God's Love

The big news of the Bible is not that you love God but that God loves you; not that you can know God but that God already knows you! He tattooed your name on the palm of his hand. His thoughts of you outnumber the sand on the shore. You never leave his mind, escape his sight, flee his thoughts. He sees the worst of you and loves you still. Your sins of tomorrow and failings of the future will not surprise him; he sees them now. Every day and deed of your life has passed before his eyes and been calculated in his decision. He knows you better than you know you and has reached his verdict; he loves you still. No discovery will disillusion him; no rebellion will dissuade him. He loves you with an everlasting love. 

“As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is his love for those who respect him.” 

Psalm 103:11 

Come Thirsty 
by Max Lucado 

Miracle of Life

Miracle of Life from Justin's Refuge on Vimeo.

Homemade Wrinkle Releaser

I do a good bit of ironing.  All of my husbands work clothes require it.  So, that's 5 work outfits plus 1 for Sunday.  With ironing 12 pieces of clothing each week, I was looking for a shortcut.  I considered a wrinkle releaser...until I saw the price.  WOW!!!  A 33.8 oz. bottle was $8!!!  Unbelievable!  Now way was I buying that.  With the amount of ironing I do, that could get expensive real quick.  So I went home and made my own for pennies.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Homemade Wrinkle Releaser
1 tsp. liquid fabric softener
8 oz. water

Put in a spray bottle and shake.  That's it.  Your done :)

Theology Thursday

POST-EVANGELICAL

A modern movement among Evangelicals who are dissatisfied with the current trends in Evangelicalism toward compromise in practice, thinking, and methodology. The evangelical church, according to Post-Evangelicals, has become a circus which integrates its method of “doing church” with the corporate world of business and marketing. Voices of Post-Evangelicalism call for a reform, pleading with the church to re-establish its traditions in the roots laid by two thousand years of church history, not a reinventing of church based upon current cultural trends. Post-Evangelicals are “post” because they believe the name “Evangelical” is beyond recovery.

NIHILISM

[nye''-uh-liz''-um or nee''-uh-liz''-um] (Latin nihil, “nothing”)

Nihilism is the philosophy that believes all of existence is without purpose, meaning, or hope. It is often called the philosophy of despair since there is no foundation upon which one can build motives for living. Many believe that nihilism is the necessary outcome of atheism since the atheist finds no reason to believe in any form of transcendence which provides foundational reason and hope. Postmodernism is sometimes labeled as a nihilistic philosophy that resulted from the conclusions of a modernistic worldview which denied God a place in reality. Nineteenth-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is often called the Father of Nihilism.

NAVE

In ecclesiastical architecture, the “nave” is derived from the Latin word for ship, navis, and has come to mean the area where the parishioners sit or stand (pews are a very late addition to the nave area, and, even today, parishioners stand during the liturgy in many Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches). In Gothic architecture, the nave had an aisle (or two) on both sides.

SITZ IM LEBEN

(German, “setting in life”)

In biblical hermeneutics (methods of interpretation) or biblical criticism, this refers to the “situation in life” that gave rise to the various genres or literary forms used to communicate the message of Scripture in a particular sociological context.

How Great Is Our God

 Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.  Rev 15:4 

30 Easy Ways to Save Money (and No, you are not doing them all!)

Let’s keep this one simple and clean - just a bunch of relatively easy ways to save money. As you incorporate more and more of these tips into your life, the savings add up and it wouldn’t surprise me if you could save thousands over the course of a year.

It will take a little work on your part but those thousands of dollars in savings are what helped us get out of debt earlier, kept us out of debt for several years and will hopefully help us pay off our recent auto loan soon as well.

1. Cook at home often: If both the husband and wife work, this is likely to be very difficult. Start out with the habit of cooking at home once a week and slowly increase the frequency until you find a balance between saving money and getting stressed out.
2. Make your own coffee: Everyone seems to have heard of the latte factor. Even though the author may have overestimated the savings from skipping a latte at Starbucks, don’t underestimate the ding it puts in your pocket in the long run. You don’t have to entirely ban drinking coffee, but skip it as often as possible unless you make it at home.

3. Brown bag lunch at least a few days a week: Lunch times are great opportunities to network and make connections that could improve your career growth. So unless there is a common eating area for brown baggers, you may choose to limit brown bagging lunch to three days each week. Find a balance between saving some money and making the connection. In my case, I take my lunch with me 2-3 times a week and eat out the rest of the time.
4. Make a list before going shopping: They call it impulse buying for a reason. Humans simply have a very tough time resisting the temptation to purchase extras while shopping. Without a list you will buy items that you simply do not need. Even worse is when your forget to purchase the actual item you came to the store for in the first place. If you plan on cooking at home, pre-plan a rough menu and make a list before you go grocery shopping. Getting all that you need in one trip can help avoid another unnecessary trip and temptation.
5. Go grocery shopping while you are in a hurry: Maybe you need to go out in a couple of hours. Or your favorite show is going to be on TV after a couple of hours. Try to squeeze in the grocery trip in that intermediate time. Armed with your grocery list, you should be in-and-out very quickly with little time for meandering and getting tempted to buy things you don’t need.
6. Watch out for expiration dates on perishable goods: This one seems intuitive when you read it, but I am surprised at how many people do not pay attention to expiry dates. No point getting a gallon of milk if it is going to turn sour with a couple of days. Same goes for meat, eggs, yogurt, spreads, frozen items, deli/bakery items etc. Some people say you can use a few items a few days after expiry – but I personally value my health more than money and would rather avoid buying such items in the first place.
7. Buy in bulk whenever possible: When it comes to non-perishable items, buy in bulk whenever you find something on sale. The items I usually stock up on are, cereals, tinned goods, rice, beans, pasta, coke, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, toilet paper etc. For such items, shopping at warehouse stores like Costco, Sam’s Club etc can save you quite a bit of money, provided you stick strictly to your shopping list when you shop at these places.
8. Buy generic products whenever possible: Does it really matter whether your cereal is made by Kellogg's or is the store brand? Does it matter if your milk is Oak Farms or the store brand? For a few things (like soda in particular), I prefer brand name products. For others, I do not mind generic store brands if they can save me money. Find what works for you and switch to generic brands for at least a part of your grocery list.
9. Use grocery store bags to line trash cans: This may not work if you use a massive trash can but we use a small sized one for which the grocery bags are a perfect fit. This not only helps us save some money, but reduces our environmental foot print and avoids the kitchen from stinking from a huge overflowing trash can.
10. Consolidate and pay off debt as soon as possible: If you carry any debt, focus on consolidating it to a lower interest and paying it off as soon as possible. Money paid in interest is money thrown away! Why spend your hard-earned cash to make the financial institutions rich?

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Tasty Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Crust:

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  Directions

1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.
3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 or 20 minutes before topping and baking it.
5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Pizza:

Ingredients

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cooked and cubed
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 (2 ounce) bottle hot sauce
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle blue cheese salad dressing
• 1 (16 inch) prepared pizza crust
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl combine the cubed chicken, melted butter and hot sauce. Mix well. Spread whole bottle of salad dressing over crust, then top with chicken mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese.
3. Bake in preheated oven until crust is golden brown and cheese is bubbly, about 5 to 10 minutes. Let set a few minutes before slicing, and serve.