Sacrifice of Praise

Sacrifice as defined by Google's dictionary is "an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy" or "to give up something important or valued for the sake of other considerations".

So what does it mean to bring a "sacrifice of praise"?  As in, Hebrews 13:15--Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise--the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

I don't get it.

During church this morning, our worship leader prayed about our "sacrifice of praise", and I stopped praying, opened my eyes and looked at him like that was the first time I had heard that phrase.

Obviously, I have heard the phrase before, but I think it hit me in a new way this morning.  (See link to 1984 Christian song:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grn4pGm2Hx0)

So often, we come to worship with certain expectations.  We want to be apart of a church that has a really great band, progressive song choices, neat light shows...really modern, cool stuff, a great atmosphere.  And if it's not that way, we have problems.  They didn't play my favorite song.  The guitar was a little off this morning.  The tempo was not like the record.  Or I just really wasn't feeling it this morning.  I can think of many different complaints that I have either heard or had about worship.

This morning, when I heard that phrase, I really stopped to think about that.  What does it mean to bring a sacrifice of praise?  Is my worship a sacrifice of praise?

I. Don't. Think. So.

A sacrifice of praise isn't easy.  Or it wouldn't be called a sacrifice.  Sacrifice is to give up, to surrender for the sake of something more important or more worthy.  It's not bringing praise when I feel like it, when life is easy, when everything is going my way.  In fact, I think it's quite the opposite.

I think of Jonah and the greatest fishing story ever told.

The Lord gave him a specific command: "Get up and go to the great city of Ninevah.  Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are."  But Jonah ran.  He got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.

You know the story.  He boards a boat, hoping to escape the Lord by sailing to another land.  So, the Lord sends a powerful storm, the crew figures out it was because of Jonah, and they throw him overboard where a great fish swallows Jonah.

From inside the fish, Jonah prays (verse 9), "But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you.  What I have vowed I will make good.  I will say, 'Salvation comes from the Lord."

Jonah was in a predicament.  He was in a fish.  The last thing I would FEEL like doing would be bringing a sacrifice of praise to the Lord.  BUT..the truth of the matter was that 'salvation comes from the Lord.'  The ONLY way he was getting out of this situation was the Lord's salvation.

I NEED THAT SALVATION.

So this morning, as I sat there listening to this prayer, my sacrifice of praise was to give up my selfish motives and desires, put aside my distractions and lay aside my agenda to make HIS name known, to bring glory to the name of the One who Saves, to allow Him to draw near to me in my need, in my predicaments, in my mess.

This became my prayer:  Break down my pride, and all the walls I've built up inside.  Our earthy crowns and all our desires, we lay at Your feet.

My heart sang a song With Everything by Hillsong.
So let hope rise, and darkness tremble in Your holy light, and every eye will see Jesus, our God, great and mighty to be praised.  God of all days, glorious in all of Your ways.  Your majesty, the wonder and grace, in the light of Your name.

With everything, with EVERYTHING, we will shout for your glory.  With everything, with everything, we will shout forth your praise.

Our hearts will cry, be glorified.  Be lifted high above all names.  For You our King, with everything, we will shout forth your praise.


The bottom line is this:  My sacrifice of praise looks differently after I examine the areas of my life that I need, desperately need, His salvation.  But more importantly, it comes from a place of GRATEFUL praise.  

details...very tiny ones

We have made it to the time and place where Blake and Jess start a family. Minor detail...things don't always just go as planned...and that is definitely the case for us. So, I guess you could say we are working on a baby...

In the midst of this journey (sometimes difficult, exciting and overall, sort of like a roller coaster), I have found that although situations in life may bring constant suspense, I have constant certainty that my future is decided and taken care. I have written down ten verses for myself to memorize and claim during this time.

The other night, I came home from work to find Blake getting ready for work and trying to multi-task. We were supposed to be getting an internet set-up kit via UPS that night and it hadn't come. He was making the appropriate phone calls to see what was happening. When he didn't get the answers he wanted, we decided that we'd just eat dinner and go on with life as normal. Although, he didn't really like that idea, he tried his best to concentrate on getting ready for work. He had to leave for work around 6:30, and I was going to Bible study shortly after that time. Blake was concerned that no one would be home to gather up the package when it was delivered, IF it was delivered. He spent his last 15 minutes at home that night, looking out the window every few minutes to see if the UPS truck had pulled into our apartment complex yet. Finally, discouraged, he gave up and picked up his bags and headed for the door.

