Bread Pudding

Well I suppose I can never stick to a recipe.
Here is the original one that I was given to make and my adaptations because I was in a hurry and did not have any whole or 2% milk
1 soft frenc loaf
2 cups half & half
2 cups milk (whole or 2%) I used another 2 cups of half and half as I had 4 cups of it and no milk
3 eggs- slightly beaten
2 cups sugar I probably used about 1.5ish
3/4 cups chopped pecans- I used about 1 cup
3/4 cups raisins- I used about 1 cup
1 tbs+ 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup butter or margarine I did not use this.

Tear bread into small pieces- mine were failry chunky- I was in a hurry,
Place in a large bowl, add half & half (& milk) Let stand 10 minutes
Stir well with a wooden spoon
Add eggs, sugar, pecans, vanilla, cinnamon
Mix well
Grease a 9x13" pan Pour mixture into pan. Bake 325 deg F for 55-60 mins until golden
Serve warm or cold. Can be topped with whipped cream or whiskey sauce. Personanly I would not contaminate a good pud with more sugar.

Mediations until Easter are on
http://hsechouston.blogspot.com/

I may continue to add recipes from time to time, maybe the odd thought or two as well

Apple Almond Cake

Deuteronomy 6:10-15
Psalm 25
Hebrews 1:1-14
John 1:1-18

Deuteronomy 6:10-15

It is easy to dessert the way one has been raised and assimilate the habits of those around one. Eating out was a treat, an event reserved for celebrations, possibly not even happening every year. People in the house was a norm, whatever the house was like- clean and tidy or otherwise. Walking, well what other option was there. No wonder Texas is known for its obesity.
Here is a cake recipe, I have baked it myself with far less sugar in it than the ready made one I would have bought if I had driven to the grocery store for one. I hope my friend will join me in my house for a slice.

4 ozs ( 1 stick) butter or margarine
4 ozs sugar
3 ozs almond meal (ground almonds- it took me 15 years to work out that these are the same product)
3 eggs
2 ozs flour
1 apple

Grease a 9inch round pan or 11x6 rectangle pan. Switch oven to 350 deg F.
Soften the butter and beat in the sugar. Beat until soft. add the eggs one at a time with some of the almonds.
Stir in the flour.
Pour into pan

Slice the apple and place on top of the cake. You could sift a little sugar over the top of the cake.
Bake for about 40mins

Be God Centered

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

God knows what we are like, that is why you gave us this ordinance. He knew that our brains would stray, that we would decide to worry more about how to put food on the table and a roof over our heads or even where to go on the next vacation more than how we would help our neighbor who has no food or roof (those men under the bridge are scary). I am glad Jesus died for my sins now I need to some works to accompany my faith.

Mark 11:1-11
It is almost Rodeo time. The time of the trails rides, a time to avoid traveling on highways into Houston.
The roads get congested and we stand and stare at those going into to town on horseback. We have no idea who they are. I wonder if those watching Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey knew who they were cheering.

Light of Christ

John 8:12-19

The light of Christ in shine in my heart

Deepest night of sin

Rend the darkness within.

Our God is good, our God is light,

Selfish use of earth,

Gracious gift of birth,

Temple curtain torn assunder

Wayward soul of doubt.

Cleasne me throughout.

Dessicated soul, shrivelled shell

Living water, refreshing well.

Spirit of life

Comforter of mine.

Valentines Day

Isaiah 61:10-62:5

How apt a reading for Valentine's Day!

Your Planting

Isaiah 61:1-9

"They" pulled out the country hedges and transformed our little lane into a faceless suburban road. flat and borderless. Then Mr and Mrs Trietsch had a vision. The barren area is transformed into a park for our enjoyment. Trees are planted along the drainage ditches, paths built seats and water fountains added. It is now a very pleasant place to walk. I do not know the Trietsches. I assume they live in our area but I am thankful for their concern for our world everytime I walk along the paths or drive down our ex-lane. I might bemoan the passing of the elderberry hedges and wild passionflowers but there is now a place for enjoyment and exercise.
Our plantings may not be so obvious but all that we do has an effect on prosterity. A little acorn grow a into a mighty oak.

