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The Seasons of Life

Today’s post was written by my mom, Lorraine Strohbehn, a favorite contributor here at Petals from the Basket. She sent it to me today to use at “a later date,” but it was so timely and such a good reminder that I couldn’t wait to share it with you!

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With autumn and cool weather arriving, Northern Indiana farmers are diligently harvesting the corn, soybeans, wheat, and alfalfa that they planted in the spring and tended during the summer. Farmers’ markets that started the summer with asparagus and rhubarb are now reaping their last tomatoes, cauliflower, green beans, and okra, while the pumpkins and squash are piled high at their front doors.

We just came in from cutting off the day lilies and coral bells in the flower beds around the house. They have been beautiful throughout the summer. The hearty burgundy leaves of the coral bells growing in a sea of white stones were a special source of pride and joy, but this year’s season is over, so it was time to prepare them for winter.

Autumn is my favorite season of the year, with its colorful maples and the cooler days and chilly nights. To make sure we have fresh fruits and vegetables for winter lunches and dinners, we are wrapping a few more butternut squash for cool storage, adding to the corn, tomatoes, green beans, and applesauce in the freezer, and making room for the arrival of Texas grapefruit, which will be available next month at the local Amish store.

What we planted in the spring is now ready for the harvest. Because I know what we planted, I know what the harvest should be; the early effort that we put into care will determine the quality of the harvest. As King Solomon wrote (Proverbs 10:5, KJV), “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” We enjoy the preparation of springtime, the bounty of summer, and the harvest of autumn for the winter that is to come.

The seasons of life are pictured in the seasons of the year: what we plant is what we harvest. Paul emphasized this in one of his pastoral letters (Galatians 6:7–9, KJV): “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

May we live every season with eternity’s values in view!

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By Petals from the Basket | October 26, 2018 | Ask Grandma, Bible Reading, Family, God-and-I-Time, Guest Posts, Life Changes |

The Final Flight

There are special days that mark milestones in an airline pilot’s career. Of course, the pilot’s first solo flight is worthy of celebration. The first flight as an employee of the airline is also a noted achievement, as is his or her first flight as a captain. Therefore, you can be assured that the final flight of an airline captain is both unique and memorable as well.

My last trip as captain involved flying my family members (in business class) to London, England, and then back to Philadelphia, PA. The trip had to be completed prior to my mandatory retirement age of sixty. (The mandatory retirement age has since been raised to sixty-five.) So two days before my sixtieth birthday, my family flew with me to London, via a stop in Shannon, Ireland, on our return trip to Philly.

At Shannon, on departure, the airport’s fire trucks gave our airplane a “water cannon salute,” spraying the airplane in honor of my last flight. En route from Shannon to Philadelphia, the flight attendants passed around a journal, which the passengers and crew kindly signed with congratulatory notes for me.

Upon our landing in Philadelphia, we were greeted once again with a water cannon salute as we taxied to the terminal.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

My final act as an airline captain was to set the parking brake at Gate 23A in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and shut down the engines at 6:38 p.m., October 3, 2003.

I was truly grateful to God for a thirty-six-year career, safely flying passengers and cargo over the course of twenty-five-thousand flight hours. I remain grateful as well for the passionate professionals with whom I worked. And I am grateful to God that I was able to finish right…and thereby to finish well.

As I recently remembered these events, I was reminded of Paul the apostle. It was his goal to “finish [his] course with joy” (Acts 20:24, KJV). Paul would later write to Timothy (his “son” in the faith): “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, KJV). By God’s grace and with His help, we should all finish right, accomplishing what God desires for us to do with our lives.

If we finish right, we will finish well and receive God’s acclamation of praise, “Well, done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, ESV).

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By Petals from the Basket | October 17, 2018 | Bible Reading, Events, Family, Friends, The Captain's Corner |

Recipe: “Come on Over” for CJ’s Chicken

Chicken. Everywhere. Seriously. Thanks to a couldn’t-pass-it-up sale at Rentown Store in Northern Indiana during a recent visit to see my mom, there are packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts on nearly every shelf of the freezer in our garage. The day we got home, I cut the existing pieces in half (they were soooooo thick!), and then Joe packaged them, two per bag, in freezer bags. Next came the really fun part: “What am I going to do with all this chicken?”

We have some tried-and-true recipes that we’ve gathered from family and friends, but I decided yesterday to try something new and ended up creating a brand-new recipe. I’m tickled pink to share with you that it turned out to be intensely yummy—and easy! The meat was so tender and flavorful that I just had to give it a name and share it as an easy “Come on Over” recipe!