Before he left, he turned and said, "Hey, I read about Abram and Sarai this morning in my devotions. They really prayed expectantly for a child. I was really encouraged by that." I agreed and told him about my verses that I was working on memorizing. I quoted my verse of the week for him.

Psalm 37:23-24 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in EVERY DETAIL of their lives. Though they may stumble, they will never fall because the Lord holds them by the hand.

He encouraged me, said goodbye and left for work.

I needed to put some gas in the car before Bible study, so I decided to get ready and head out the door. I took my time getting reading and picked up the house a little bit. In no hurry at all, I headed out our front door into the rain and walked right in front of headlights of a large truck. At once, I realized what this meant -- the internet set-up kit had arrived!!! It was almost like Christmas day.

I walked back into our building, met the UPS delivery man in the doorway, signed for the package and put it inside the door of our apartment. I locked up our apartment and headed back into the night.

I didn't get but two steps out of my front door when I realized the sheer hilarity of the situation. It was like God swooped down, put the UPS delivery truck in my driveway that night and said, "Yes, Jessica, I do DELIGHT in EVERY DETAIL of your life...even something as silly and small as internet."

I laughed to myself and hopped in my car. With tears in my eyes, I laughed the whole way to the gas station, laughed as I pumped gas and the entire way to Bible study.

Thank you, Lord, for Your promise that you direct my steps and you delight yourself in every detail of my life.

All Things Well

I am either all or nothing.  I don't like to do things half-way.  


BUT, that sometimes gets me into things that I don't really stick with, hobbies especially.  Scrapbooking, for example, or blogging (the first time around) or, more detrimental to my health (mental and physical), exercising.  


I think this comes from my desire to do EVERYTHING better, great, the best, really well, at an expert level.  I don't like doing things that I am not great at or am only mediocre.  Who does?


Yes, I do have a few things that I do well, but I am not one of those who seems to be able to do EVERYTHING well.  The sooner I realize that, the better.  


I was reading in Isaiah 30 tonight and jumped across the title of verses 15-33: God Takes the Time to Do Everything Right. 


I thought of Chris Tomlin's song, You Do All Things Well.


The sound of your voice, the works of your hand.  You do all these well.


Isaiah 30:18-19 (NIV/The Message)
Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!  Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over.  Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and more grace.  The moment he hears, he'll answer.


Grace and more grace.  The moment he hears, he'll answer. 


Warning:  His answer might not be my answer, my plan or even on my radar, but he's the Master of ALL, the Jack-of-all-trades, the ultimate Renaissance Man...he does all things well.

Praise be to God...

Psalm 66:20  Praise be to God, who did not ignore my prayer or withdraw his unfailing love from me.

As Blake and I begin to build our family tree, we are claiming this verse.  The Lord knows our needs, wants and desires and knows exactly what is right for us in His plan.  He will not reject my prayers.

How great that our prayers are heard and received, not rejected or ignored.  Our Father, with his unfailing love, hears us, loves us, cares for us, has a plan for us and will not turn away from us when we earnestly seek Him and His will for our lives..

Some Thoughts.

Instead of attending the 3rd Annual GermanFest yesterday and taking photos of the wiener dog races, I sat for almost 2 hours at Discount Tire, waiting in line to get new tires.  BOOOOO!!!  So, sadly, no photos to post.  There's always next year.  Sorry for the broken promise.

On another note,  Blake and I had date night last night and found ourselves in Broad Ripple.  What a fun little village it is!!  We ate at Bazbeaux's and then walked on the Monon Trail, which was filled with people traveling by foot to dinner, biking, running and walking.  We had a great time of food, conversation and it all ended around 7:30!  I know what you're thinking...LAME.  We were tired from a long day of sitting in Discount Tire.

Today, I am on my own.  I have finished two of the three books that I was working my way through.  I have taken a walk.  I ate lunch, of course.  And now...??

Sundays in our new town have been leaving me wanting...
My favorite memory of Sundays growing up and even into adulthood, is family lunch.  Everyone, all together, pot roast or chicken from the Crock Pot, Mom's meatloaf, BBQ pineapple chicken...YUM!!!  We quickly cleaned up dinner, talked for a bit, then parted from the table for our own napping place.

Now that's one thing that definitely translates to Indianapolis from Nappanee.  Speaking of napping...