Foolish and stupid arguements

2 Timothy 2:14-26

The problem is deciding what is stupid and foolish. If you are arguing about it the odds are that you do not find it stupid of foolish. Many times though what we see as important are not when seen from God's angle. We spend time considering what to wear but really it is trivial. If we think clothing is important though we are seldom as well decked as the lilies of the field, how can we judge what items to argue?

Double -Minded

Psalm119:97-120

I suspect that the only people who do not think that they are double minded are those who are double minded.
Today is a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the sky is clear blue bereft of even the tiniest wisp of a cloud and there is a cool breeze. A good day for drying the sheets outside. So I did, resenting the time that it took for each journey outside. Then I gave myself some heavenly brownie points and a pat on the back as I congratulated myself on helping to save the environment. Wonderful but how many other ways do we without a thought misuse energy. I know I do every time I drive my car in and out of the garage. I love my automatic garage door opener but a manual one would probably be better for my heart, my waistline and the world's supply of oil.
We think we are being so careful with the gifts that God has given us and mindful to pray and ask for his guidance but how serious are we about living in his world?

Well Watered Garden

Isaiah 58:1-12
Neat little cabbages and straggling peas not knowing which way to turn as they try to follow their stakes. Brick footpaths twisting through dells lined with flowering shrubs and rhododendrons by the cubic yard. I could spend all year enjoying a well watered garden, large or small. These are some pf the thoughts that filled my mind the first time I read this passage from Isaiah. It seemed as if God had written it just for me. He will make me into an oasis in a sun-scorched land, a land where water has no chance to do its work unless there is a continual spring.
Ask our yard. In April the St Augustine grass has recovered form the 'chill' of winter and has woken out of its spikey dormant stage into a lush greenness. We water, automatic sprinklers programmed for two or three times a week but as we go through the sweltering heat of June, July and August the grass begins to dessicate, great patches of bare soil appear. Only a constant supply of water will suffice to keep the grass green.
And God said he would make me into a well watered garden. When I am dried out as if there is not succor left in me he will give me constant nourishment making me into a pruductive worthy of note but only because the source of the water is known.

Hebrews 12:1-6

Hebrews 12:1-6
I always find it amusing when the same passage appears in unrelated Bible reading schemes on the same day. So it is today with Hebrews 12:1-6. It is the appointed epistle for the Daily Office but it was also the basis of today's Closer to God notes, well to be pedantic the Closer to God notes used a slightly longer passage. There must really be something here that God is making sure comes to my attention.
"Such a great cloud pf witnesses" always reminds me to be thankful for the many Christians who have influenced my growth, some I have thanked others I have not. One of the greatest though most passive influence my Enid Williams my Girl Guide leader. I have mentioned her before and therefore today will not recount stories of her servanthood as this thought provoked another train of thought.
Today was Scout Sunday at our church. The one Sunday in the year when the scout troops and packs sponsored by the church join in our service and help in the leadership bby reading the lessons and prayers. I thought this was very apt since Enid Williams had been so much in my mind earlier in the day. I have a problem with one aspect of the Boy Scout of America movement. I thought of resigning my position but as I sat watching the lads in front of me and thinking about the way that Boy/Girl Scouts had influenced my life and the lives of my children in particular my sons in the same troop that I was celebrating with I thought about the good that has come out of the movement. I would not be the person that I am today without the influence of Baden Powell. Organizations, like people can have their foilbes. We are all sinners however much we perceive ourselves as paragons of virtue. Other eyes see other sides of our personality.
I am glad that I did not resign from BSA. I am sorry that they exclude certain people. I am glad about the positive influences that they have and thankful for that.

Hopeless Mess

Mark 9:14-29

The boy lay like a corpse, seemingly dead, ashen and still. Some said "He is dead". Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet. He was alive.
Sometimes my little world seems in complete disarray. Nothing is going right. Everything is flat and lifeless. "Lord Jesus take my hand and lift me up, heal my hurts, drive away the whispering what-ifs. Give me the will to do the tasks ahead of me.

