QUESTION OF THE DAY #43: What special things do you eat only around Christmastime?

Plum pudding with brandy set alight on top… and carrots and rutabaga, mashed with butter and black pepper both come highly recommended.  How about smoked salmon for breakfast?  How about some delightful British candy called "dark chocolate orange"?  If you can't find that, go for some chocolate-covered peanut butter balls!  Many people love homemade stuffing or mince pies.
 

I have to laugh at myself, because I actually love fruitcake!  In case you're wondering, you're looking at one very lovely fruitcake right below! 

If you don't like fruitcake, try pannetone bread or even coffee cake! There are little German cookies called spitzbuben and Lithuanian fried cookies called ausukas.  Cream puffs are a good dessert, too!   For meat, there is turkey, goose, and pinnekjøtt, which is dried and salted lamb rack.  Pasteles are served in many countries in Latin America.  Most of all, I enjoy gifts, whatever they be.  I never turn down food!  In fact, while I'm writing this I'm enjoying some Swiss cheese that was given me as an early Christmas present! 

A very special part of Christmas is keeping it special, doing special things, and marking the occasion of Jesus' birth in practical and very real ways.  "And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child…" (Luke 2:16-17) We have a God and Savior, Jesus, who came to this earth as a child, to live and to give His life for us, a life that overcame sin and death and still gives us the victory.  It's real.  Therefore, look to your traditions, make new traditions, join in with those around you, and rejoice.  Celebrate!  Make this a Christmas to remember!

QUESTION OF THE DAY #42: What Is Your Favorite Poem?

I don't know if I have a favorite poem, but I wrote one the other night. Poetry forces me to choose each word with care.  This one is called "More than a Dream".   

The dreamer unfurls the downy quilt
and back and forth is slumber-tossed,
and to worlds unnamed does soar,
but in the waking all is lost
and vanished is the thrill of life,
though it were imagined, just.

As clouds cover stars for a time
and allow their mists to clear,
and as the greater light of day
erases the silent drama where
eyes were transfixed for a moment,
visions once held are seen no more.

So sameness would rob those who
are richer than they might know
and steal what is more than dream
as they stretch for what is new
but not so much as they had before
leaving hands opened, slipped through.

So to that one who is apart tonight
but not apart for truly loved
A plea goes forth that angel host
keep watch over them so moved
and fill their heart with warmth
and peace and constancy endued.

I wrote it as I was thinking how easy it is to get bored with the familiar and forget how wonderful it is.  With all the new gadgets coming out, making yesterday's technology obsolete, the effect is only heightened.  I am afraid that we are addicted to change, to the new.  There is much to be said for the tried and true, for warm memories and for the basic joys of life that remain unaffected by "progress."

Even more than that, I'm glad we have a God whose love remains unchanged by passing fancy or fad.  We never have to guess if we're loved.

QUESTION OF THE DAY #41: "What is your favorite cheese?"

There are so many good varieties of cheese.  The names are wonderful, too, like every variety of cheddar, Colby, Havarti, Gorgonzola, blue, Cooper cheeses, Camembert provolone, Swiss, brie, Gouda, Stilton, Gruyere, Jarlsberg, Colby-Jack, Monterrey Jack, mozzarella, and Parmesan. Here in Wisconsin we also have string cheese, and best of all, cheese curds!  Yum!

There really is a world of cheese, but  I almost missed out.  When I was younger I had some Parmesan cheese on top of spaghetti.  For some reason I didn't like the texture and decided I didn't like cheese.  Gradually, over time, I began to realize that this simply wasn't true.  Now, I absolutely adore cheese of all sorts, as if you couldn't tell!

I think that many people have their mind made up about Jesus and about Christianity.  Maybe they got a bad taste in their mouth.  For situations like that, I'm truly sad, and don't excuse the behavior that led to that bad taste.  Other people have only witnessed a pale imitation of what it means to believe in Jesus.

As the Apostle Paul spoke about his ministry, he said, "For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ." (2 Corinthians 2:17) When a sincere person of faith shares their faith, it cannot be argued with, for it is not a matter of debate.  As such a person shares the risen and crucified Jesus with others, it is authentic and real.  That is why Paul also said, "we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved." (2 Corinthians 2:15)

Maybe you want to be like that.  I can assure you that by God's grace He is working such a work in you, for He has promised it.  Often, in our weakness, God reveals His strength.  Maybe you want to meet such a person.  I can assure you that they truly do exist, and God will bring them to you.  "Taste" and see that the Lord is good.

