Kitchen Catastrophe

When Rick and I married I couldn't cook, not really.  I could make some yummy cookies and I cook eggs just about any way you wanted them.  I could also make a mean piece of toast...in the toaster, not that yummy way my Mawmaw used to make it in the oven; that would have been a nasty piece of toast.

When we first got married we had Hamburger Helper, Chicken Helper and Tuna Helper until we thought we were going to turn into that little talking gloved hand.  Throw in a couple of recipes my mom, his mom and his sister gave me that I just cooked over and over since I didn't know what else to do and spaghetti out of a jar and we were under enthused about supper most nights. I figured it was time to step up my game in the wife area and learn to cook.

I loved Food Network and watched that a lot.  Rick cooked and I paid attention. Between those two things and figuring out I could read a recipe and follow it we started eating all kinds of yumminess.  Bye, bye Hamburger Helper, ICK!

Now days I pretty much always cook a recipe once by the directions then I will almost always tweak it.  I figured out pretty quick I loved cooking, especially for parties or for others. I've gotten pretty good at it if I do say so myself.  I don't like mess ups in the kitchen.  I can convince my prideful self I'm better than that.  I guess God  laughs at that and today needed to teach me a lesson.  Those are usually no fun.

I am pretty OCD in the kitchen partly for safety reasons partly because I'm just an OCD crazy mess. Two of my kitchen pet-peeves are drawers and cabinet doors left open and lids not screwed on to items.  One is a safety thing and the other is just a mess waiting to happen to the next person who picks up said item.

Megan has friends coming over for a birthday slumber party tonight so I headed to the kitchen this morning to make a cake and some homemade snacks for them.  I always like to get all my ingredients out first then put them away as I use them (there is that OCD crazy again!).  I was getting out the oil and darn it if someone didn't put the lid on it all the way.

I knew it as soon as it was in the air and it felt like time went into slow motion.  I could feel it slipping out of my grasp.  I tried to get it to the cabinet before it slipped out of my hands, but I was just a half an inch short. It hit the floor on it's bottom.  On it's side would have been much better it would have just spilled on the floor. Nope, it hit on it's bottom...with me leaning over it trying to stop it somehow.  The lid shot off and oil splattered everywhere.  I was covered in it.  I just stood there.  Oil dripping from my fingers, off my glasses, down my nose, out of my hair onto my already covered face. I just stood there and dripped.

I was H.O.T.!!  I wanted to scream.  WHO LEFT THE LID UNSCREWED???????  I stood there dripping oil and realized it was......me.

So,  my hair will probably look like I am going through puberty again for the next few days.  My glasses have a haze on them I can't quite get off.  My arms, hands and face got a skin softening treatment I didn't have to pay for. I washed with soap and hot water so many times and it is still there.  My kitchen floor feels like the floor in a fast food kitchen; I'm slipping around trying to walk in there.  I probably will be mopping more than a few times today and I'm sure I will be finding oil splatters in weird places for days to come.

Lesson learned God.  I'm not so great after all and definitely not beyond a kitchen catastrophe or two.

Say His Name

This morning's Bible Study required me to be gut-wrenchingly honest about some things.  Of course  I could have skirted some issues, I could have put the church answer down, I could have just skipped the section, but I have really desired to walk away from this study a different person so I tried to dig deep and give the real answers.  Those answers surprised even me a bit I think.  Some issues I felt like I had already dealt with, but when I wrote the first answer that came to my mind after reading the question I realized I wasn't as far a long as I thought.

I had to stop mid study and just pour my heart out.  To do some confessing, to realize there is work to be done. I finished my study and like I tend to do, I turned on some music.  The plan was to pray more with a little background music, but like what sometimes happens in my quiet time I ended up just worshiping in song.

The songs that played made me think about the names of God.  There are so many names. 

Recently, Megan and I were in the car and the song Great I Am came on, a favorite of ours. We were singing a long and then she said.  It is so cool.  The power that is in the name of Jesus.  That demons flee at the mention of His name.  Oh, I was so close to a shouting time in that little car with one of my favorite people.  That she would have a realization in that moment of the power of our Jesus's name...that is some good stuff!! We talked about what an honor it is to be able to speak His name.  That there is power in His name. We talked about some of His many names and the times when we might use different names.  We talked about how He likes to hear us say His name.

I remember as a child my dad preaching on the names of God. He gave the example of how he liked to hear my mom call him by his name and how God is the same way.  

Rick calls me different things....Honey, babe, Stace, but when he says my name..Stacy....he has my full attention.  I love the sound of my husband saying my name.  

My Heavenly Father feels the same way when I say His name.  I can call on His name and the power it brings and the tormentor will flee.  I can say His name and I have His full attention. I can stop mid study and pour out my heart to Him. I can seek forgiveness, I can worship at His feet, I can offer Him all the love that my human heart can give.  He wants to hear me say His name.



 Lord of all creation, God Almighty, Ancient of Days, the Holy One,  King of Kings, Protector, Healer, Prince of Peace, Savior, Sacrificial Lamb, Redeemer, Refuge, The Great I Am, Abba Father, Jesus.