Misfits

Isaiah 56:1-8

I always like readings that talk about foreigners and aliens. Yes we are misfits. We might look as if we are natives bu the moment we open our mouth the truth is revealed. We speak normally, no local drawl. To be God is G. O. D., one syllable and definitely no hint of an A as in "Gad said". My pets are dogs, not dawgs and my pet peeve - if I have visited a place then I have been there not bin there.
So it is with those who follow God. One cannot necessarily tell a person's nationality by looking at them. Neither is one's loyalty determined by one's nationality. I hope that I am an oddball and a misfit for God whichever country is my home.

Is the power of the cross the power to live after failure?

Mark 8:27-9:1

Is the power of the cross the power to live after failure? This is what I wrote after I had done my normal early morning readings. It seems to fit with this passage from Mark which I came to later in the day when I got to the Daily Office Lectionary. However when I came to look back at the readings from earlier I could not find what caused me to write the note. God works in strange ways, the cross being one of the strangest. The man born to be king was captured and crucified. He had it made, he rode into Jerusalem and the crowds shouted 'Hosanna to the King'. Some how he did not quite succeed. Within a week he was hanging on a cross as and with criminals. The ultimate failure.
Miraculously that is not the end of the story. Jesus rose from the dead, he walked talked and ate. He lived.
How do we react to our failures? Those times when we wished that we did not exist because of what we have done, or not done. With his strength we can live too.

Activating the yeast

Mark 8:11-26

Even though I use dried yeast and you can be fairly lazy about mixing the yeast with water and sugar before you use it risen bread is not possible without some warm water in the fix. (See Recipes side-bar). In the old days when my mother used to buy blocks of creamy yeast I loved to take chunks of the yeast and just eat them as they were. However for the bread to be useful in the loaf you had to put a little sugar in the bottom of a basin and add a little hot water to dissolve the sugar. Next cold water had to be added slowly so that it was just at the correct temperature. Then you could add the yeast and after it had started to bubble and fix and get really active it was ready to be mixed in with the flour which combine to make the dough whihch in its turn would grow and become a delicious smelling tasty loaf.
The question is what activates us? What stirs us into action and makes us bubble and grow? What makes you get up and go to work in the morning? What makes you laugh and cry? What agitates you? How much of what you do is done because you have always done it? What do you do just because you find it fun?

childbirth

Galatians 4:12-20
I produced four of my fives babies without any painkiller drugs so I consider myself an expert on the subject "Pain of childbirth". I remember with #4 I was congratulated on a contraction and told "Ah you need some more like that." I thought "Oh no I do not!" But at the same time I knew that I would not birth the babe without the pain, however momentary it was. Paul was in anguish for his Christian offspring.
We tend to try to live a life without pain, all pain should be avoided at all costs. I have three different sorts of sinus pain medication and I know which one to take when for the maximum relief. And that is how I tend to live my Christian life- taking the least painful path and what is more expecting that it should be pain free. But birth is birth whether it be the first of the body or the second of the spirit.

dogged persistence

Mark 7:24-37

My dogs love food. They will do anything for food, even the tiniest morsel is worth many gentle twitches of the tail with head slightly cocked to the side with ears perked. And we almost never give them table scraps yet they always try, ever hopeful. Occasionally one of us succumbs to the seductive treatment, we cave in and give them a last crumb of salmon or other highly prized delicacy.
The woman had persistence and faith.

Why Worry

Isaiah 51:9-16

Life does not make sense. We ask why? And again why did that happen? Why am I in pain, why am I suffering? We are always wanting to know the reason. We forget the strength of God and the fact that there are many stories of trust in him. We overlook the fact that God is Almighty and All-knowing and bring him down to our own level. The bible is jam packed with stories of people who put their trust in God- and even some who did n0t yet he looked after them (Naomi returned to Bethlehem a miserable woman yet God brought her joy through Ruth and Boaz).
This passage is a reminder of some of the wonderful ways that God has helped him people. That is one reason I write this- to draw attention to God's wonderful ways as revealed in the bible.

Gardens

Isaiah 51:1-8
The natural vegetation around here is marshy scrub but you would never know by looking at what grows in the gardens. Even in the height of the summer heat there are neatly mown verdant green patches decorating the front of every house. Our expensive automatic sprinkler systems cover up the natural God created beauty of the local environment. We can do better. maybe I have the same apporaoch in my life. I can do better than God.