K is for King

(No definitions this week...I am pretty certain we all know what a King is!)

I thought today I'd share a piece of our personal story with you instead!

Most people when they hear my name & hear we call our home TheKingsMountain, well they assume it's because it's our last name. And while that may be partially true....there is a bit more to the story. (anyone who knows me, knows...there IS ALWAYS more to the story!)

A young couple met in youth group and eventually went on a blind date (that's a whole other story-those who have heard it will agree...it's worth the tell!) They couldn't have been more different, this "Suttle" girl and this "King" of a boy. So much so that when they started actually dating, the leaders thought for sure this would never last.

Three years & one month after that first interesting blind date, the "Suttle" girl became a "King." Now as fairy tales go...she did marry a King afterall, so this must be a fairy tale, right? Now as fairy tales go...the 2 should have moved into their castle high on the hill & lived happily ever after.

God had other plans for these two. They moved into the family farm house and lived there for many years as renters. God was good to them & blessed them with a son, whom they both loved dearly. (Yes....princes have parent's too...we just never hear much about their lives before they meet their princess & fall madly in love.) 

Life was not always easy for them in that old stone farmhouse. It was drafty & cold in the winter time, except for the living room by the woodstove. It could get a bit too warm in the summer. Time passed, the young King grew, attended school, & played with friends. God had some lessons for Mrs. King (it's a little confusing if you call her the Queen, what with her last name being King!) God had some lessons for Mrs. King to learn along the way...one being contentment and another a deep compassion. (These are gifts Mrs. King received over the years in that precious farm house. And they can be stories to share for another time.) The King's overall were a happy family, but they had their share of ups and downs as husband and wife...they even went through a time when they didn't like each other very much at all. GASP! Yes...that can happen even in a fairy tale! As for the young King, well...he wasn't an angel either. He definitely had his moments, but that too is a tale for another day.

During this time, they searched far & wide to find a castle to call their own. Once again their differences were evident, yet God had a plan for these 3 King's. The "King" boy now a man & father would love to live in the mountains, far away from civilization. The "Suttle-King" girl now a woman & mother prefers to live near people...but NOT in the city, please. They searched and searched for years. It seemed as if the King's were destined to live in the farmhouse or down in a hollow for the rest of their days. And while this was a good place to live, it was not their dream castle. But alas, God did have other plans. Wonderful plans...but let's not get ahead of ourselves in the fairy tale.

One pretty spring day. many years into the search, Mrs. King was cleaning up the kitchen, for they did not have a maid! And she came upon this little booklet...a booklet that had plagued her for several weeks and she really just wanted to toss it away. This book had castles or rather lands that were up for sale. They had put off asking about the lands in this particular book, because they didn't want their hopes of a castle to call their own to be dashed again. So Mrs. King had tucked it away, only to find it again today.

She decided it was time to inquire just so she could toss the booklet that plagued her family. But alas, God's other plan had started to happen. For you see, when Mrs. King inquired into the lands that were for sale, she found that while the lands in the booklet were not for them...there was a new piece that had just been brought to the agents attention...it might just be the perfect piece of land for their castle. Well, the King family didn't wish to get their hopes up too much, because it was a very desirable piece of land to the wealthy land developers in the quaint burg. 

The quest had begun, and since our tale has gotten long and there is SO MUCH MORE to this wonderful fairy tale story...let me just say this. THE KING of KINGS had destined that this particular mountain be the place where "We 3 King's" were to build a castle to call our own and it was the perfect blend of the "Suttle" girl and the "King" boy. For you see, they live atop a mountain in their little burg with 31 acres of woods, yet at the bottom of the hill resides their friends!

When the King's acquired their little piece of the mountain they wanted to honor all that God had done for them. So they decided to name their "castle" TheKingsMountain. Now most fairy tales end with a moral to the story...I am certain we have not reached the end of this particular fairy tale just yet for the castle is yet to be completed. But I can say with all certainty, that God is still writing their story...lumps, bumps, bruises, smiles, laughs, tears and all. And for now the King's are quite content in their partially finished castle atop the mountain above their little burg after celebrating 25 years of marriage-both the good & the bad that has crossed their path along the way. Together, the "Suttle" girl and that "King" boy along with the once little King love to see what the KING OF KINGS does on a daily basis to watch over their little castle atop the hill.

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Check out all the great bloggers...

1. Kitty in the Kitchen

2. Kilt. . . A Real Mans Dress

3. Kris Kringle and Kittens

4. Follow that star

5. K is for King

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Faith....wrestling with God's Truth in a fallen world!

Ok...I have been steering pretty clear of this topic lately especially on Social media sites...but several red flags went up as I read this article tonight about Christianity & Rob Bell from Relevant Magazine.  And I just couldn't remain silent. 

