Stacey's storm pictures, part 3

More of Stacey's storm pictures.

 Thankfully it only hit the side of the house.

The power of wind is incredible!

 Thankfully no one was in this car and it is neither my car nor Stacey's car!

Stacey's storm pictures, part 2

More storm pictures from my friend Stacey

Stacey's storm pictures, part 1

So my wonderful friend Stacey went out and took some pictures of the aftermath of today's storm.  And being the super amazing friend that she is, she said that I could share her pictures.  In an effort not to overload posts with excessive amounts of pictures they'll come in 2-3 posts.  Ready, set, go!

I've seen trees uproot ground before...

But this time it's an actual chunk of pavement.

I think a repaving project is in order...

Stormy Weather

Today we were "blessed" with severe thunderstorms.  We did need the rain, but maybe not the high winds that came with them. There are reports of trees down and damage all over the place.  I don't dare venture out on foot because there are more storms on their way according to the weatherman.
Up until today there were only two places I really felt safe from storms -the lower chapel at Central and my parent's house in Ontario.  If I wasn't in either of those two places, storms terrified me.  Especially thunder.  I could put on a brave "camp counselor" front if I needed to, but the truth is, I don't like storms.  But this morning I felt perfectly secure here in my apartment. Guess that means this place is becoming home to me.
I shot a bit of a video of the storm this morning.  Just as I stopped filming a huge gust of wind ripped through.  You can see it on the tail end of the clip.  Then the power went out.

I stayed close to home after the first round of storms passed because there were more in the forecast and I didn't want to venture out on foot.  I've heard reports of trees down all over the place though, some completely uprooted.

This tree across the street from me got struck by lightening.  It's being supported by the tree next to it

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

So I was sitting on the couch this Sunday afternoon trying to work on next Sunday's sermon (it's coming awful hard this week), when I started craving peanut butter oatmeal cookies.  Which wouldn't be such a bizarre craving, except I'm severely allergic to peanuts. Not just "if I eat I'll get sick" type allergic, but "if I touch I'll swell up and if I'm foolish enough to eat something with peanuts in it I'll be needing the emergency room and fast" type allergic.  Thankfully, there is soy butter, and even better than that, I still have some of the good Canadian soy butter that mom got me last time I was up on the farm (sorry America, this time Canada wins).
Unfortunately, every peanut butter cookie recipe I found online either had an abundance of eggs in it or required other ingredients that I simply did not have on hand.  I was stumped, but still really craving peanut butter cookies. So I decided to invent a recipe. I mean, inventing a recipe can't be all that hard, can it?  I soon found out...
The most important thing I learned about inventing cookie recipes is to first decide how much dry ingredients I want to use and THEN add appropriate liquid, not the other way around.  Cookies, in reasonable amounts, take a startling small amount of liquid.  My 5 quart mixer got a work-out today to say the least.
Second thing I learned is that Joy-butter is relatively mild in flavor compared to bean flour blends.   A rice flour blend would likely have been a much better choice, or at least a higher rice flour to bean flour ratio.
I'm not super impressed with my recipe yet.  It's going to take at least one more go around before I get something I'm happy enough with to actually share (or someone with more refined taste buds than me to try these and tell me how they like them), but I'm most impressed that they held together.  It's been awhile since I've made a cookie that actually held together.  No crumbling, no "going out" in the oven, just a real solid cookie.
And that has been my Sunday afternoon adventure.

And we have an ID...

Shortly after my return to Michigan last week, I saw my neurologist.  For those of you who have been following this blog awhile, you are well aware of the struggles I have had with seizures and related neurological concerns.  My neurologist was very pleased with my progress and agreed with me that the medication seemed to be working well. (I'm currently 70 days seizure free for anyone who is counting with me).  However, after reviewing my MRIs, he was concerned about a lesion in my brain.  This lesion was not new, and had been there ever since my first brain imaging in 2008. Some of you may have heard me refer to it as "Spot" before.  Even though Spot was behaving himself, my neurologist still wanted it investigate further, partly because I was concerned about Spot, and partly because no one had ever been able to say quite what Spot was. So he referred me to a neurosurgeon.
I saw my neurosurgeon today, quite a nice gentleman.  I had no small amount of anxiety going into the appointment and am very grateful for the friend who prayed for me in the car before I went in.  The Lord has been so faithful in bringing wonderful friends into my life.  As I left the appointment I was both relieved and frustrated.  I was relieved because the neurosurgeon told me straight up that he did not believe Spot to be a tumor (something that had been mentioned earlier by other doctors) and reaffirmed that Spot was behaving in an acceptable manner.  Then he gave me what I had been searching for since the beginning of this journey: an identity for Spot.
The neurosurgeon is quite sure that Spot is something called an Arachnoid cyst. As far as I can determine, this has nothing to do with spiders, though the thought did bring a smile to my face. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke defines it this way:

"Arachnoid cysts are cerebrospinal fluid-filled sacs that are located between the brain or spinal cord and the arachnoid membrane, one of the three membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord."

Based on my symptoms and the onset of them in adulthood, I likely have what they call a "secondary" arachnoid cyst, meaning it formed later in life, rather than prenatally.  To read more about arachnoid cysts, click here.

