Graduation Gift Idea

 

Need a unique graduation gift--a little something extra to tuck into the graduation card?  Here's an example of one of the graduation bookmarks I have been making.  One side has a picture of the graduate along with the school seal and the year.  The other side has a hand lettered verse or quotation. This young man is an up and coming drummer, so the quotation was selected to reflect his special talent.

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

May 15
God's High Places

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. (Psalm 91:14)

Does the Lord say this to me? Yes, if I have known His name. Blessed be the Lord, I am no stranger to Him. I have tried Him, proved Him, and known Him, and therefore do I trust Him. I know His name as a sin-hating God, for by His Spirit's convincing power I have been taught that He will never wink at evil. But I also know Him as the sin-pardoning God in Christ Jesus, for He has forgiven me all trespasses. His name is faithfulness, and I know it, for He has never forsaken me though my troubles have multiplied upon me.

This knowledge is a gift of grace, and the Lord makes it to be the reason why He grants another grace-gift, namely, setting on high. This is grace upon grace. Observe that if we climb on high, the position may be dangerous; but if the Lord sets us there it is safe. He may raise us to great usefulness, to eminent experience, to success in service, to leadership among workers, to a father's place among the little ones. If He does not do this, He may set us on high by near fellowship, clear insight, holy triumph, and gracious anticipation of eternal glory. When God sets us on high, Satan himself cannot pull us down. Oh, that this may be our case all through this day!

Recipe Round-up Reminder!

 UPDATE:   ALL THE APPETIZER RECIPES ARE FOUND HERE

Hear ye!  Hear ye!  Help me get the word out!

The May Appetizers Recipe Round-up count down begins now! 

The date of the Round-up is this Wednesday, May 16.   Just post your recipe and send me the link in the comments on this post or at the email address in the sidebar.  Old posted recipes are welcome, too, as long as they fit the category.  If you want to ensure that your recipe gets included in the first draft of the round up, have your link into me by 8AM CDT May 16.  I’ll continue to update to add any links that come into me during that day.

Also, feel free to send links to recipes posted on other people’s blogs as well as your own.  If you have a good recipe that fits the category of appetizers, but you don’t have a blog, email it to me or leave it in the comment of this post and I’ll post it right here for you on the day of the round up.

Look for the complete collection of appetizer recipes to be posted  here by 8 PM on the 16th.

Karen, from Simply A Musing Blog, has offered to host June's Round-up.  I'll let Karen tell you what chose for her recipe category. 

UPDATE:  Karen has made a cute little button to go along with our Recipe Round-up!  Feel free to grab the image  or email me or Karen if you want the code!

Chequebook of the Bank of Faith

May 14
Surgery for Healing

Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. (Hosea 6:1)

IT IS the Lord's way to tear before He heals. This is the honest love of His heart and the sure surgery of His hand. He also bruises before He binds up, or else it would be uncertain work. The law comes before the gospel, the sense of need before the supply of it. Is the reader now under the convincing, crushing hand of the Spirit? Has he received the spirit of bondage again to fear? This is a salutary preliminary to real gospel healing and binding up.

Do not despair, dear heart, but come to the Lord with all thy jagged wounds, black bruises, and running sores. He alone can heal, and He delights to do it. It is our Lord's office to bind up the brokenhearted, and He is gloriously at home at it. Let us not linger but at once return unto the Lord from whom we have gone astray. Let us show Him our gaping wounds and beseech him to know His own work and complete it. Will a surgeon make an incision and then leave his patient to bleed to death? Will the Lord pull down our old house and then refuse to build us a better one? Dost Thou ever wantonly increase the misery of poor anxious souls? That be far from Thee, O Lord.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Quote of the Week: Bunyan

Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to his Word, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.

John Bunyan, Praying in the Spirit

Checkbook of the Bank of Faith

May 13

Day Is at Hand

And I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:28)

UNTIL the day break and the shadows flee away, what a blessing it is to see in Jesus "the morning star!"  I remember when we read in the newspapers the idle tale that the star of Bethlehem had again appeared. On inquiry we found that it was only "the morning star"; but no great mistake had been made after all. It is best to see Jesus as the sun; but when we cannot do so, the next best thing is to see Him as that star which prophesies the day and shows that the eternal light is near at hand. If I am not today all that I hope to be, yet I see Jesus, and that assures me that I shall one day be like Him. A sight of Jesus by faith is the pledge of beholding Him in His glory and being transformed into His image. If I have not at this hour all the light and joy I could desire, yet I shall have it; for as surely as I see the morning star I shall see the day. The morning star is never far from the sun. Come, my soul, has the Lord given thee the morning star? Dost thou hold fast that truth, grace, hope, and love which the Lord has given thee? Then in this thou hast the dawn of coming glory. He that makes thee overcome evil, and persevere in righteousness, has therein given thee the morning star.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon 

