I'll be right back...after these messages!

So, again, it has been a little while - however - this is because I have been preparing for a short-term missions trip to Guatemala. In fact, I leave with a team to go and work in an orphanage in 17 days! I very excited about it - if you can't tell! In the mean-time - I have started a separate blog to document the adventures of my trip. You can follow it here. For the next month, that's where you will need to go to find out what's happening - but don't get the idea that I won't be back here after that. I definitely will, and especially because I will have an important review when I come back. If you have read Shauna Neiquists books Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet, then you have probably been waiting like I have - with baited breath - for the releast of her new book, Bread and Wine. Well, it will be available on April 9th, but having been chosen as to receive an advance copy, I already have mine, and when I come back here it will be to tell you about it! I can hardly wait! In the meantime - ciao, arrivederci, until I come back from Guatemala!

Priorities

It's been a bit since I last posted. I'd like to say it was with good reason, but I'm not so sure. I do know that I've been busy - new activities, holidays, a couple of bouts with illness, extra doctor appointments I hadn't planned on - but it seems to me that busyness should not always be equated with occupying well. A famous quote of Vince Lombardi's about priorities goes "God first, Family second, the Green Bay Packers third." This is a great way to express it, but I think it might over-simplify a tad. For instance - which of these categories would you use for exercise? Taking care of your health? Watching TV? I think perhaps the answer lies in looking at the motivation for each. If you don't get enough exercise and eat properly - you won't be healthy. Scripture clearly states that our bodies are the temple of the holy spirit - so that is motivation however, if on the other hand you qualify as an endorphin junky, then maybe the important thing to look at is how balanced your life is. Too much time spent exercising can take away from other activities - time with family, ministry, paying bills - you get the picture. What about watching TV? Sometimes we feel like there's nothing fit to watch, and maybe TV is a BIG time-waster. I'm not saying that isn't true - I think we all have moments when it is - but what about the person who can't go from being active to going to bed and falling right to sleep? For some of us, a good night's sleep depends on taking some down time to relax and clear our heads before hitting the hay. There are other things that can distract us from following the path of living a disciplined life that lines up with Gods call on our life. The important thing is to be conscious of what we're doing, and stop and evaluate occasionally - not just stay on auto-pilot and assume you're on the right track. And - by all means - spend time praying about what God has for you! Still not sure if I've been getting it right, but still wanting to - and am very excited to announce that I will be doing a review in a few short weeks of Shauna Niequist's "Bread and Wine". You can follow her blog here.

P.S. I'll get back to the food blogging in a few days. Tried out a new recipe tonight that I'm eager to share!