Years ago when I was graduating from college, my future father-in-law dropped by the little Christian bookstore on campus that I was manning for him. After a few pleasantries, he asked me what I was going to do when I graduated. At that point, I really had no idea. Find a job was all I could think of.

So, in his very pastoral way, he told me that I had three choices. Choice #1 was that I could get married. But the problem with this option was that I had not yet met his son. Choice #2 was that I could get a teaching job. This he assumed was a safe bet, seeing that I was an English lit major and all. But I had no desire to teach. In fact, not only had I determined that I would never, never teach, I had also taken the precaution of never enrolling in an education course just to make sure that I would never, never teach.

So I awaited choice #3 with baited breath. His final suggestion was that I go on InterVarsity staff. Now at that time, IV was a happening thing on the campus, and I had been enjoying their meetings and conferences and books. So, at the next conference, my future father-in-law took it upon himself to talk to the regional director about me going on staff with IV, and I became an associate staff member some months later. Continue reading ‘The Debt I Owe InterVarsity’

One of the big blessings of courtship versus recreational dating is that the two people involved view the whole process as something serious. But it still isn’t simple. It is still a mystery how it all works. Wise Solomon himself said there were three things (even four) that he couldn’t understand, and one of those was the way a man behaves when he goes a courtin’. But even if it is puzzling, a young woman can benefit by remembering her grammar lessons of old.

First of all, it is the man who is doing the courting. The woman in question is just minding her own business when along comes a man who wants to court her. She is the direct object here, not the subject. (John is courting Sue. Sue is not courting John.) The woman is being courted. His purpose is to win her, and by agreeing to enter into a courtship, she is saying in so many words that she is willing to receive his attentions. She is agreeing to let him try to win her. Whether or not he will succeed still remains to be seen.

So, a woman does not need to describe her own condition as one of “courting.” She is being courted; she has a suitor. If she finds him to her liking, she may be pleased that he is continuing to show her attention. But if she does not, it is no shame for her to end the courtship. That is her prerogative. At the same time, she should not view his attentions as simply a recreational activity. He has stuck his neck out, and she should honor him for doing so.

You may wonder why I am fussing over such a grammatical error, but I think it is a significant one. If a woman believes that she has to have the same level of commitment entering into a courtship that the man does, she is bound to feel a little worried. He has obviously been thinking about this, praying about it, and then goes and sticks his neck out by asking. It may or may not have ever occurred to her to be interested in him. So it may take her a bit to get up to speed. She may know from the getgo that she is not nor can she be interested. Or, she may think he is worth considering. She does not need to know that she will marry him in order to agree to a courtship. All she needs to know is that she likes him well enough to receive his attentions.

My sister and I have always had a theory that every man has an ideal cookie (or maybe just every man in our family). Ben’s favorite cookies are oat free, very blonde, and tall. Bekah’s cookies never ever run into each other on the baking sheet, preserving a barely baked likeness to the dough balls that went into the oven.

My Uncle Gordon adores the kind of cookies that can’t be stopped from running into each other - the kind that leave greasy rings on a napkin. He even goes so far as to call other people’s cookies demeaning names, like “cakeys.” Continue reading ‘Luke’s Cookies’

Sorry for the repeat for those of you who are following Lady Kirkbay, but here is a bib I just finished knitting for Chloe. It uses the stitch pattern from my favorite dishcloth, but with the necessary mods for a bib. I think it turned out pretty cute.

So, life has been a bit of a hootenanny over here. The other day I was in the back of the house and Lina yelled from the living room, “Mom, do you remember Daphne?” I responded, that I did, and she said, “Well, she’s kickin’ me!”

Also in great quotes from the younger Janks, the girls were arguing in the back of the mini van about whether it was Moses’ new mom or old mom who was sad. Lina announced that his new mom was a fairie. I jumped into the discussion and said, “No, she was a princess of Egypt.” Lina did not see my point. “But her Daddy was a Pharoah.”

I haven’t shared any recipes in a while, but trust me that I haven’t forgotten. I have been cooking a lot of dinners from Cooking Light (I really love their recipes, and can’t recommend them highly enough). New family favorites include the pork tenderloin kebabs, sun-dried tomato chicken salad in pitas, and the strawberry/oatmeal/white chocolate cookies. I have a couple new ones to try this week, so we will see if they make it to the repeat list. We are huge fans of Pork Fajitas with mango (although I use more lime juice, cumin, and soy sauce, and top with avacado too), Sweet and Sour Chicken, and Thai Beef Tacos, all of which I originally made from Cooking Light. I will try to link to the online recipes, but you can find most of them with a simple search on the Cooking Light website.

From Matthew Henry:

In a word, quietness of spirit is the soul’s stillness and silence from intending provocation to, or resenting provocation from, any with whom we have to do…

It is for want of meekness that we are so impatient of contradiction in our opinions, desires, and designs; that we must have our own saying, right or wrong, and everything our own way; that we are so impatient of competitors, not enduring that any should stand in our light, or share in that work of honor which we would engross to ourselves; that we are so impatient of contempt, so quick in our apprehension and resentment of the least slight or affront; and so quick to imagine injuries where there are none or none intended…In a word, the wilful doing of anything to disquiet others, slandering, backbiting, whispering, tale-bearing, or the like, is too plain an evidence that we are not ourselves rightly disposed to be quiet.

The Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit

“Let our wintry state suffice us for coldness and indifference; when the Lord creates a spring within, let our sap flow with vigour, and our branch blossom with high resolve. O Lord, if it be not spring time in my chilly heart, I pray Thee make it so, for I am heartily weary of living at a distance from Thee. Oh! the long and dreary winter, when wilt Thou bring it to an end? Come, Holy Spirit, and renew my soul! quicken Thou me! restore me, and have mercy on me! This very night I would earnestly implore the Lord to take pity upon His servant, and send me a happy revival of spiritual life!”