Checkbook of the Bank of Faith

May 12
Servants Honored

Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof; so he that waiteth on his master shall be honored. (Proverbs 27:18)

He who tends the fig tree has figs for his pains, and he who waits on a good master has honor as his reward. Truly the Lord Jesus is the very best of masters, and it is an honor to be allowed to do the least act for His sake. To serve some lords is to watch over a crab tree and eat the crabs as one's wages; but to set ye the Lord Jesus is to keep a fig tree of the sweetest figs. His service is in itself delight, continuance in it is promotion, success in it is blessedness below, and the reward for it is glory above.

Our greatest honors will be gathered in that season when the figs will be ripe, even in the next world. Angels who are now our servitors will bear us home when our day's work is done. Heaven, where Jesus is, will be our honorable mansion, eternal bliss our honorable portion, and the Lord Himself our honorable companion. Who can imagine the full meaning of this promise: "He that waiteth on his master shall be honored"?

Lord, help me to wait upon my Master. Let me leave all idea of honor to the hour when Thou Thyself shalt honor me. May the Holy Spirit make me a lowly, patient worker and waiter!

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

May 11
Wait for the Finals

Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. (Genesis 49:19)

SOME of us have been like the tribe of Gad. Our adversaries for a while were too many for us; they came upon us like a troop. Yes, and for the moment they overcame us; and they exulted greatly because of their temporary victory. Thus they only proved the first part of the family heritage to be really ours, for Christ's people, like Dan, shall have a troop overcoming them. This being overcome is very painful, and we should have despaired if we had not by faith believed the second line of our father's benediction, "He shall overcome at the last." "All's well that ends well," said the world's poet; and he spoke the truth. A war is to be judged, not by first success or defeats, but by that which happens "at the last." The Lord will give to truth and righteousness victory "at the last"; and, as Mr. Bunyan says, that means forever, for nothing can come after the last.

What we need is patient perseverance in well-doing, calm confidence in our glorious Captain. Christ, our Lord Jesus, would teach us His holy art of setting the face like a flint to go through with work or suffering till we can say, "It is finished." Hallelujah. Victory! Victory! We believe the promise. "He shall overcome at the last."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

May 10
Fear Only God

So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (Hebrews 13:6)

BECAUSE God will never leave nor forsake us, we may well be content with such things as we have. Since the Lord is ours, we cannot be left without a friend, a treasure, and a dwelling place. This assurance may make us feel quite independent of men. Under such high patronage we do not feel tempted to cringe before our fellowmen and ask of them permission to call our lives our own; but what we say we boldly say and defy contradiction.

He who fears God has nothing else to fear. We should stand in such awe of the living Lord that all the threats that can be used by the proudest persecutor should have no more effect upon us than the whistling of the wind. Man in these days cannot do so much against us as he could when the apostle wrote the verse at the head of this page. Racks and stakes are out of fashion. Giant Pope cannot burn the pilgrims now. If the followers of false teachers try cruel mockery and scorn, we do not wonder at it, for the men of this world cannot love the heavenly seed. What then? We must bear the world's scorn. It breaks no bones. God helping us, let us be bold; and when the world rages, let it rage, but let us not fear it.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Slatted Beams

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

May 9
Trust Means Joy

For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. (Psalm 33:21)

THE root of faith produces the flower of heart-joy. We may not at the first rejoice, but it comes in due time. We trust the Lord when we are sad, and in due season He so answers our confidence that our faith turns to fruition, and we rejoice in the Lord. Doubt breeds distress, but trust means joy in the long run.

The assurance expressed by the psalmist in this verse is really a promise held out in the hands of holy confidence. Oh, for grace to appropriate it. If we do not rejoice at this moment, yet we shall do so, as surely as David's God is our God.

