Picnic Weekend and the Literal Word
The end of summer here Up North is marked by a frenzy of picnics, barbecues and cookouts. I am not sure that people in the Sun Belt can really understand it unless they spent time (growing up, college, etc.) in a place with harsh winters. There's this undertone of frenzy in the messages, almost... "I know there's another cookout at the chrch tomorrow, but hey, we're going to cook out today, and then next weekend, and..." It's extremely funny.
What they should do is what my grandmother, former next-door neighbors, and others do: barbecue all year round! There's nothing stopping you, and it's probably better for the ozone layer if you do it when it's not 90 degrees outside. I smelled hickory smoke Super Bowl Weekend and grinned.
So anyway, this weekend I am invited to three picnics, and am going to two. I didn't get a chance to make the pasta salad for the Delta one last night (as was @ Bible study till nearly 12:30 a.m.!), so I've gotta go to the store before I head up I-94 this afternoon. Then I thought I'd make ambrosia salad for the Vineyard one tomorrow... but we shall see.
Funny story for any Christians reading: while we were praying last night, I started praying to have more patience, because I'd been really antsy and checking the clock all evening. One of the group members goes, "Don't pray for that!" And I started laughing, because it's a byword amongst evangelicals, that you never, ever pray for patience, because God has a sense of humor. She said afterward, "Remember, you prayed that God would do something about your pride during our first meeting in August--that He would humble you--and look what happened this month! Look at what you shared with us!" And I stopped laughing, and went, wow, God--that was not funny!.
Patience. Well, I suppose I will neither marry nor publish till I am in my fifties... because apparently the God we serve is a literalist. ;-)
What they should do is what my grandmother, former next-door neighbors, and others do: barbecue all year round! There's nothing stopping you, and it's probably better for the ozone layer if you do it when it's not 90 degrees outside. I smelled hickory smoke Super Bowl Weekend and grinned.
So anyway, this weekend I am invited to three picnics, and am going to two. I didn't get a chance to make the pasta salad for the Delta one last night (as was @ Bible study till nearly 12:30 a.m.!), so I've gotta go to the store before I head up I-94 this afternoon. Then I thought I'd make ambrosia salad for the Vineyard one tomorrow... but we shall see.
Funny story for any Christians reading: while we were praying last night, I started praying to have more patience, because I'd been really antsy and checking the clock all evening. One of the group members goes, "Don't pray for that!" And I started laughing, because it's a byword amongst evangelicals, that you never, ever pray for patience, because God has a sense of humor. She said afterward, "Remember, you prayed that God would do something about your pride during our first meeting in August--that He would humble you--and look what happened this month! Look at what you shared with us!" And I stopped laughing, and went, wow, God--that was not funny!.
Patience. Well, I suppose I will neither marry nor publish till I am in my fifties... because apparently the God we serve is a literalist. ;-)