Strong

Pastor White recommended a couple of books during last Wednesday night's Bible study.  He taught about "Persecution and the People of God."  (You can listen to Part 1 and 2 here.)  The books he recommended were "Fox's Book of Martyrs" and "The Way Called Heresy."  We have both of these books but I have not been able to located "The Way Called Heresy."  

 

During my searching, I stumbled upon a book that belonged to my Mom.  It is a journal that was given to her on her 54th birthday - January 1, 1994.  All the staff from Truth Tabernacle Christian School signed it.  She was going to be off work for a few weeks because she was having knee surgery.

 

My memories of 1994 are tough.  The Northridge Earthquake happened on January 17th.  Rod's declining health and his passing on June 22nd.  Mom's cancer returned later that summer.

 

Mom's writing in this particular journal are more raw than anything else of hers that I have.  At times she wrote words of encouragement, but then she wrote how she was feeling:

 

January 6

Sometimes the Lord calms the storm; sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.

I don't feel calm today.

 

January 7

I survived the surgery.  PAIN  PAIN  PAIN  PAIN all day, all night.

 

January 8

Everything seems better in the daylight.  I feel tough again :)

 

Mother's Day weekend - went to Kathy and Les'... had a great time.

Mother's Day banquet very nice, church on Sunday A.M just for me.

June 22

I can barely read, much less type, all that she wrote on that day.  She spent the day with Rod until an ambulance came around 1:30, two hours later: "Rod is at home with the Lord.  My heart is bleeding."

Two days later she wrote about his funeral, "absolutely beautiful...  I feel the peace that passeth understanding, I know Rod is safe at home with Jesus."

The next two entries are not dated:

People say I'm strong but I don't feel strong.

 

Summer has been a blur: times of happiness with the grandkids but all tinged with my deep hurt.

I remember that summer well.  One of the things I remember the most is seeing Mom and Dad for the first time after Rod's funeral.  It seemed like they had aged a decade in about a month's time.  The blur that was the summer of 1994 didn't get better...

August 20

Time for yearly chest x-ray.

August 23

Call from nurse Lynette, changes since last year.

August 24

CAT scan

August 25

Call from Dr. Medrano

Cancer

I really don't feel strong now, but God is still in control.

August 26

Start chemo

September 7, 8, 9

Helped out at T.T.C.S.  I didn't know how much I would miss it...

That was the final entry.  Her cancer battle went on another four years.  Highs and lows, joys and sorrows.  The one thing that stood out to me was what she wrote twice, "I don't feel strong."

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 says, "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.   Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."

David Guzik's Enduring Word Commentary says:

What triumph! What can the world do to such a man so firm in the grip of Jesus? God did not allow this thorn in the flesh to punish Paul, or to keep him weak for the sake of weakness. God allowed it to show a divine strength in Paul.

Think about this man Paul. Was he a weak man or a strong man? The man who traveled around the ancient world spreading the gospel of Jesus despite the fiercest persecutions, who endured shipwrecks and imprisonment, who preached to kings and slaves, who established strong churches and trained up their leaders was not a weak man. In light of his life and accomplishments, we would say that Paul was a very strong man. But he was only strong because he knew his weaknesses, and looked outside of himself for the strength of God’s grace. If we are going to live lives of such strength, we also must understand and admit our weaknesses, and look to God alone for the favor, approval and work of grace that will strengthen us for any task. It was the grace-filled Paul who said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

 

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible says:

When I feel weak; when I am subjected to trial, and nature faints and fails, then strength is imparted to me, and I am enabled to bear all. The more I am borne down with trials, the more do I feel my need of divine assistance, and the more do I feel the efficacy of divine grace. Such was the promise in Deuteronomy 33:25; “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” So in Hebrews 11:24; “Who out of weakness were made strong.” What Christian has not experienced this, and been able to say that when he felt himself weak and felt like sinking under the accumulation of many trials, he has found his strength according to his day, and felt an arm of power supporting him? It is then that the Redeemer manifests himself in a special manner; and then that the excellency of the religion of Christ is truly seen and its power appreciated and felt.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible says:

This is a Christian paradox: when we are weak in ourselves, then we are strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; when we see ourselves weak in ourselves, then we go out of ourselves to Christ, and are qualified to receive strength from him, and experience most of the supplies of divine strength and grace.

We don't always feel strong, but I think that's the way it should be.  When we feel strong because of our own strength, we are actually weak, and we're setting ourselves up for failure.  But when we find our strength in Jesus, when we are weak, His grace is sufficient and His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

100 Kilometers!

I wrote in June about my Summer Riding Goal.  As July was coming to a close my right knee started hurting.  We cut a couple of our training rides short because of it.  I gutted out my longest ride last week but not without a lot of pain in both knees.  Les did some research on the cause of knee pain when cycling.  It appears the pain was from the position of my bike seat/saddle.  He made an adjustment and I rode on Monday with little pain.  Still, as we left our house at 5:00 yesterday morning, I was a bit concerned.