I put the chicken in the marinade late yesterday afternoon so that Joe could cook it on the grill today. However, it’s raining here, so I decided to throw it all in a fry pan on the stove and added just a little cooking spray and then spooned about one “ladle-full” of the marinade over the top of it while it was cooking. I did extra pieces so that I can slice them into small strips to put on salads later this week. Enjoy! Let me know how your batch turns out!

CJ’s (Captain Joe’s) “Come on Over” Chicken

Prep time: 10 minutes-ish
Cooking time: 20 minutes-ish, on the stovetop or on the grill
Serves: 6 (or makes multiple meals for two)
From the kitchen of Brenda Henderson

Ingredients:

  • 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 1/4 cup apple juice
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
  • 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning (we buy this at Sam’s Club) OR 1 tsp each of salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. Place the raw (thawed) chicken breasts in a large bowl.
  2. Mix the four liquids and the two seasoning elements in a 2-cup glass measuring cup or small bowl. Stir well.
  3. Pour the liquid mixture over the chicken; cover with plastic wrap or lid.
  4. Let marinate 3–24 hours (i.e., you can make it the same day you cook it if you want to!).
  5. Grill on medium-high heat for 20 minutes, turning every five minutes. (Make sure center is cooked thoroughly.) You may also fry with light cooking spray on stovetop for the same amount of time.

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Serving Suggestions:

  • Serve with a small tossed salad, dinner rolls, and cooked vegetable(s) of your choice.
  • Cut into strips and serve as the meat on your “Come on Over” Salad! (Click here for the recipe.)
By Petals from the Basket | October 10, 2018 | "Come on Over" Recipes, Entertaining, Ideas, Organization, The Captain's Corner |

Weekend Hospitality Tip: Of Embassies and Ambassadors

For many years, I read one book a week. Then…I got married. Life happened. Schedules, priorities, and well…everything changed! It’s been good, mind you, but things have changed.

Recently, however, I’ve chosen to once again give my love (and yes, need) for reading a higher priority. I find that it feeds me, motivates me, and stirs the creative nature within me, and that creative side is an essential element of who God created me to be. One of the books I’ve enjoyed and learned from most recently, The Gospel Comes with a House Key (affiliate link), was recommended through a devotional I read a few months ago.

As a way of connecting spiritually with some of the younger women in my church, I began using the daily devotional option on the YouVersion Bible app. Because Joe and I enjoy entertaining guests in our home (both for meals and for overnights), I was drawn to a five-day devotional whose title intrigued me: Your Home Is an Embassy. Though its truths were quite familiar, the concept of viewing my home as an earthly embassy that serves as a representation of my heavenly citizenship altered my way of thinking. As dramatic as this sounds, it was life-changing for me. And for Joe.

We have prayed from day one that our home would be a haven, not only for us, but for all who enter. Yet, we didn’t want to cross the line that often can cause people to become focused on the physical building or its contents. Stuff is just stuff. But if that stuff helps to represent who we are as ambassadors of the King, strengthens our relationship with the King, refreshes our spirits in service to the King, and thereby points guests toward knowing more about the King, then its worth having. Otherwise, it doesn’t need to be in our home. (It’s been the most solidly motivating “decluttering” method I’ve ever used!)

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:1, 20, NASB).

It’s about more than entertaining. It’s much more than just having people over or letting people stay in a guest room. We now see our home as the place that God has entrusted to us in which we are to fulfill our role as His ambassadors, eagerly using each dish, couch, chair, room, word, memory, hope, dream, moment as a tool with which to show His love.

I would be remiss not to give you a word of warning. Do not use your home as an embassy, expecting to have the gift of hospitality reciprocated. Entertaining friends and strangers quite understandably can be overwhelming, and it’s not something everyone is asked to do.

But along with my warning I must also share some loving advice. First, read the five-day challenge I spoke of above (written by Barbara Rainey) and ask God to help you view your resources and your home as tools for serving Him—for helping others learn more of the King and of the place of your eternal citizenship. (By the way, believers and unbelievers alike need a haven where they are not only encouraged to take the next step spiritually but where it’s also safe to do so.) Here are a few practical ideas to get you started or to help you keep moving forward in your already established practice of opening your home to others:

  1. Pray about it. Ask God to open your heart to the idea of opening your home.
  2. Print your own free, grayscale, downloadable “Welcome to the Embassy” sign by clicking here or on the photo below. (We recommend that you frame it and either hang it near the front door or put it in a prominent location near the entry to your home.) This is a .jpg file (it will be an 8 x10 picture), so feel free to print it off at a local store’s photo department or save it as a .pdf and print it off on your home printer.
  3. Start small. Have a friend over for coffee; invite a young couple over for popcorn and “game night”; host a neighbor in the early evening for a light dessert.
  4. Enlist the other “ambassadors” in your home by letting them share in the joy of entertaining. Kids don’t “give up” their rooms for missionaries or for family guests; they get to share and to be ambassadors for the King!
  5. Keep meals simple. Check out our “Come on Over” category of blog posts for some quick, easy, inexpensive ideas!

