Are You Chasing the Wind?

This past weekend we were privileged to hear Mr. David VanBrugge preach in our church for both Good Friday and Sunday. He is a student at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (PRTS) and a former high school teacher of mine. This post is a summary/reflection on his sermon on Ecclesiastes 1:12 – 2:26 entitled “Are You Chasing the Wind?”. He specifically focused on Ecclesiastes 2:17 which reads, “Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.”
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What Are You Chasing?
Mr. VanBrugge began by asking the above question and then following it with numerous other questions.
Solomon’s portfolio was full, and was the greatest in all of Jerusalem, both before his time and after. It was full of everything you could ever imagine. He chased pleasure and built a great many things for pleasure. He admired beautiful things and had the pleasure of enjoying more blessings than many others could ever dream of. What about us? Are we chasing pleasure? And wisdom, Solomon chased after that as well. He was the wisest man that ever lived, and he saw great importance in education and the application of it. And us, are we chasing wisdom? What about education? Solomon also worked hard at everything he did. He didn’t stop working. Are we chasing work?
If someone video-taped our entire day, what would it look like? What is our lives filled with? Some examples that Mr. VanBrugge used were music and education. Are we drowning out our lives with music? Do we always have something on so that we never have silence, so that we don’t have to think, feel or contemplate? And education, are we going to school simply to get a ‘ticket’ into a more purposeful life?
Mr. VanBrugge closed off this point with asking the following questions. Are we able to grab the wind and save it for later? Do we ever reach a point that we can say we ‘got it’ and don’t have to go any further? Are we able to just stop because we have all together and found the purposeful life?
Why Is It So Frustrating?
Pleasure is worthless and leads to nothing. Education and even wisdom do not solve the world’s problems. What we work for now doesn’t help us after we are dead. Everything we do in this life is worthless and leads to nothing. By chasing these things we are chasing the wind.
And a side note, you don’t have to place 100% into something to ‘chase it’. You can put 70% or 30%, or even less into it, and be chasing it. You can just dip into it, you are still chasing it.
What is the answer?
Mr. VanBrugge ended the sermon with this last point. He began this point by saying that when we chase the wind we are going the other way of the answer. GOD is the answer. There is NOTHING other than God that will satisfy our souls.
BUT, we are also told in God’s word that there is nothing better for man than to have joy, to eat, drink and be merry. This might seem like a contradiction, but everything has to be viewed as gifts from God. What God gives us is amazing, and we are blessed beyond what we can even imagine! Wisdom is good, for God has given us minds to think. He also desires for us to worship Him by/through learning. And if we are to work for God, everything to us is joy! When we do everything for God there are no promotions, for the glory is for God, not for man.
And Mr. VanBrugge still linked this to Easter. We might think, “How does this connect to Easter?” If Christ has not risen from the dead, then what is the point of life?
At the end of the sermon Mr. VanBrugge gave five points for living life for Christ.
Live a life for Christ:

1. By realizing His daily goodness to you
2. By realizing His design in creation
3. By living the gospel
4. By earning and giving responsibly – And this is more than money. It could be trust or respect or more
5. By treating your relationships for gospel opportunities and gospel words

The last words of the sermon were, “Only what is done for Christ will last.” (quoting a poem by an author whose name I can’t remember)

Flourless Dark Chocolate Cookies

A friend of mine and her husband (who is Gluten Free) just had an adorable little girl last week. I have been wanting to try this recipe out, and also wanted to spoil them again. lol. ;)

So, here is an awesome, yummy, gooey, chocolately, recipe for gluten-free cookies!!!

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*Mine don’t quite look this pretty. This is the picture from the website. I didn’t have a camera available to take pictures of mine. :)*

Flourless Dark Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 24 cookies

Each cookie is approx. 72 calories

Ingredients:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (about 9 ounces)
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar, divided (plus 1/2 cup for cookie coating)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with nonstick spray. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips in glass bowl in microwave, stirring twice, about 2 minutes. Cool slightly.

Using electric mixer, beat whites in large bowl to soft peaks. Gradually beat in 1 (I halved the sugar here) cup sugar. Continue beating until mixture resembles soft marshmallow cream.

Whisk 1 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in medium bowl to blend. On low speed, add dry ingredients into meringue mixture.

Mix lukewarm chocolate mixture and 1/2 cup chocolate chips (dough will become very stiff).

Place 1/2 cup sugar in bowl. Roll 1 rounded tablespoon dough into ball; roll in sugar, coating thickly. Place on prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing 2 inches apart.

Bake until puffed and tops crack, about 10 minutes. Cool on sheets on rack 10 minutes.