We drove to Ventura, parked and Les started putting our bikes together (he takes the wheels off to fit them in the car.)  We started riding at 6:45 under cool skies.  Our route took us from Ventura to Santa Barbara.    We rode inland for a while on the way out, but we stayed along the ocean as much as possible.

 

My other concern for such a long outing was nutrition.  I did not want to bonk.  I had yogurt and a banana at home, then sipped on a coffee on the 45 minute drive.  A few minutes before we started rolling I ate a Hammer Gel (about 100 calories.)  I had two water bottles on my bike, each one had a scoop of Hammer Perpetuem (approximately 250 calories) and an Endurolyte Fizz tab.  I also ate part of a Cliff Bar when we stopped for restroom breaks.

I told Les to start off a little slow so my legs could warm up.  One of the things I've struggled with on the bike is "drafting."  Drafting behind another rider can save about 25% of energy.  My fear is riding too close, then tapping the wheel in front of me causing a crash.  When drafting it's a fine balance of riding too close or not close enough.  I really worked on that yesterday and felt like I made a lot of progress!

 

Les had created a route that was fairly flat.  Almost all of our climbing happened in the first half.  By the time we got to Santa Barbara I was still feeling really good and my confidence was climbing.  We decided to ride back to Summerland and take a break.  We were 40 miles in when we had our Bodacious cinnamon roll.  We ate the cinnamon roll, drank water and topped off our water bottles.  I also took a Hammer Enduroltyes Extreme tab and a couple of other things Les had in his bag of goodness.

 

Not long after we left Summerland, we were back on the coast.  There is a beautiful stretch that is right along the beach.  It is also a dedicated bike lane that is protected by a wall from traffic.  Vehicles were flying by us on the US 101, but I never felt afraid.  

My drafting skills were improving and at one point I even told Les he could speed up a little!  Our average speed at the 40 mile mark was 11.8 mph.  Our final average was 12.5, so we definitely picked up the pace.  When we got back to Ventura we were about a mile short, so we took a little detour up the bike path to make sure we got all our miles in.

The final stats:

63.03 miles in 5:03:29 (moving time.)  12.5 mph average, maximum speed 30 mph.  2,066 feet of climbing.  Average heart rate 115, max 146.  1,743 calories burned.

The final analysis:

I had a blast!  My knees felt really good the entire day (and I'm still feeling good this morning.)  We saw a lot of smiling people throughout the day, including a little girl at the cafe who was celebrating her 5th birthday.  We saw lots of people who were camping along the beach.  There was a family who rented bikes and Les heard the mom say, "I haven't ridden in so long, I forgot how fun this is."  I couldn't agree more - riding is so fun and riding with the one I love to celebrate his day made it perfect!

A Bodacious Birthday!

We had a great day celebrating Les' birthday.  I accomplished my riding goal of 100k (more on that tomorrow.)  About 40 miles into our ride we took a break at the Summerland Beach Cafe.  On the menu is the Bodacious Cinnamon Roll.  Les has experienced this deliciousness once before and it was the perfect pick me up!

 

Celebrating Birthday Week!

Tomorrow is Les' birthday.  We'll be taking our bikes to Ventura to escape the heat and ride 100 kilometers.  I'll have a full report on that later this week.  Since we'll be gone most of the day, I decided to make his cake yesterday.  His request was German chocolate cake and homemade vanilla ice cream.  We sampled both last night and they were off the charts!  

 

Of course I can't celebrate Les' birthday without remembering the day BEFORE his 28th birthday.  The day he met me!   He told his version last year at the Hawaii District Marriage Retreat:

I first remember seeing Kathy coming out of her brother's car Friday night of camp meeting, August 18, 1989.  I thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world.  I didn't meet her then, but after church service I was introduced to her.  Later that evening we went out to eat as a group and were at the restaurant at midnight when it became my birthday and Kathy and the group sang "Happy birthday to me."  What a lady, what a night!

My version is quite a bit longer!  I've posted our story many times here on the blog, but for those of you who don't want to take the time to find it, here is it:

March 23, 1989 was the last night of Youth Convention in Bakersfield. This was the only night I had gone that year. I had driven down with my friend, Yvonne. Shortly after service, I was asked out by a young man that I had met the previous weekend. He was visiting from another church in another state (and that's all the details you're gonna get about him!)

Yvonne and I had wandered off on our own when our friend, Bro. Lee Wilson, came up. He was very excited to introduce us to a young man he had met while he and his family were evangelizing. A very funny exchange occurred at this point:

Me: "I'm already going out with someone"
Bro. Wilson: "Just come on, you never know"

I repeated these same words over and over as Yvonne and I followed him from one side of the lobby to the other. I was not convinced that I needed to meet anyone else that night. Although I knew my friends were getting concerned since I was soon to be TWENTY FIVE AND NOT MARRIED!! Oh my!! I obviously needed help!!

