Are You Allowing Him To Shape You?

By Pat

"So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as it seemed best to him." (Jeremiah 18:3-4)

I have often thought of the Lord as a potter, and myself as clay. I pray often for God to "mold" me into what He needs me to be, but yet I know that, as His clay, I am not always very cooperative. In order to be molded, the clay must stay in the potter's hand for the work to be done effectively.

I'm quite certain that there have been times I have slipped away from God's hands as the molding was in progress, hindering the job God was doing. But thankfully, God picks me back up and patiently resumes His work, smoothing the dents and gently re-shaping.

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Life Is Funny: What About Dads?

By MAD21

There is a lot of funny stuff out there on the web about mom's and kids, and every now and then something good and funny comes along about being a dad. And I found a great one last week. Enjoy:

My friend and fellow blogger Wendy at Weight..What? has a fun carnival at her blog called "Life is Funny." Every Monday we talk about something in life that we find funny. Be sure to go visit her blog to read her post along with links to other blogs who are participating.

Praying For The Willingness And Ability To Work

Colossians 3:23, 24 reads, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Knowing the value and blessing of work can be a long road for many kids. Adam and Eve were given a garden by God and He told them to work. God gives in grace and abundance, but He calls us also to labor with Him. It’s a part of who He’s created us to be.

Working against that truth, however, is culture, advertising, entertainment, and more. These work overtime to tell our kids that there are ways around work and promote the idea and ideal of a ‘slacker’ generation.

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Tasty Bites: Pizza Margherita

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

This is one of my favorites because it’s so simple and I always have the ingredients on hand. With the end of summer, I’m finding myself with more basil and tomatoes than I can find recipes for, but after a 30 mile bike ride today, all I wanted was pizza! You can make this with my very favorite crust (I use half whole wheat and half white flour) or you can buy an already prepared crust, which I did in this case. I used a gluten-free crust I’d purchased with a coupon, and was pleasantly surprised with how good it tasted.

Goat cheese is not a usual ingredient for this classic dish, but it added a wonderful creaminess to each bite. I was able to use less mozzarella this way, as goat cheese is less fatty than mozzarella. The flavors in this dish blend together beautifully.

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YOB: #22. Dress Up For Fast Food (Part 2)

By Beth

Don't ask where this one came from. Somewhere in our sick, twisted brains we came up with the idea to dress up and eat at a fast food restaurant. Now, when I say dress up, what comes to mind? When we planned this one, I think Lara and I were both thinking much more elaborately dressed up than what actually happened. But clothing budgets aside, I think we both realized that prom dresses at 30 would be a little depressing. So we both had our Sunday best on and Lara's parents joined us at Wendy's for dinner one night.

I'll admit to being a little disappointed in this one. We didn't get nearly the kind of reaction we were hoping for. In fact, no one really paid us much mind at all. We looked too normal. The only thing that was odd was that we brought our own vase and flower and we took pictures. We simply looked like we were on our way home from a wedding or something.

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