rachel’s blog

As my three-year stint as a Residence Director in a college dorm comes to an end, I think it’s fair to say that I make a pretty mean late-night* pancake breakfast. Types of pancakes offered tonight: chocolate chip, peanut butter chip, blueberry, banana. Possible toppings: any of the above, plus strawberries, raspberries, peanut butter, whipped topping, and syrup.

Mmm…

* The term “late-night” is debatable. On a college campus, 10:00 is NOT late-night. My normal friends think I’m crazy.

I went to the grocery store today for the third time this week. I don’t usually go that often, but I guess I didn’t manage to plan ahead very well. After picking up the few items I needed for dinner tonight, I headed to the express checkout.

“Hey, long time no see!”

I looked up at the cashier to see if he was talking to me. He was. “Really?” I said. “I’ve been in here several times this week!”

“Yeah, I haven’t seen you here for a long time,” he said, clearly happy to see me again. “I guess you just haven’t been coming through my checkout!”

The kid looked like he was 16. OK, maybe 18… I don’t know. He was short and small. His face was definitely familiar to me, but I don’t think I’ve ever said anything more to him than “paper, please” and “thanks, have a good evening.” As he rang up my items and put them in bags, he asked me if I was going to watch any scary movies this evening.

“Scary movies?? Ummmm, no… why do you ask?”

“It’s Friday the 13th!” he eagerly explained.

“Oh, right,” I said. “No, I don’t think I’ll watch any scary movies this evening.”

“Why not?!”

“Well… I’m guess I’m just not really a big fan of movies that are scary…”

“Not even ‘Friday the 13th’?” he persisted.

By this time I had my receipt in hand, but since there was no one else in line behind me, he just kept on talking. He told me that “Friday the 13th” really isn’t a very scary movie, and that I should definitely watch it this evening. I told him that I already had other plans.

He went on to describe how he was going to watch some scary movies at home tonight. The house would be totally dark, and the windows in his room don’t even have blinds, so the only light would be the headlights of cars driving past on Rt. 33. He seemed really excited about all of this.

OK, that’s the end of the story. There’s no punchline, “aha! moment,” or profound insight. So… I’ll give you a short pop quiz instead. There’s only one question:

Why did he seem so happy to have this whole conversation with me?

a. He thought I was someone else.
b. He thought I was cute… and 18.
c. He was bored.
d. He wanted to prove to me that weird things DO happen on Friday the 13th.
e. Other: __________

Your guess is as good as mine!

Yesterday I was minding my own business at work when some students stopped by the office and invited my colleagues and I to go upstairs to a classroom for food and drink. We were a bit confused, so as we started asking questions, we learned that some other students in their class were doing a group project that involved a modern-day interpretation of a Biblical parable.

I asked Ryan if he had been sent out to the “highways and byways” to invite any poor soul he could find. He wasn’t exactly sure WHAT he was doing; after all, it wasn’t HIS group project. He was just following the instructions he had been given.

As we were talking, another young woman from the class called out to me as she approached. She clearly wanted me to go with her, but said that she wasn’t allowed to FORCE me to go. The students told us that we wouldn’t have to stay long, but if we chose not to go, we had to tell them why we declined the invitation.

I suppose the masterminds behind this project were focusing on the “Parable of the Great Banquet” as recorded in Luke 14. Jesus tells the story of a man who had invited a lot of guests to a banquet. When the banquet was ready, the man sent his servant out to call the guests to the banquet, but the invited guests all backed out and started making excuses. One had just bought a plot of land, another recently bought some oxen (where DO you buy those critters anyhow?), and another had just gotten married. The banquet host was angry and directed his servant to go out and invite poor, blind, lame, and otherwise downtrodden people to the banquet.

Walking upstairs to eat chips and brownies for a few minutes can’t be compared to making a commitment to follow Jesus Christ. But although the class project may not have resulted in a perfect interpretation of the parable, I was fascinated by my own response. When Ryan first extended the invitation to us, my immediate thoughts were that I was swamped with work (which was true!) and that I was ready to head to lunch in a few minutes. I didn’t really need or want a snack break.