Transfer to rack, cool

 

My friends also got this adorable little outfit and a pair of homemade baby shoes for their little lady. :)

Nature vs. Nurture–Psychology Assignment

*This was originally written as an assignment for my Developmental Psychology course. We were supposed to write a ‘blog entry’, so I thought I would make it an actual blog entry. :)*
There is the debate of Nature verses Nurture in multiple areas across every area of thinking. Educators are debating the topic, just as Psychologists, Philosophers and others are. So, what are these thinkers debating on, and what are their arguments? The argument is over whether personality, worldview and all other aspects of individuals are developed solely through biological factors, influences from others or, as we will look at last, a combination of both.
 In first place, what are those on the nature side of the argument all about? These thinkers see that a person’s development is derived completely from biological factors; their DNA. The DNA we were born with determines not only our hair, skin and eye color and gender; it also determines our character trait, the way we think about things, our intelligence and so much more. It determines what kind of person we are, and causes everything about us to remain static; unchanging.  In second place, how do those on the nurture side of the argument view this? These thinkers say that our personality, gender, mind and everything else about us are completely developed through the influences of people in our lives and events we have experienced. One well known thinker who thought this way was John Locke. He introduced the ‘Tabula Rasa’ (blank slate) idea, which says that our minds are born completely blank and we have to learn everything and experience everything. Simply, we are shaped by our environment. Another historical thinker who thought this way was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He concluded that we are born with innate goodness, and learn everything bad from people and experiences in our lives.  Now, what about those who say a mixture of both determines who we are? These individuals begin by saying that we are born with certain characteristics that will not change throughout our lives. The basis of our personality as well as our gender and the groundwork for the way we think are determined by our DNA. But, there are also many other factors that influence us; that is where the nurture component comes in. The best illustration of this view is through the results of twin studies. Identical twins have been separated at birth and then reunited again later in life, and we can see that their genes, genders, and even the basics of their personalities and some of their likes and dislikes are the same. But, their life experiences have been different, and those events have caused them to develop differently and view some things in life differently. (See the video below to learn about a twin study.  I was introduced to this topic through my philosophy class last year, but had not thought much about it, other than forming a general opinion about the debate. This topic has not impacted me greatly, but learning about it in class has caused me to think about it on a deeper level. My opinion is that both nature and nurture influence us. We are all born with original sin (St. Augustine and Genesis) and our DNA determines our personality, gender and the groundwork for the way we think. But, there are also numerous other factors that help shape us and make us who we are, such as diet, family life/structure, socio-economic status, life events and experiences and so much more. I do not think that this debate will ever be settled unless both sides are willing to compromise and realize that they are both partially correct.

The following link is an example of a Twin Study

Wand Giveaway

Head on over to Elle Apparel and enter their Jose Eber Wand Trio giveaway!!! An AWESOME giveaway, in my opinion!!! :)

Click on the picture below to go straight to the post.

Doughnuts–Gifted Item

I am doing a placement in a Kindergarten class this semester and they have a ‘Tim Hortons’ center in their classroom. They were using Playdough as doughnuts and timbits, bit they always dried up. Today they made the comment that there was no Playdough left to make food anymore…. little did they know.

I made a bunch of doughnuts and timbits out of felt last week. Not only is this class going to be able to use them, other classes will too. And they have the whole shabang in that center now!!! :) They have boxes and cups from last year, and a parent donated a couple of shirts and hats. Now they have food too!!!

The looks on their faces was the best part. Oh, and the hugs were too. :)

Macro Shots

I had fun with my camera when we were up north on the long weekend. I can’t get very good macro shots most of the time, even with oodles of patience. It just won’t pick up the detail very good. I guess that’s what I get for not having a DSLR.

These are pretty good, but I also cropped and edited them a tad. :)

Some of my favorites:

Youth Group Trip. 02/15-18/2013

On the Family Day weekend our Youth Group headed up north to Lowell Lake Lodge in Temagami for a weekend of fun, relaxation and awesomeness!!! Oh, and it was cold. It was –30 C when we left on Monday morning.

For those of you who go up in the summer, you’ll know what I mean when I say this place looks so much different in the winter and with a couple feet of snow!!! :)

The Guys got the skates out and shot the puck around. Too bad the ice wasn’t better.

On Saturday afternoon we went to the fire tower up in Temagami. After a long hike and lots of steps we got to the top. On a clear day you can see about 100 km in each direction, but it was snowing on the horizon, so we couldn’t see that far.

St. Jacobs Farmers Market. 01/26/2013

A while ago we spent the Saturday in the Kitchener/St. Jacobs/Elmira area.

Our first stop was the Farmers Market on King Street in downtown Kitchener. My sister works there, so we said hi, had coffee and bought her and her co-workers a treat. :)

We then headed to the St. Jacob’s Farmers Market and then to Crossroads Restaurant in Elmira. Crossroads doesn’t just have an amazing homemade buffet, it also has a beautiful gift shop and a quilt shop, called “The Quilter’s Patch”. And yes, I got fabric. lol. ;)

Here are some snap-shots from St. Jacobs Market. There aren’t oodles, but I had fun. :) Oh, and even got ‘the look’ from an Amish person because you have a camera in your hands??? I would never take a picture of them, but I get why they don’t like me.

Baby Girl’s Outfit–Gifted

A friend of mine had a little girl about a month ago, and I wanted to make something really special for her.

I went to Children’s Place and got an adorable little cardigan, size 6-9 months, and then based the rest of the outfit off of that.

A cute little jean dress lined with lavender and white – checked sweet sucker and a matching diaper cover with the same material.

Here are some of the details.

Again, the doll comes in handy. ;)

I am glad you loved it Rebekah!!! :)