An exchange that lasted mere seconds occurred. I was introduced to Les McElhaney, but I had it in my mind, "I'm not interested, I'm already going out with someone else." And that was the end of it! Or so I thought! Yvonne and Bro. Wilson's wife, Ruby, were shocked at how rude I was! To tell you how brief our meeting was, Les doesn't even remember it!! What I didn't know until months later, Les was currently driving a Corvette and he had money in his wallet should a date opportunity arise!! (Anyone that knows Les, knows that money in his wallet is a rarity, but that's another story for another time!)

And now for THE REST OF THE STORY (taken from Our Anniversary... kinda, in a way, posted on August 18, 2008):

 
 

August 18, 1989 was the final night of Camp Meeting in Santa Maria. I had gone for the week and was planning on staying for Senior Camp which started the next day. This was my final year of eligibility as a camper, having turned 25 the previous April.

After service, my friend Yvonne and I were talking to Ruby Wilson when we spotted "him". His name was Les McElhaney and I had been introduced (briefly) to him at Youth Convention the previous March. At Youth Convention I was already going out with someone else, so I wasn't extremely friendly to Les - much to Yvonne and Ruby's dismay! This time, I was "free" and decided to thank God for second chances! When Les didn't even remember meeting me, I was happy to start over! This night was the beginning of something very special that eventually led to our marriage on May 25, 1991.

We spent all week of Senior Camp getting acquainted and finding out our common likes and dislikes. Because I had been a Senior Camp fixture for so many years, and Les was actually on the staff, the rest of the staff was very kind to let us stay out later than usual getting to know each other. I remember Bro. Harvey Cantrell coming by, shining his giant flashlight on us, smiling and letting us continue sitting there!! And the Hoppers helped me out when a certain pest from Fresno wanted to sit in on all our conversations!

And that's the whole story! A brief meeting, a second chance, and a lifetime of love! I'm still glad I met Les 20 years ago today, even though he doesn't remember me!! 

*It's been over 30 years now and I'm happier than ever!  2020 has us doing things a little differently, but even behind our masks, we're happiest together.

Friday Foodie

I've been in a bit of a cooking slump the past few weeks.  I've continued cooking, I've just been uninspired each week as I plan my menu.  I Googled "Summer meals" on Monday and found a lot of interesting ideas.  I tried one and it was delicious!  

Balsamic Basil Chicken

Ingredients:
1/4 c. plus 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 lb. bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs  *I used 1 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large zucchini, cut into half moons
1 pt. cherry tomatoes, halved
Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving (optional)
Basil, thinly sliced  *My store didn't have fresh basil, so I used fresh rosemary instead.

Les said, "This looks exactly like the picture on the website!"

Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together ¼ cup olive oil, vinegar, and mustard. Add chicken thighs and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
Preheat oven 425°. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Shake off excess marinade from chicken and season all over with salt and pepper. Add, skin side-down, and cook until seared and golden, about 6 minutes. Flip chicken and cook until seared on other side, about 6 minutes.
Scatter tomatoes and zucchini around chicken. Season vegetables with salt and pepper, then transfer skillet to oven and bake until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes more.
Garnish with Parmesan and basil before serving.

 

This was so easy and so good!  I was concerned that it was going to be dry, but after the tomatoes cooked, there was plenty of juice.  I don't know if I'll ever use basil, the rosemary added a great flavor.  So I guess I should call it Balsamic Rosemary Chicken!

 

I tried another recipe last night.  I asked for and received an air fryer for my birthday.  It deserves an entire post because I have been using it like crazy and it is awesome!  I love how quickly everything cooks.  From corn on the cob to French fries, and now Avocado Fries, this thing is great.  I have the GoWise USA air fryer and this recipe is from the cookbook that came with it. 

Avocado Fries

Ingredients:

2 avocados, not fully ripe

Juice of 1 lime

Salt & pepper

1 egg

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Directions:

Cut avocados in half, lengthwise.  Cut into slices and remove from the skin.  Drizzle with lime juice, then salt and pepper.

Using 3 small bowls, beat egg in bowl, add flour to the second bowl, then place breadcrumbs in the third bowl.  Dip avocado slices in the egg wash, then coat with flour and then coat with breadcrumbs.

Place avocado slices in the air fryer basket and air fry at 400 degrees for 6-7 minutes or until crispy.  Shake fries halfway through cooking to be sure they cook evenly.

I made fish tacos last night.  The fries cooked in the same amount of time that my tilapia cooked - quick and easy.  I always use Taylor Farms' Southwest Chopped Salad Kit with fish tacos.  We used the extra dressing to dip the avocado fries and they were delicious!  I think next time I will skip the flour step and just dip in the egg, then the breadcrumbs.