Disturb Us Lord

Tonight in Bible study, one of the girls, Jill, shared this poem/prayer penned by Sir Francis Drake, the explorer/adventurer called Disturb us Lord.

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

This is my hearts prayer, that I would live and dream big, not fearing the unknown, knowing that my Savior and my Captain commands my destiny!

Ordinary to Extraordinary!

Therefore urge you, in view of God’s mercy:

Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life - and place it before God as an offering.

This is true worship.

--Romans 12:1

(NIV/The Message)

When I commit my everyday ordinary life to the Lord, He can do extraordinary things!

Pita and Hummus and Salad, Oh My!

When I woke up this morning, I was in the mood to do some cooking. (In reality it was just me trying to put off the inevitable...homework/massive amounts of reading!) So I began browsing one of my favorite blogs, The Pioneer Woman, for something delicious to make. When I came across her recipe for hummus, it was a done deal.

I bought some hummus this past week from the grocery store, but it was just not quite right. I made a mental note that I wanted to try to make my own hummus to see if I could get it closer to the real thing...and now I can say that I did!!!

To go along with my hummus, I found a recipe for home made pita bread. And just to top off my Israeli craving I made some Israeli salad too.

Hummus

As I said above, I looked at the Pioneer Woman’s recipe, though i did not follow it exactly, so here’s what I used. It was super easy (would have been even easier if I had a blender) and it turned out delicious!!

Ingredients:

-- 1 can of chickpeas (aka: garbonzo beans)

-- 2 tbsp of Tahini (this is the tall bottle in on the right)

-- 2 garlic cloves (chopped/minced)

-- 1/4 of a fresh lemon squeezed (more or less to taste)

-- 1/2 tsp cumin (more or less to taste)

-- 1/2 tsp cumin (more or less to taste)

-- A pinch of sugar

-- A dash of ground red pepper (more or less to taste)

-- 3-5 tbsp water (depending on consistency desired)

-- 1 tbsp olive oil

Step 1: Blend/food process/grind the whole chickpeas.

**In order to get a smooth consistency you need to use a

blender or food processor. I used my coffee grinder, cause

that’s all I had. If you have a blender/food processor you would combine all ingredients EXCEPT the water and olive oil at this point. Blend until smooth, then add water and oil. Pulse no more than two times and it’s done!

Step 2: In a bowl combine ground chickpeas, tahini, garlic, cumin, salt, lemon juice, sugar and ground red pepper.

Step 3: Add water (more or less to gain the consistency desired) and olive oil.

Step 4: Serve with pita, raw veggies, chips or whatever you please. ENJOY!

Pita Bread

I got this recipe from The Fresh Loaf. It’s a website that is totally devoted to bread, YUM! I’ve never made bread before, so I was not really sure how this was going to turn out...but it was pretty simple and delicious!

Ingredients

-- 3 cups flour

-- 1 packet of active dry yeast (combine with 1/4 cup of warm water to dissolve)

-- 1 tbsp sugar

-- 1 1/2 tsp salt

-- 2 tbsp olive oil

-- 1 cup of water

Step 1: Combine flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix together. Add olive oil and water until you can form dough into a ball.

Step 2: Flour a counter top or cutting board in order to the dough from sticking to the surface when kneading. Knead dough for 10 minutes.

Step 3: After you have kneaded the dough, form into a ball and coat the outside with a light coat of olive oil and place in a bowl to rise. Cover with a damp dish towel and leave to rise for 90 minutes.

Step 4: After about 90 minutes, the dough should have just about doubled in size. Punch the dough to release the air that built up in the dough.

Step 5: Now split dough in to eight equal balls. Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit for 20 minutes.

Step 6: While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put your cookie sheet or baking stone into the oven on the middle rack so that it will get hot. This will make sure that the pita bread cooks quickly.

Step 7: After 20 minutes, roll the balls into 1/4 inch thick flat circles. Cook for 3-7 minutes, until your pita has perfectly

puffed.

Step 8: Eat it while it’s warm. There’s nothing like warm fresh pita!

Israeli Salad

This is one of my very favorite foods from Israel. My favorite place to get it is called Al Ha Mi’eim. This is a favorite breakfast spot on beach that overlooks the Mediterranean. They have the best Israeli salad. I’ve been craving it recently and finally have been able to recreate it. This salad super simple and served at almost every meal in Israel. Usually it has tomatoes and cucumbers, though as I am not a tomato lover, I leave them out. You can also put onion and/or bell pepper in to add some new flavors and color. But I kept it simple.