The Original & Fabulous

Today, I am going back to my heritage and attending the 3rd Annual GermanFest.  But not just any GermanFest...the Original & Fabulous!!!
(http://athenaeumfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=71)


What do they have at the GermanFest you ask?  Well, as their slogan states:  Kids, Dogs, Strongmen, Cornhole, Beer and Yodeling.  HA!  Can you believe it?  All the best things about being German, I suppose.

I am especially excited for weiner dog races!!  My friend, Amy, has entered her dog, Kelby, into the races.

This will be a great day for an awesome adventure!!!!  Stay tuned for photos!!

I Like Your Toes

I ran out to get the mail last week and forgot to put shoes on.  I don't think that I was expecting anything, I just saw the mail lady and didn't want her to jam our mail in our box.  I was trying to save the mail from being smashed.

While in the stairwell, a little girl walked in the door, took one look at me and said, "I like your toes."  Of course, they were painted, but if you know OPI colors, they are painted You Don't Know Jacques, a brownish-gray color.  I quickly smiled, replied, "Thank you!" and rushed back down to my bungalow apartment.

I reported back to Blake what had happened.  We had a great little giggle and thought it was so cute.

Later on, Psalm 139 came to mind.

¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me. 


¹³ For you created my inmost being; 
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well. 

So, thank you, little girl in the stairwell, for reminding me of my Father's love for me, His care in creating me and His watchful eye over my life and His plan for me.

Put on Your Best Gram and GO GET 'EM!

It's one thing to negotiate, bargain, wheel-and-deal with merchants at a flea market or a swap meet.  But it's another to try and haggle with a salesperson at a store like Gap or J. Crew.  It's one thing to ask for a few dollars off of a plate that has a crack or pants with a broken zipper.  It's something totally different to ask for money off of a perfectly fine purse that you think may be too expensive.

Well, not to my Gram.  She's the Queen of Horse Trade.  And she's not afraid to bargain for those things that are perfectly fine, may be too expensive, but she just has to have.  It's a running joke in our family whenever we run into the situation above.  You know what I mean, right?  You find a particular something at the store, something's wrong with the item and you ask the manager or clerk for a deal.  I want these pants, but the zipper's broken.  What can you do for me?  My mom said it best recently.  "Put on your best Gram and go get 'em!"

Do you ever have that moment while shopping, when you find something you absolutely need, are attracted, can't stop thinking about and is such a GREAT deal that you will definitely regret not buying it if you walk away?


My sister and mom recently made a short trip down to Indianapolis to visit me and see where I live and work.  The day involved talking, eating, more talking and, of course, a shopping trip to several of our favorite stores.
And that shopping moment happened to Joslynn while were in T.J. Maxx.  She found some suede, thigh-high,   buff-colored boots she just could not forget.  However, they had a blue pen mark on toe.  After a while, she decided, to ask the clerk for some money off of the boots when we went to check-out.


So, she did just so.  She got up and courage and just asked.  The clerk told her that she would need to talk to her manager.  She left and went to talk to the manager and came back with her answer.  "My manager will take $1.00 off."  Well, Joslynn wasn't satisfied with that, so she walked out of the store empty-handed.

We had several other stops that day, but we just kept hearing about how much she loved those boots.  "We just might have to go back and get them.  I will check back home and see if the T.J. Maxx in South Bend or Mishawaka has the same boots.  Even better, they won't have pen on them."  On the way home, her search continued.  They stopped in Kokomo and, when they returned home, she looked in Mishawaka and called the store in South Bend.  NO luck.

Fast forward to this morning at 9:30.  My sister calls and wants to know if I will go back to T.J. Maxx and see if they still have her beloved tan boots.  Sure, I can do that.  "Jess, can you ask for money off, too?  I want them either way, but see if they will give you some money off."

Her message was clear.  PUT ON YOUR BEST GRAM AND GO GET 'EM! And I did just that.

I found the boots (the same one with the pen mark), marched straight to the check-out line, schmoozed a little and then confidently stated to Latoysha the T.J. Maxx Clerk, "I want these boots, but they have a large pen mark on the toe.  Can I get 10% off?"

Latoysha the Clerk replied, "Let me ask my manager, the woman of the hour."  She turns, "Miss Thompson, she wants these boots, but they have a pen mark.  She wants 10% off."