In many cases, arachnoid cysts are removed, especially if they are on the surface of the brain.  They can grow and put pressure on the brain causing all sorts of trouble.  However, the neurosurgeon I saw today expressed concern about trying to remove Spot.  Spot is located in my temporal lobe, right on the hippocampus.  Getting to him to remove him would involving messing with a whole lot of brain and could make things much worse than they already are. However, he decided to refer me on to a neurosurgeon who specializes in surgery to correct epilepsy and is an expert in removing things such as this.  Thankfully, this particular doctor is back in Ontario, and will be covered.   Evenso, the neurosurgeon did stress that I might not be a candidate for the surgery, based on the location of the cyst. 

So the feelings of relief came from finally having an identity for Spot and knowing that Spot is not likely a tumor and is not malignant.  That is a huge relief as that has been a concern sitting in the back of my mind for two and a half years now.  The frustration is still not knowing, what, if anything, can be done about it, other than treating the symptoms as needed.  For now, life continues as it has, rejoicing in every seizure free day.

 For those of you unacquainted with Spot, he is the little white spot, about 6mm by 9mm circled in red in the image. 

Pickled Asparagus, Radical Evangelism, Human Trafficking and Jesus

This afternoon while I was pickling asparagus (something new for me...I've never pickled asparagus before.  Just cucumbers and beets, but I like asparagus and I like beets, so pickled asparagus sounds promising.) I was thinking about radical evangelism, human trafficking and Jesus.  I know what the last three have in common, but I am still not quite sure how packing asparagus spears into piping hot jars while listening to a Sara Groves/Tenth Avenue North/JJ Heller/Laura Hackett/Laura Story playlist bought me to the other three topics.  If you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know!

Anyone who denies that human trafficking (a fancy word for slavery!) is a problem in North America, needs to wake up a little bit and read some headlines.  Google "Human Trafficking in *insert name of country or state or province here*" and what you find may surprise you. It's happening in your back yard, whether you like it or not. 

According to Canada Fights Back, human trafficking is the second largest organized crime worldwide. It brings in more profit annually than Google, Starbucks and Nike combined.  I could give you more facts, such as the fact that every 30 seconds a child is sold or the fact that 80% of the people enslaved due to human trafficking are women, but I'll stop there.  If you want to know more, google it. 

As I thought about the problem of human trafficking, the overwhelming questions on my heart were: Who is going to reach these people?  Who is going to tell them that there is a G-d who loves them, no matter what man has done to them? (70% of those sold into slavery are sold of the purpose of sexual exploitation)

I thought about who reached the slaves when slavery was legal.  In some ways it was easier then, the slaves were visible then, whereas today, many of them are hidden. As I thought more about it, my very limited knowledge brought to mind that the Gospel was shared with slaves by other slaves.  As slaves were bought and sold they carried their most precious possession with them - the saving truth of the Gospel. When they could, they sang it.  I remembered a story about two young Moravians that I used in a sermon last spring, who willingly sold themselves into slavery so that they could reach other slaves. 

As I called that story back to mind, my mind began to wander to today...could the same concept work today? Could someone sell themselves into slavery in order to reach other enslaved people?  That would be super radical evangelism.

Jesus gave us the model for radical evangelism. He could have just sent a message from heaven to tell us about His saving grace.  But I'm not sure that would have meant anything to us.  In fact, I'm almost certain it wouldn't.  It would be comparable for me telling someone who is going through a bitter divorce how to fix their marriage...I've never been married (nor divorced) and I have no training in marriage counselling (yet). They wouldn't want to listen to me and they shouldn't listen to me!  Instead, Jesus came to us.  He came to be one of us.  To walk the roads we walk, to fight the fights we fight every day.  He earned his right to be heard. He earned it along a beach with fishermen, on the long dusty roads, in the crowded synagogues, at the painful end of a Roman whipping, as the recipient of jeers and spits, on a Roman cross, and ultimately when he rose again from the grave, conquering death.  After he had earned his right to be heard, then he could share the message he came to share (and had been sharing) and have it understood and received.  

All of this thinking led me to the inevitable conclusion: in order to reach those who have been sold into slavery, in order for the Gospel to be heard by them, someone has to become one of them.  Someone has to let themselves be sold into slavery.  

It's a hard thought.  It is not something I am called to, but the question it raised in me was "what if?"  What if that was my calling? What if I had a very clear message from the Lord that my calling was to sell myself into slavery so that I could reach other slaves?  Would I go?  Would I listen?  Or would I pull a Jonah and run as fast as I could in the other direction because it seemed so extreme? What about you?  What f that was G-d's calling on your life?  Would you go?

It's easy to say that you would follow G-d's call on your life, no matter what is.  To stand up or raise your hand at a retreat or after a short term mission trip and say that you are ready to follow G-d's call, no matter what it is, but it's another thing to realize what a potential calling might be, what it would mean, and then still say that you would follow no matter what.

For those of you holding your breath out of curiosity, wanting to know if I would actually sell myself into slavery if that is what G-d called me to: the answer is that I don't know. I would have to do some pretty serious praying about it first.  And then, at some point, if I were 100% sure that this is what I was called to do, then I would pray that I would have the faith to follow through. And that answer goes for anything that G-d might call me to, not just selling myself into slavery.