First & foremost, I am thankful for my friend who posted this article. I am also thankful that awhile back when Rob Bell was running the circuit talking about the book in question, I watched the interview myself & heard some very disturbing thoughts...NOT QUESTIONS...thoughts come out of his mouth. 

So here are my 'red flag moments' from this particular article:
First of them being his close ties to Oprah. you see I grew up as a young adult watching her...watching her share her Christian faith, then ever so slowly she began to move in a different direction-accepting of any/all "religions" (and I do include Christianity in that word, eventho to me Christianity is not about rules & religion it is about a holy God desiring a relationship with us. but there really is no other word you can use to lump them all together.) As I continued to watch her (O) become more popular, her beliefs became less concrete. Sure, she does a lot of good & she speaks beautifully, but...and here comes flag #2. 

I just couldn't get past the verses that again & again warn of false teachers & watching out for them & their teaching. They will pervert the Word, twist the Word (just like Satan did to Eve in the Garden) & they will make it sound so good. 

Then there's this teaching Jesus did...you know wide vs narrow path. I just couldn't get past them. You see to me, when I look at scripture as a whole as I hear 'negative' phrases uttered (like "narrow-narrow-mind" or this one "narrowest of doctrines" in the article) I find myself wondering just how open is my mind supposed to be in light of Jesus teaching that the way is narrow & difficult, not wide & easy. Let's not forget when He says He didn't come to bring us lives of ease...in fact He flat out says: we will have troubles! But He has overcome the WORLD. And He talks about how we must be willing to leave behind those we may love the most to stand with Him. (I know...I am not quoting  exactly...paraphrasing some, which I probably shouldn't do). Those words of Jesus, they just make it hard for me to 'justify' this "love everyone" mentality, especially when the world's definition of that is to agree with all they are shouting is right, or science has proven/disproven...etc. Science proved a long time ago how the rainbow happens doesn't change the miracle of it OR the promise! (And believe you me rarely a day goes by when I don't thank God for the covenant promise the rainbow represents! But thats a different discussion!)

Back to this article & this topic....Than I read this phrase "He had a rabid army of fellow believers who hung on every word he uttered, who lapped-up every morsel he tossed them, who cheered him on like a local kid making the Bigs." about Rob Bell. I find myself questioning who those people were following all along. Were they following Jesus Christ or were they following in this case Rob Bell? Sure I liked Nooma videos (still do like how they got ya to think IN LINE with the Scriptures) & I have questioned my faith ALOT & walked through hard stuff that has tested my faith. 

I am a HUGE fan of asking questions...but I am a much bigger fan of the answers being found in God's Word-all of it, even those parts that are messy & icky & don't feel so nice by the world's definition NOT from Rob Bell or Joel Osteen or even Shelly King. So my challenge to those of you who have questions.....ask away! Just be sure the person you are asking is getting their answers from God himself in His Word and not just another man's interpretation-and yes, I do take God's Word as it's written (that's a discussion for another time too). 

When the path is narrow , is there really a whole lot of room for grey? Grace-yes...absolutely! But I'm just not quite sure as I wrestle with questions about my faith if there really is as much room for grey as the world wants us to believe. (And this is why, I have been steering clear of these conversations of late ;))

Mini Cannoli

This is NOT my original recipe...I just needed a place to put it that I could pin it :) So here it is...

Mini Cannoli

Ingredients:
Crust-
2 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Flour for dusting surface

Filling-
1 15oz. container of whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425.
Prepare filling by combining all ingredients except chocolate chips in a bowl with an electric mixer.
Place in a one-gallon freezer bag and refrigerate.
Roll out pie crusts and sprinkle each all over one side with sugar and cinnamon.
Roll over dough with rolling pin gently to push cinnamon and sugar into the pie crust.
Using a biscuit cutter, cut out circles in the dough.
Lightly press the circles into ungreased mini cupcake pans to form a pastry cup.
Gently prick the bottoms on the cups with a fork so that they don’t rise too much in the oven!
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Remove from oven and once cool, fill with cream.
Cut off a small part of the corner of the plastic bag to fill cups.
Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and dust with powdered sugar

Filling can be kept in the fridge up to 3 days before filling. Fill about 1 hour before serving.

Jimmy, Jar & Joy...what do they all have in common?

Me, or more accurately my life the last 2 days. Mostly figuratively of couirse...here let me explain.

This week, I feel like someone has forced open my life (JIMMY-a verb) & used it for their own personal gain, while making tons of work for me to clean up after them.
(No, this person is NOT someone I know...No, I don't wish to share details...)
This left me feeling extremely jarred right to my core.
Verb
      to have a harshly unpleasant or perturbing effect on one's nerves, feelings, thoughts, etc.