I interject, "Miss Thompson, someone told me you are the woman of the hour," with a small chuckle and twinkle in my eye.

Miss Thompson smiles and laughs to herself.  "How did I get that notoriety?  Sure, we can do 10% off."  She promptly reprices the item, I pay Latoysha and walk out of the store victorious.  And my sister, of course, is THRILLED.

This is a long and detailed story to simply tell you that I have inherited the same gene that is seemingly ingrained in Gram.  The strand of DNA that names me Dicker Princess (although, I'm sure I can come up with a better name for myself).

Moral of the story?  Always say exactly what you want.  You will get better than $1.00 off -- 10, 15 and, on a lucky day, 25% off.

But an even more funny lesson that I learned or just observed is this:
Despite the fact that I have several characteristics of some family members that I dislike and sometimes even border on being resentful, I also inherited money-saving, bargain-hunting, horse trading skills that make me SUCCESSFUL on something even as simple as a shopping trip.

So I say to you, go out into your world and PUT ON YOUR BEST GRAM!!!

Tribute to Julia Child

I absolutely love, love, LOVE Julia Child.  Period.  There's nothing more to say about it, but let me say this anyway:  we are seriously kindred spirits.  We have so much in common.  We both love to laugh.  We are both willing to take risks.  We look at life through rose-colored glass or glass half-full.  We both love food - cooking, writing, reading, talking and eating it.  We are adventurers, lovers, jokers, sisters and friends.  However, one thing we do not have in common (at least I don't think we do) is our success rate on new recipes.

Tonight, I decided to take a little risk and make butternut squash ravioli from scratch - dough, filling, everything.  I looked for a good recipe online and in my many cookbooks for about an hour.  That was mistake number one.

You can find many great things on the internet.  You can find almost anything about anything on the World Wide Web.  But one thing that you probably should not find, and I definitely did not find, is a homemade, from-scratch, pasta dough and butternut squash filling recipe.

Okay, let me clarify.  For those of you who are technologically sound, I'm sure you totally disagree.  Jess, you are absolutely mistaken.  You can definitely find EVERYTHING on the internet.  So, I will concede to that statement.  I was NOT looking in the right places, and I did not do thorough research for this project.

I started the evening by brushing the butternut squash halves with olive oil, placing on a cookie sheet and roasting for about 45 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  While the squash was roasting, I started in on the ravioli dough.  Mix three cups flour and one half teaspoon salt in an electric mixer with a dough hook.  Add four eggs, one by one, into the flour.  Drizzle two tablespoons olive oil into the flour and egg mixture.  Dough should start to form and cling to dough hook.  Sounds simple, right?

NOT.  As soon as the eggs had been added to the flour mixture, I realized that there was NO WAY that the measly two tablespoons of oil would cause the dough to adhere to the dough hook.  So, I moved on to ad-lib cooking.

My thought process went a little something like this: Maybe if I add a little bit more olive oil.  Hmm, that looks alright.  Should I add a little more?  Here we go.  Well, that's definitely not making these ingredients dough-like.  I will just add an extra egg.  Hmm...


You get the point.  I had no idea how to redeem the recipe now, so I did what I always do.  Act like I know what I'm doing, even though secretly (or in this case not-so-secretly) I haven't a clue.

I continued on my way.  Wrapped the dough in plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes for the "gluten to settle".  Put the squash mixture together.  Roll out the dough, brush with egg wash, plop down mini piles of butternut squash.  Boil in salted water for 10-15 minutes, and remove with a slotted spoon.  Serve with pasta sauce.

Everything went great the rest of my cooking experience, until the taste test.  It was a mouthful of chewy, almost licorice-like dough with a little taste of butternut squash.

So, of course, I left some for my husband to try.  Because that's what good wives do, even when the meal is a complete FAILURE.  You know the rest of the story.  He tries ravioli.  Eats more than he probably should, but only because the boy's hungry -- not because the food is good.  And then the leftovers go promptly into the trash.

Next time, IF there is a next time of standing in the kitchen for three hours to make pasta and filling (instead of the three minutes it take to buy butternut squash ravioli from the frozen foods section of Marsh), I will do better research, ask lots of questions, hire a sous chef and also an iron chef.

But until then...I will kick back my feet, look at this terrible mess of dough, squash and sauce and LAUGH.  Because that's what I do way better than cooking.  LAUGH.  I have a feeling Julia Child would LOVE to see this.