QUESTION OF THE DAY #40: What do you wish you knew when you were younger?

Today I built an oak file cabinet.  It was from a kit.  As I put it together, I followed the pictures, but when I got done, I found a bottle of dried up glue.  It turns out I should have used glue.  I wish I'd known that when I started, but I didn't, and it will have to just stand as is for the time being.

Such is life!  The saying goes, "If I'd only known back then what I know now."  This question can open a whole can of worms.  It's true. For myself I wish that I had cared less about what other people think, and been less afraid of failure.  

There could be a whole lot of regrets, but one thing I find is that people, when they are younger, might not fully realize how good things can be later on.  God has good things in store.  I think that the surprise can actually be part of the fun.

1 Corinthians 2:9 (ESV) 

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

QUESTION OF THE DAY #39: What would your motto be?

There are still plenty of mottoes around if you look hard enough.  Some of them I really like.  Cicero's famous quote is also the motto of South Carolina, Dum spiro, spero. (While I breathe, I hope.)  The motto of the Order of St. Patrick is a good one, too, Quis separabit? (Who shall separate?)  It comes from Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?"

Since I'm writing this on Reformation Sunday, I can't help but think of the Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, and Sola Scriptura of the Reformation (Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone).  God forgives us and brings us into a good and holy relationship with Himself only because of His undeserved love for us.  We are brought into this relationship through faith, by believing and trusting in the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Finally, the Holy Scriptures are God's Word and teach us about His love and about Jesus our Savior.

Speaking of God's Word, after digging around a little bit, I found my motto.  It comes from 1 Peter 2:16... "Live as people who are free."  It doesn't speak about political freedom, for it was originally written to people in all kinds of situations, including slavery.  It is about our freedom in Christ, a freedom that comes to us because "by His wounds you have been healed."  (1:24) It is not an excuse for doing whatever we want, either, because it describes our entire life of honoring others while living honorably.  That's the meaning of Quasi Liberi (…as people who are free).

QUESTION OF THE DAY #38: In addition to wedding rings, what is your favorite piece of jewelry? 

There is a lot of really good jewelry, to be sure, but since I'm a guy who's pretty hard on things, most of my jewelry just hasn't stood the test of time.  Rings have been dented.  Pendants have been broken.  Watches have been lost.  Metal has been tarnished, and since I don't have any piercings, that rules out a whole category. 

I do have a pendant that I wear.  I bought it last year, and it's still sticking around.  I got it at the Mall of America, in St. Paul, Minnesota, at one of those vendors in the middle of the place.  It has a good solid chain and heavy duty clasp.  Attached is a metal figure of a cross entitled "love as strong as steel."

I think of the Roman soldier, a centurion no less, watching over the crucifixion.  He surveyed the scene and cried out, "Surely this was the Son of God."  He recognized the strength on display--even and especially in the death of Jesus.  The cross, back then, was not jewelry, of course.  It was a hated, dreadful thing.  Roman soldiers were frighteningly skillful at making death as drawn out and as painful as possible.  The cross was their torturous tool of choice. 

And while, in its original form, the cross displayed all the ugliness of the depths of human experience, now it has been transformed.  The death Jesus died on a cross stands for all time as the payment for our guilt.  So now we trust in our risen and living and triumphant Savior, Jesus.  The cross is now a reminder of the depth and width and height of God's strong love.

Ephesians 3:17–19 (ESV)
...so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

QUESTION OF THE DAY #37: What is a fun and easy family thing to do together?

This answer can be unique to each family!  Some like an impromptu drive in the country.  Some like a picnic, or, literally, a day at the beach, paddling a boat, building sandcastles!  Fishing is great, too, one of my all-time favorites.  What about a trip to the zoo?  Even flying a kite is an adventure.  It doesn't have to be fancy.  A simple walk will do. Sharing a meal together--and maybe even cooking it together--is wonderful!  

Board games are great, and so is watching a movie.  Break out the guitars or the piano and sing!  Even in the coldness of winter in Wisconsin, where I live, there are a lot of things to do!  Bowling is always fun, and that always works well for my family!  For more to do, try ice skating, skiing, sledding, or even just making a snowman!

You get the idea.  There is a lot of stuff that can be done, and whatever it is, may it be done in love. 

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:14