Ingredients

-- 2 cucumbers

-- 3/4 fresh lemon, squeezed

-- 1 tsp olive oil

-- salt (to taste)

Step 1: Chop cucumbers. This is

essential to Israeli salad.

Step 2: Add olive oil, lemon juice and salt

to taste.

Step 3: Serve with anything and enjoy!

The Final Product

Pita and Hummus and Salad, Oh My!

...now to get to that homework...

Intriguing Events

In the past month there has been much turmoil in the Middle East. Lebanon’s government has collapsed along with Tunisia’s. Egypt is in the throws of what could be a revolution and protests are taking place in Jordan as a result of economic crisis calling for political reforms.

It’s interesting to me that all of this is all happening at the same time...I’m not sure what it means exactly, but these are definitely situations to watch.

I am fascinated by just about anything relating to the Middle East, Ancient to Modern. An article popped up on my facebook newsfeed about the protests and riots taking place in Egypt and it caught my eye tonight. As I was reading it, I remembered hearing about the Tunisian revolution in some of my classes this past week and my dad was telling me about the collapse of the Lebanese government just last week.

Anyhow, I don’t have any profound thoughts regarding these happenings, I just find it interesting that all of this is taking place at the same time.

As Joel Rosenburg said in his blog post regarding the situation in Egypt and Jordan: pray for the people in this region, “for freedom, for safety, for courage, and for the gospel to be spread to an entire nation desperately needing God’s love and plan for their lives.”

It's Raining, It's Pouring...

It’s raining, it’s pouring...and that means it’s a perfect night for:

1. Quiznos broccoli cheese soup and C.S. Lewis’ the Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

2. A nice long hot shower.

3. A couple of nice long phone chats with some of my favorites.

4. Some much needed quality time with my Jesus.

Perfect Night, I think YES!!!

P.S. I want to wish two very special ladies a very happy birthday today, my bestest friend, Laura and my Grandma! Happy Birthday and love to you both!

It is well

So last night I was just browsing Facebook, and a post from Hillsong came up on my newsfeed saying that they have released a new song on iTunes. It caught my eye as I am a huge Hillsong fan and it’s one of my very favorite old hymns “It is well with my soul.” It’s a new take on an old hymn and I love it :] All proceeds from the song go toward relief aid for the floods in Australia, so go download it.

It is well with my soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

It is well, with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.

You are the rock on which I stand, by your grace it is well.

My hope is sure in Christ my Savior, it is well with my soul.

Stepping Up

I am so excited to start this new bible study with my mama and my sister. It’s called Stepping Up by the fabulous Beth Moore. I have done several of her other studies and always learn so much and find myself at a new place with God as a result. This one is focused on the Psalms of Ascent. I am so excited to see what God is gonna teach me through it :]

"If we could only see beyond the veil of the natural world, look upon our true surroundings and see the kingdom in the distance, and behold the face of Jesus Christ, we'd realize the tragedy of ever settling into a stagnant, mediocre relationship with God. You and I have places to go, people to meet, dragons to slay, foes to defeat. If God has already taken us everywhere He intended, we'd be at his glorious feet by now. That you and I are still here drawing terrestrial breaths tells us that God still has appointments for us."

--Beth Moore

Christmas Break

So I know this is extremely late, but better late than never! I went to Israel for Christmas and spent by 3.5 week break with my family there.

Here’s a quick recap of my break...

I got to ride in business class with my dad because of a cancellation and mix up with tickets...I didn’t complain though :)

Youth Group Christmas Party: This was really weird cause I didn’t know anyone -- There has been a total change over since I was in youth group, but it was fun to get to know some new youth and see how God is working in this new group of people!

I finally got to meet the wonderful Wade family! They moved to Israel this past summer and have become good friends of my family’s. I had so much fun hanging out with them, having a couple of movie nights, collaborating to lead worship, traveling around Israel and getting to know all eight of them. :)

I got to meet my family’s new puppy -- Suki. She is about 6 months old and is a MESS. She is definitely the baby in the house and is spoiled rotten. She is so sweet, very playful and has to be in the middle of everything...