But something changed when Lindsay approached to join in the recruitment efforts. Even while she was still far off, she called me by name. Suddenly it was a personal invitation. No longer was I just another generic person who could help them reach their recruitment goal; Lindsay wanted ME to come.

I might have gone along with them even if she hadn’t used my name, but that seemingly small detail actually made a very significant impact as I debated whether to join them.

Just as Lindsay called me by name, the Lord calls each one of US by name (Is. 43:1) and asks us to follow Him. A lifetime of obedience to Christ is obviously much more challenging and much more rewarding than taking a few minutes out of my busy schedule to eat a snack with college students before lunch. But if Jesus DID stop by my office tomorrow and issue an invitation, would I be ready and willing to go with Him? Perhaps more importantly, would I even recognize Him?

If the Lord is risen, then Lent is over! Hallelujah!

I invited some friends of mine to come over for smoothies this evening to celebrate the end of Lent. Why smoothies? Because I had given up all beverages except water for Lent. So tonight I popped in a CD of Andean music (listen HERE), cranked up the blender, and… mmm. The smoothies were so good!

Here’s the quasi-recipe I used.

:: Lent-is-Over Smoothie ::

3/4 c. orange juice
1/4 c. vanilla yogurt
2/3 banana
5-ish semi-thawed frozen peach slices
a handful of semi-thawed frozen raspberries

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serves 1.

In my adventures throughout the tangled web of the internet, I often find myself in the most unexpected places. Last night I stumbled across the website of a church in Aberdeen, Scotland, and I decided to click around the site to learn more about the congregation. (Along the way, I hopped over to Wikipedia to learn about the educational system in Scotland. I had seen references to things like P5 and S3, so I wanted to confirm that my interpretation of those codes was correct.)

As I scanned the church’s page about House Groups, part of a sentence jumped out at me. It read: “There are no theology professors in our house groups…”

What? They blatantly discriminate against theology professors and prohibit them from joining House Groups?! OK, probably not, but since I am personally acquainted with quite a few theology professors, that was my initial tongue-in-cheek response. Obviously, a more careful reading of the paragraph indicated otherwise:

“Who goes to a house group? Well, ordinary people like you and me. There are no theology professors in our house groups, at least not the last time we looked, but even theology professors need the encouragement of other Christians!”

I happen to think that theology professors are “ordinary” people too, but it’s true that whether a person works as a cashier at Wal-mart, as an architect, or as a theology professor, every follower of Jesus Christ needs to be loved and cared for by the body of Christ. This most definitely includes the seminary professor who announced during our sharing time at church yesterday that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

Kyrie eleison. Lord, have mercy.

The Lord is risen!!

(Since this is what I saw when I wandered outside yesterday morning, it’s almost hard to believe that Easter is here already!) >>

I made these funky cookies yesterday morning to take along on a 24-hour retreat with the women in my small group. The cookies didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped, but they were a hit!

“Peppermint Crunch Cookies” is recipe #157 in “365 Great Cookies You Can Bake” by Lois Hill, but of course I modified it slightly. Here’s the recipe as I made it:

:: Peppermint Crunch Cookies ::

1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. peppermint extract
1 c. plus 2 T. sifted flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. coarsely crushed peppermint candy canes

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the egg and peppermint extract. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the batter. Stir in the crushed candy canes.

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto lightly greased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375* for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are brown.

After the cookies have cooled for 2 to 3 minutes, but are still warm to the touch, use a spatula to transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

::

The cookies were more crisp than I would have liked… and they were VERY hard to get off the baking sheet. I didn’t grease my cookie sheet, because I use an airbake pan that I never grease, but next time I think I’d grease it. (Perhaps I should follow directions more often?!) Part of the problem is that the candy cane pieces melt and then stick to the cookie sheet, but in spite of the problems, the cookies were quite yummy!