Monday, November 19, 2007

Pizza & Curry

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I’m pointing at Jill, who made us curry for dinner

i was assaulted at mars hill.  some stranger with a shaved head threw pennies at me before the service as i tried to hold a conversation with michelle, who joined us as a guest that sunday.  turns out this violent stranger was caleb rottman, my floormate from last year and ping pong buddy.  i’ll probably be spending thanksgiving dinner with his family again, just like last year.  can’t wait!

one of my favorite things about mars hill is the people i see.  i sit in the section directly behind the drumkit (gotta show support for fellow drummers, u know what i’m sayin?) and that section happens to be the calvin hangout.  i see a lotta calvin students there every sunday, and this sunday i sylvie and her friend macy sat directly behind me.  a row back was maribeth, fellow calvin student and young life leader.  further back was a violent penny-throwing stranger and his sister, cari.

rob bell’s on tour, so the youth minister stepped up to the plate and hit a home run.  in preparation for thanksgiving, when lots of us will be seeing family and friends, the youth minister gave a relevant teaching from romans about distinguishing between absolutes, convictions, and preferences.  an absolute could be that God is a God of equality, that man and woman are created equal in His sight.  a conviction could be that smoking is unhealthy, and therefore un-Christian.  and a preference could be that Apple computers are better than Windows computers.  so often, tensions arise at the dinner table because one person’s opinions convictions and preferences oppose another’s.  for instance, one person might have turned their conviction into smoking into an absolute, declaring that all Christians who smoke are hypocrites.  when convictions and preferences become absolutes, tensions arise.

the speaker reminded us to hold on to only our absolutes, and when faced with comments that go against our convictions and preferences, just recognize that you don’t need to agree, but you don’t need to create an argument about it either.  for instance, if someone says that all Christians who smoke are giong to hell, i can just respond by saying, “hmm, that’s food for thought.”  however, if someone trespasses an absolute, such as when someone drops a racial slur, i can respond by saying, “i don’t think God made one people group better than another.”  the speaker gave us an excellent introspective question: “what convictions or preferences have you made into absolutes?”  i’ll definitely be throwing that question around in my head for the next week.

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nate just can’t wait to get his hands on it

after the service, we headed home and pooled some of our ingredients together to make some bbq chicken pizza.  i learned a fundamental truth in cooking: sweet baby ray’s bbq sauce can’t go wrong.  along with the pizza, we made two soups.  one was a modified version of wonton soup, and another was tomato soup.  we toasted some bread to go with it, but now that i think of it, i could’ve thrown in some of my ritz crackers.  i bought those crackers because i read donald miller talking about his dad in his book blue like jazz, and how his dad would sprinkle ritz crackers on steak.  i tried that out a few days ago… superb!

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looks like a dramatic pre-murder scene in a novel

then it was time to buckle down and do homework.  mary-margaret had a 20-page draft due that weekend, and jill had a paper due on monday.  im in the middle of my research for two final religion papers, and my housemates had an assortment of tests and assignments for engineering and physics.  we worked for most of the afternoon, taking occasional breaks to refresh ourselves.  i’m developing a habit of doing pushups when i take study breaks, as a form of stretching.  i’ve gotta learn to take productive study breaks, because they really help me refocus.

as evening came around, jill began preparing dinner.  around the same time, mary-margaret left for a dinner date with some of her friends.  jill made some delicious curry, with chicken and bell peppers, some rice, and a side dish consisting of bananas and mangoes , sprinkled with lemon juice.  i’ve gotta remember that fruit side; it was really good!  we gathered for dinner once she finished cooking, and we ate everything up.  in fact, we didn’t leave any for our housemate matt, who had left for bombay cuisine (also indian food) and specifically requested for leftovers.  for dessert, we had chocolate chip cookies, which we ate throughout the night as we did more homework.

i just noticed that i write a lot about food on this blog.  sorry if i’m making any readers hungry.  i guess i really like food!

Posted by Nehe555 on 11/19 at 12:58 PM
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