Let us meditate upon the Lord's holy name that we may trust Him the better and rejoice the more readily. He is in character holy, just, true, gracious, faithful, and unchanging. Is not such a God to be trusted? He is all wise, almighty, and everywhere present; can we not cheerfully rely upon Him? Yes, we will do so at once and do so without reserve. Jehovah-Jireh will provide; Jehovah-Shalom will send peace; Jehovah-Tsidkenu will justify; Jehovah-Shammah will be forever near; and in Jehovah-Nissi we will conquer every foe. They that know Thy name will trust Thee; and they that trust Thee will rejoice in Thee, O Lord.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon 

Vingettes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

May 8
Help Wanted

Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. (Matthew 20:7)

YES, there is work in Christ's vineyard for old bodies. It is the eleventh hour, and yet He will let us work. What grace is this! Surely every old man ought to jump at this invitation! After men are advanced in years nobody wants them as servants; they go from shop to shop, and employers look at their gray hairs and shake their heads. But Jesus will engage old people and give them good wages, too! This is mercy indeed. Lord, help the aged to enlist in Thy service without an hour's delay.

But will the Lord pay wages to worn-out old men? Do not doubt it. He says He will give you what is right if you will work in His field. He will surely give you grace here and glory hereafter. He will grant present comfort and future rest; strength equal to your day and a vision of glory when the night of death comes on. All these the Lord Jesus will as freely give to the aged convert as to one who enters His service in his youth.

Let me tell this to some unsaved old man or old woman and pray the Lord to bless it for Jesus' sake, Where can I find such persons? I will be on the lookout for them and kindly tell them the news.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon 

Campanelle Pasta

Campanelle Pasta! Where have you been all my life?

I discovered campanelle a few months ago when my local grocery store had Barilla pasta on sale, 10 for $1 (oops!  make that 10 for $10!  Still  a great deal.)  I grabbed up an assortment of ten different kinds of pasta, most of which were my old Barilla stand-bys like ziti, farfalle, and rontini. 

The campanelle camped out on my pantry shelf for quite awhile.  I just wasn't sure what to do with it.  One day I decided to make cavatini and when I checked my pasta shelf, I only had fiori, farfalle, campanelle and elbow macaroni.  Fiori, the little flowery pasta is just too delicate to be baked, farfalle is too flat and can adhere together and form a sedimentary stratum in a baked pasta dish, so that was out.  Elbow macaroni is, well, not flashy enough for cavatini (I used to use penne) so I pulled down the campanelle, thinking, "Today is the day." 

I "prepare(d) according to package."  The pasta was firm and held it's lovely ruffled trumpet shape beautifully.  I tipped in the cavatini sauce, and tossed it together.  Gorgeous!  The trumpets gathered the peppers, onions, mushrooms  and meat into their little bells and the sauce crept in to the spiral. And it only got better; I added the cheese and baked it.  The pasta maintained its integrity and the cheese melted over the bells and sealed in the saucy goodness.  Ah!  Perfect!  Sauce and cheese and chunky ingredients with every bite!  Ah! Barilla campanelle!  I am your biggest fan!

So, in honor of my new found, favorite pasta, I am sharing two recipes; one from Barilla and one from my own concoctions.   Here's mine:

Cavatini

1 package of Barilla Campanelle, prepared according to package directions.  Drain, but don't rinse.

Meanwhile, brown one pound ground round along with a 5 ounce package of Hormel pepperoni, cubed.  Render all the fat and drain.   To the same pan, add olive oil, and sautee' 1 white onion, 1/2 red and 1/2 green pepper, (all chopped in 1 inch dice)  and one 8 oz package of sliced mushrooms.  Sautee' until onions are almost translucent and mushrooms have given up some of their fluid.  I add my diced garlic, one or two cloves, near the end of the sautee' so it doesn't get bitter.  Add 1 can cubed tomatoes, drained, and 1 jar prepared spaghetti sauce.  You don't even need to heat it through since it's going into the oven.  Add pasta to sauce and toss until the campanella grabs the chunky ingredients.

Spray a baking dish with vegetable spray and spoon enough pasta mixture to cover the bottom of the dish.  Top with cheese--lots of cheese.  I used shredded mozzerella and then layer sliced provolone on top of that.  Continue to layer, as you would for lasagna, and then top with shredded mozzerella and fresh, grated parmesean.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until bubbly and cheese is beginning to brown.

Serve with a simple green salad and some nice crusty bread.   

