 Spill the Beans

You Ask It, I'll Answer It  

Question:

Dear Jennifer,

 

I have been reading your book and you say that one should rejoice in your suffering.  All I seem to do is get frustrated and depressed.  I have the same trials day in and day out.  People making fun of me or dismissing me because they see I have a disability.  I feel that I always have to prove myself to everybody, even though I have become a success.  As you say in your book, I have become very independent, but I feel isolated.  I feel I have not experienced socially what others have experienced at __ years old.  I try to pray but feel I make little progress.  Your book makes it seem as if this whole thing has been a pretty smooth ride for you, with a few bumps in the road in which you are able to conquer most everything.

 

Thank you,

 

Whitney

 

Answer:

Hi Whitney,

 

Thanks for your honest email.  I have a lot of empathy for how you feel.  I have felt that way many times.  The road of faith is full of bumps and lonely places.  Please know that just because you are reading words that communicate the lessons I've learned along my path of faith, doesn't mean they were easy lessons.  The book is the polished result of lots of private tears and feeling the harsh rub of life's sand paper upon my heart. 

 

When I say "rejoice" in our circumstances, I say that only because it is an act of obedience.  I rarely feel like rejoicing.  I am still on the path of faith, too.  I still feel immense frustration from time to time.  There are days that the blues get the best of me.  I struggle with isolation, too.  But, I keep walking by faith and that is my hope for you, too. We will someday be in Heaven where our faith will be sight, there will be no more tears, and we will know as we are known.  That is worth rejoicing over! 

Hang in there sister--do not lose heart. 

 

Bless you,

Jennifer

  

And now the beans are officially spilled.

 

 

 

Got a question? I might just spill the beans.