We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Thinking of birthdays raises an important question. Some of our most significant events – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, funerals – honor particular people. At those times, how do we demonstrate that God is at the heart of every celebration? Can we honor God appropriately while focusing so much attention on people? How do we keep God at the center? We can answer those questions in various ways. Paul said, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Ac. 17:18); “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Through Him we have birth and life and every thing and every person in our lives. So God is the reason we have anything to celebrate. He is the ultimate source of our celebrations. As we read in James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” When we realize that the child, spouse, the life, the friends, the family are all gifts from our Father, it makes every celebration a “thanksgiving” day, a time to express our heart of thanks to God. Saint Augustine said something that might help us when we worry that making much of a person might somehow be competition for our love of God. “For he loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.” In other words, as my husband explains, “If created things are seen and handled as gifts of God and as mirrors of His glory, they need not be occasions of idolatry – if our delight in them is always also a delight in their Maker.” Thinking about a few special days might help us see how much this truth can play out.

Noel Piper

We Love God!

God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

Cherry Coke Salad

January 22, 2023

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Fruits, Grains		Salads, Beverages, Fruits/nuts	4	Servings

INGREDIENTS

40	oz	Cherries; Dark, Pitted, 2 cn
3	oz	Jello; Cherry Gelatin (1 pk)
20	oz	Pineapple; Crushed, (1 Cn)
1	c	Coca-Cola
1/2	c	Chopped Pecans

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat cherries and their juice to boiling.  Remove from heat and add Jello.
Stir.  Add pinapple, juice and all. Pour in coke and nuts. Pour into an
oiled 6-cup mold. Let cool, then refrigerate at least 2 hours or until set.
Serve cold.
From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

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