THAT ^ is exactly how I have felt for most of the last 2 days. Perturbing effect is an interesting phrase that really applies well to my thoughts & feelings.
Perturb:
    (verb) to disturb or disquiet greatly in mind

To say that my thoughts & feelings the last 2 days have been disturbed or disquieted is quite accurate. Now you are probably asking...Gracious, how in the world can joy be related to feeling like your life has been jimmied & our mind jarred. They seem like diametrically opposed worlds...

Joy (noun)
1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation:
2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated:
3. the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.
4. a state of happiness or felicity.

Joy comes in the midst of jimmied lives & jarring minds, when one chooses to look at all the good things happening around them...in the midst of the angst & frustration & overwhelmingness of said circumstance. For me the last two days, that meant seeing God wink at me personally in the midst of this unpleasantness. It would have been very easy for me to just allow those jimmying moments & jarring thoughts to pervade my entire being. Instead, I kept looking for how God was working in spite of the circumstances...and they are quite unpleasant & not overly timely in their "visit." (Oh "God winks"...I really need to post about that one day too...because they are really cool things! At least in my book anyway & they require action on our part too. But that's a different post...back to jimmying, jarring & joy!)

God directs our thoughts & our actions...He places kind hearts right where we need them. And checks in our spirits, if we would but listen...so instead of being pulled into the abyss that oftentimes can be the result of jimmying & jarring in our lives...I choose today to stand firmly on the things that bring me joy...the people God placed in my path, the thoughts He directed, the checks He placed and I will allow the "emotion of great delight and keen pleasure" to overtake those jimmied & jarred inner places.
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Here it is... it's a BLOG HOP!

Check out the other Bloggers here:

1. Jeopardy (Chapter One)

2. Joyeux Noel

3. Jilt and Jump

4. Junked Jars

5. Jimmy, Jar & Joy...what do they all have in common?

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E...F...G...H... Yikes how I feel after falling behind in my A to Z posting!

I am...
Extremely...

Forgetful....

Grateful &...

Happy.

I can not believe that I missed 3 (oops...4) letters of the alphabet, but I am back. And I have chosen 4 words to look at in this one post.

Extremly is an adverb, so let's go with it's root word: Extreme which is both an adjective & a noun with 15 different no... varying (that's probably a better word choice) definitions. Only 2 of which use some form of the word itself. I'm impressed!
For today's post I'm going to choose this one as my definition of choice:
     adjective: exceeding the bounds of moderation:

All 15 would take up way to much space & is quite extreme if you ask me. If you'd like to see more (some of them were quite...interesting. One was even archaic!) just check out this link to dictionary.com's definitions!

Forgetful-
adjective
1. apt to forget; that forgets That one's out...not a proper definition. (how I have managed to get myself stuck on this "proper" definition kick...I really don't know. But it's giving me ideas on how to start my posts, so I think for now I shall stick with it!)
2. heedless or neglectful (often followed by of)
3. bringing on oblivion

For the sake of this week's feelings, let's go with definition #2...heedless or neglectful. Oh how that makes me sad! However, it is quite accurate when you look at a post that is intended to be one letter a week & this week the writer feels the need to make up for the 3 (rather 4) missed weeks plus the current one because she was neglectful more than just forgetful.

Grateful-
adjective
1. warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received;thankful
2. expressing or actuated by gratitude (It’s not the exact word, but it is a form of the word & my English teacher would never let that fly on a vocab test)
3. pleasing to the mind or senses; agreeable or welcome; refreshing

Warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness...that I am! For each one of you despite my neglectfulness is still here reading my silly little narrative.

Happy-
adjective
1. delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing:
2. characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy:
3. favored by fortune; fortunate or lucky:
4. apt or felicitous, as actions, utterances, or ideas.
5. obsessed by or quick to use the item indicated (usually used incombination):
(this one requires an example: if it wasn't for this gadget-happy world, I wouldn't be blogging. :) )

So today's post finds me feeling like I am:
exceeding the bounds of moderation in: neglectfulness, deep appreciation of kindness and delight over a particular thing (that thing being our gadget-happy world that is conducive to sharing our silly thoughts with the world at large!) That's some extreme emotions right there

Oh and get this: Half of the words this week (which is technically 4-make that 5-weeks worth of posts in one...but I am trying desperately to make sure it isn't 4 posts long!) were English teacher proper! Not too shabby for a week full of adjectives!

Have a extra-fabulous greatly-humble week...oooooo...4 more adjectives. Okay..I will stop now :)

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It's a BLOG HOP!

Don't forget to check out my fellow blogger's thoughts on the letter I!

1. Illusions

2. Indefatigable or Ignoble?

3. Insults...and how to do them

4. The Mysterious Icicle

5. E, F, G, H...how I feel...

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