We’d love to see your embassy sign, so feel free to comment with a photo or share it on our Facebook page!

In the meantime, thank you, dear fellow ambassadors, for choosing to let us share with you what God is teaching us! We appreciate you—big time!

Click to download this free, printable .jpg sign for your embassy!______________________________________________________

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By Petals from the Basket | September 22, 2018 | "Come on Over" Recipes, Bible Reading, Books, Entertaining, Family, Friends, Ideas, Life Changes, Organization |

You’re sacrificing to go; we’re sacrificing to send you!

This post will most likely be filled with disclaimers. So let me start with one right from the get-go. I am not writing this post in response to anything or anyone specific. It’s been on my mind for many months, and the time came to put my fingers on the keyboard and send my heart out onto the screen.

My pastor’s wife (and friend) reminded us yesterday in our Bible study time that as Americans, there are, in comparison to women in third-world countries, very few of us who are poor to the level of wondering where our next meal will come from. For the majority of us, praying over our “daily bread” is not a matter of whether or not there will be anything to eat. It is more likely that our “difficult task” will be about choosing what we will eat from the many options available to us. In general, most truly have more than enough, and that is why I’ve been thinking about the fact that we must, without fail, be good stewards of whatever we’ve been given.

My husband and I find great joy each month in sending “above-and-beyond” funds to help support missionaries and organizations whose work we believe in. This is something we both did prior to our marriage to each other, and it’s been exciting to see God take those desires and habits and continue them in new and exciting ways. Perhaps this is why I’ve begun to think even more carefully about my/our responsibility to properly save, spend, and give (i.e., steward) what God has more than graciously given to me/us.

When we looked at our pre-marriage-to-each-other “charitable-contribution habits” long enough to reassess and confirm the whys and hows behind them, we had the ability to make wise choices going forward. While we are not poor by any stretch of most imaginations, we do make choices regarding our lifestyle so that we can free up those funds to help others or to support missions and Christian organizations. I say this, not to our praise, but to God’s glory!

But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

—Paul, thanking the church in Philippi for their sacrificial giving, Philippians 4:10–20, NASB

Please remember that as you read this post. Even the wealthiest among us (and we are not in that category, I assure you) most often must choose one thing over another. The same funds can’t be used for multiple items. When we as a church or as individuals send you “x” number of dollars each month, it doesn’t mean we have “x” number of excess dollars. It means that we’ve chosen to give (yes, sacrificially) those dollars to you and the work you are sacrificially doing for the cause of Christ rather than spending them on our own wants and desires. (I must add here that as a result, our great God often provides for those wants and desires anyhow…just because He can!)

Yet, often driven by the ease of social media and/or the human desire for approval, those in vocational Christian work see their friends posting photos of new houses, cars, gadgets, clothing, etc. and feel the need to do the same. I am not, in any sense of the word, saying that they should do without those things. But I am asking those in vocational Christian work to consider something: While you are sacrificing to go, others are sacrificing (be it great or small) to send you.

With that in mind, I’ll be honest with you. While I don’t know the backstory to the funds that provided your ability to complete an entire house renovation with hardware, flooring, and new furniture that many of your supporters can only dream of having, I do know that seeing them flashed across social media with no mention of God’s provision of them or with no gratitude for being able to do these (perhaps) needed changes makes our “sacrificial giving” to you a little more of a sacrifice. When you request funds for your missions projects while posting publicly about your latest multi-hundred-dollar decorating or technology purchase, my sacrifice suddenly gets weighed against your sacrifice.

So what’s the solution? Should missionaries live in abject poverty just so I feel better about not updating my kitchen or not putting in new windows? Absolutely not. However, a humble servant of God makes certain that all is done to the glory of God. If posting photos of things that you have will eventually serve to praise the God we love, please know that I will gladly rejoice with you over God’s provision and His blessing on your sacrificial giving of your life in service to Him. And I will gladly choose to invest in you and your work rather than in things that will one day fade away.

All we, as supporters of your work, ask is that you remember with each dollar you spend that the dollar you are spending is a dollar that was first entrusted to us (as a church or as individuals) by God and that is now being entrusted to you. Spend it wisely.

By Petals from the Basket | September 12, 2018 | Bible Reading, Ideas, Life Changes |