We spent the week of Christmas in London. We stayed in walking distance of just about everything and anything farther, we took the tube to get to. On Christmas Day we took a tour out to Canterbury Cathedral, the White Cliffs of Dover and the English Channel. The other days we spent in London just wandering the streets, exploring the city and of course shopping. We saw Handel’s Messiah one night (here is a clip I recorded from the performance). Click here for more pictures from London.

I also got to travel to some of my favorite places around Israel. We went to Jerusalem a couple of times, Caesarea, Nazareth, Galilee, and Beit Sha’an (Click here for more pictures from Israel). In Jerusalem I got to go through the archaeology wing of the Israel museum. One of the coolest things to me there was this seal of King Hezekiah. It was just amazing to me to think that King Hezekiah, the same King Hezekiah that I have learned about in the Bible, had used this seal for something. So cool!!

Biet Sha’an, these were ruins of a Roman Colosseum

Jerusalem, the Temple Mount

All in all it was a pretty fantastic break!

2010 Reflections

Top 10 from 2010

1. My relationship with my Savior and my God. This past year, I have gotten to know the Lord in a whole new way. I could write pages about this, but I will leave it at this. I have fallen more in love with my Savior then ever before. He has taught me to trust only in him, rely solely on his strength, and keep my eyes focused on him above.
2. School. Both my Spring and Fall Semesters of 2010 were great. I officially changed my major to History and I have taken 3 history classes since then and LOVED them all. What can I say, I’m a history nerd.
3. Laura. I have so enjoyed being able to pick up our friendship right where we left off when I moved away to Israel. I love our best friend Jalepino dates on Tuesday nights, catching up on the weeks happenings and encouraging one another. I am so thankful for her and our lifelong friendship!
4. Bible Study. I have gotten involved with a LifeGroup from my church. It is a small group of girls and this year we did Beth Moore’s Living Beyond Yourself. Seriously, this was the best Bible study I’ve ever done. It’s based on the passage in Galatians about the fruit of the Spirit. This study taught me so much about the Holy Spirit and how my life, filled with the Holy Spirit as a believer in Christ should be led.
5. Narnia Dates. At least once a week or so Bethany and I have a nice long phone chat. We talk about just about everything! I am so blessed to have her as one of my best friends.
6. Summer. This summer was the best first because I got to spend all of it with my family, second because I got to spend a good amount of it with my friends too. I spent a month in Israel and the first two weeks, Lauren came and toured the country. When my family and I returned to the states Rachel and Molly came for a visit, then Stephanie and I went to Montgomery to visit the O’Mearas. Later, the Stewarts came to Savannah and we stayed in a beach house on Tybee. We ended the summer in Atlanta at Six Flags for a Relient K concert with the O’Mearas, Holmans and Geers. It was an epic summer!
7. Winter Break. I got to spend a month with my family in Israel. We traveled to London for a week and spent Christmas there. I didn’t realize how much I miss Israel til I came back. I loved traveling around the country visiting all the ancient sites. One of the highlights of the trip was going to the Israel Museum, where I went through the recently reopened Archaeology section. I also got to finally meet the Wade family. They have become good friends with my family this past year in Israel and it was so fun to spend time hanging out and getting to know all eight of them!
8. Work. I am so blessed to have a job, and a good one at that. I have so enjoyed learning more about Provider Enrollment at SHP this past year. Not only that but I have loved getting to know the people I work with -- they are the best!
9. Travel. I have gotten to travel a lot this year. Israel. Houston, Texas. Springfield, Missouri. Israel. Jordan. Montgomery, Alabama. Atlanta, Georgia. Charlotte, North Carolina. London, England. Israel. I love traveling and hope that God continues to allow for me to travel around the USA visiting friends and around the world, exploring new places and cultures.
10. School Breaks. God has blessed so much to be able to spend all of my school breaks with friends or family around the US, when I am unable to go home and see my family in Israel. I am close enough to my Grandma and other family in Charlotte that I have been able to spend some weekends up there. I am close enough to Atlanta that I have been able to visit Hye Zhin and Nathan at Emory several times. I spent my Spring break and Thanksgiving break with the Stewarts in Houston, Texas. I spent my Fall break with the O’Mearas in Montgomery, Alabama. God is so good to have blessed me with the friends and family that I have and I am so thankful for the hospitality!