Been so long!!!

Wow! It's been a month since I've last blogged! (Okay, Laurie, thanks for asking!)

HUMMUS... "Hhhhmmmmmmm-US" I just made some of this for the first time this week. It's very popular. I hear about it all the time. Healthy! Yummy! Trendy! "What in the world is TAHINI????" My local Meijer knows what it is... so I bought some. Five dollars a jar?! It'd better make my Hmmm-us delicious! Well, I've discovered that hummus is an acquired taste. And I'm still trying to acquire it. (My lunch today: Whole grain crackers, tuna, hummus and some huge radishes I got at the farmer's market downtown on Weds.) I'll let you know if I ever really acquire the taste for Hummus. "Hhhmmmmm?!"

Thank you God, for making garbanzo beans and tahini. And thanks for giving them cool names! (Both are fun to say!)

And while I'm talking about new things... Has anyone tried Bubble Tea? I went to a coffee house with a dear friend and we had Bubble Tea. Iced Cran-Raspbery black tea with "bubbles". The bubbles are actually huge tapioca balls that are soaked in a light sugar water - oh and they're colored all sorts of wonderful colors. Food coloring and sugar - probably not as healthy as HUMMUS. But the tea was fabulous. It's the bubbles I've decided I can do without. Very fun idea. Looks cool. Fun to say, "Bubble Tea, please!" The bubble sit in the bottom of the glass (probably displacing about 1/3 of the amount of iced tea you could have had without them) and you get a wide straw so you can "suck them up" as you drink your tea. About the size of a large pea. I don't know. Costs more for the Bubble tea. You get less actual tea because of the bubbles. And tapioca balls are definitely another acquired taste!

Thank you God, for creating interesting things like tapioca balls! And thank you for the wonderful fellowship of dear friends like Gail! Christian friendships are a blessing - with cokes, coffee or even bubble tea!

Now, here are a couple of "gems" I've gleaned from the Daniel Bible Study:

Daniel 1:8. (Go get your Bible and look it up! Be IN the Word!) I desire to live a life filled with RESOLVE; living more INTENTIONALLY as a Christ follower.

Daniel 5:1-9 (Still have your Bible open? Look it up!) A related Scripture is II Timothy 2:20, 21 (Yep! Turn to it!) We are holy vessels set apart for holy purposes. We are not the ones who can make ourselves holy, that's the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. We are holy because GOD makes us holy. He has plans to use us for His holy purposes! Awesome!

And here's another thought from the Daniel study: (actually it's a quote)
"Daniel did not join the carnal or unbelieving masses in his response toward God. He refused to blend in. The magnetic draw of the Babylonian culture failed to overtake him. He never assimilated. Neither did he settle into the lowest common denominator of devotion practiced by his closest friends or kin. We get caught in that trap sometimes. We abide in our subgroups by unspoken codes dictating how far we'll go in our devotion to God. Anyone who goes overboard or takes it too seriously is considered eccentric, not extraordinary. For some, the flow of the world can be easier to resist than the flow of Christian mediocrity." (Beth Moore)

Remember that Sunday School song? "Dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone..."? I want to be more like Daniel.

Oh! and speaking of lions....
Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYbFQFXG0U

Have a great day!