Campanelle with Spinach & Beans (Campanelle con Spinaci e Fagioli)

Ease of preparation: average
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Servings: 4-6
Regions: Toscana
Wine pairing: Red
Ingredients
1 can (19 ounces)cannellini beans, drained
1/2 cupParmigiano Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
2 tablespoonsextra virgin olive oil
1 clovegarlic, minced
1/2 teaspoonsalt
1/4 teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper
1/2 box (16 ounces)BARILLA Campanelle
1 package (6 ounces)fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

COMBINE the first six ingredients in a large bowl.
COOK pasta according to package directions; drain and return to pot. Stir in spinach to wilt.
ADD ingredients from large bowl to pasta and spinach; serve. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

What could be easier?

I've also tried campanelle in cold pasta salads.  It works fine, but you'll probably have to add a bit more dressing because it seems to drink the dressing and the salad can be dry.  I found I had to stir in a little more dressing before I served my cold pasta salad. 

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

May 7
Let No Evil Remain

And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers. (Deuteronomy 13:17)

Israel must conquer idolatrous cities and destroy all the spoil, regarding all that had been polluted by idolatry as an accursed thing to be burned with fire. Now, sin of all sorts must be treated by Christians in the same manner. We must not allow a single evil habit to remain. It is now war to the knife with sins of all sorts and sizes, whether of the body, the mind, or the spirit. We do not look upon this giving up of evil as deserving mercy, but we regard it as a fruit of the grace of God, which we would on no account miss.

When God causes us to have no mercy on our sins, then He has great mercy on us. When we are angry with evil, God is no more angry with us. When we multiply our efforts against iniquity, the Lord multiplies our blessings. The way of peace, of growth, of safety, of joy in Christ Jesus will be found by following out these words: "There shall nought of the cursed thing cleave to thine hand." Lord, purify me this day. Compassion, prosperity, increase, and joy will surely be given to those who put away sin with solemn resolution.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon 

Quote of the Week: Packer

What is needed is this:  that we, who would speak for Christ, would pray constantly that God will put and keep in our hearts a sense of His greatness and glory, and of the joy of fellowship with Him, and of the dreadfulness of spending time and eternity without Him; and then that God will enable us to speak honestly, straightforwardly, and just as we feel about these matters.  Then we shall be really natural in presenting the gospel. . .

J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, pg. 90 

Sunday Hymn: Lord's Day

"Let all the earth keep silence before Him." Habakkuk 2:20

Lord's Day

The earth is hushed in silence,
Its cares now flee away,
Let all things bow in reverence,
On this the Lord's own day.

O praise and pray on this,
The Lord's own day.

The bells are sweetly ringing,
Their clear toned voices say:
"Ye people, come and worship
On this, the Lord's own day."

O praise and pray on this,
The Lord's own day.

Come, all ye thankful people;
Why should our hearts delay
To greet the Lord of heaven
On this His holy day?

O praise and pray on this,
The Lord's own day.

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)Words: Anonymous, 1897

Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith

May 6
Cure for Envy

Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cast off. (Proverbs 23:17-18)

WHEN we see the wicked prosper we are apt to envy them. When we hear the noise of their mirth and our own spirit is heavy, we half think that they have the best of it. This is foolish and sinful. If we knew them better, and specially if we remembered their end, we should pity them.

The cure for envy lies in living under a constant sense of the divine presence, worshiping God and communing with Him all the day long, however long the day may seem. True religion lifts the soul into a higher region, where the judgment becomes more clear and the desires are more elevated. The more of heaven there is in our lives, the less of earth we shall covet. The fear of God casts out envy of men.

The deathblow of envy is a calm consideration of the future. The wealth and glory of the ungodly are a vain show. This pompous appearance flashes out for an hour and then is extinguished. What is the prosperous sinner the better for his prosperity when judgment overtakes him? As for the godly man, his end is peace and blessedness, and none can rob him of his joy; wherefore, let him forgo envy and be filled with sweet content.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Just in case you're wondering. . .

I did NOT send out pictures of Britany Spears.    I did not send them to myself.  I did not send them to you.  So if you get a suspicious email from me, don't believe it and don't open it. 

 Grrrrr.  That makes me so mad!  How does one defend oneself from having their email address co-opted? 

So far, so good

I'm up, I'm drinking my cup of coffee, and other than a dull  headache and some body aches of managable proportion, I feel pretty OK this morning.  Not great, but after yesterday, not great is really pretty good!  I'm not sure if I'm ready to tackle weeding out all the tiny maple trees that are springing up in all my flower beds, but who knows?  Maybe later.  I will tackle the laundry whether I am ready or not.  My family is partial to clean clothes.

Thank you for all your kind notes of sympathy.  They helped!  : )