Like An Anchor

Slightly Bad Leah

26 October, 2013

As I mentioned last week, I recently finished reading Liz Curtis Higgs’ Bad Girls of the Bible series. Slightly Bad Girls, the last book, is a slightly different format than the first two. Higgs only covered five women’s stories — Sarah, Hagar, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah — which allowed her to spend more time with their stories. The fictional accounts span at least two chapters for each character, which allows a longer story-arch for each woman than in the two previous books.

Leah

Leah’s story was the one I found most interesting. There is so much we don’t know about her. For example, we know Jacob was livid when he woke to find Leah in his bed instead of Rachel (Gen. 29:21-24), but we have no idea how Leah reacted to her father switching brides (or what Rachel’s opinion was for that matter).

I wonder what Leah was thinking. Was she so scared of her father that she didn’t dare disobey when he “brought her to Jacob” (Gen 29:23)? Did she want to get out of her father’s house so much she would have married anyone? Was she trying to steal Rachel’s husband? Perhaps she was in love with Jacob and hoped he would return that love once they were married (I don’t have much experience with relationships, but I’m pretty sure impersonating your unrequited-crush’s bride on their wedding night is not the best way to make him fall in love with you).

God’s Love

One of the most interesting verses in Leah’s story is this:

When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved … (Gen. 29:31)

Setting aside for the moment how terrible it was for Leah to be unloved, let’s think about how incredible God’s compassion was for her. He saw her and He “listened to” her prayers (Gen.30:17). Isn’t it comforting to know that even when people who should love you don’t, God sees everything and cares deeply for our pain? It makes me think of my favorite Psalm.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. (Ps. 139:1-3)

We serve a God who is powerful enough to do anything, and He chooses to let His attention and His compassion rest on us. For Leah, God’s care took the form of blessing her with children.

Leah’s Children

I hadn’t thought about it before, but Higgs points out that what Leah says when each of her sons was born reveal that she had a deeper faith in the God than we often give her credit for.

So Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben; for she said, “The Lord has surely looked on my affliction. Now therefore, my husband will love me.” Then she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am unloved, He has therefore given me this son also.” And she called his name Simeon. She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. And she conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stopped bearing. (Gen. 29:32-35)

Leah recognized that her sons were a gift from God, given to comfort her when He saw Jacob did not love her. She realized that she was heard and loved by God, and by the time she named her fourth child, Judah, she was able to offer praise to the Lord without even mentioning her hope that Jacob would learn to love her. (As an interesting side note, this is the first time the word “praise” appears in the King James translation.) I doubt Leah moved past her desire for her husband’s love, but perhaps she reached a point where her relationship with God gave her the peace needed to accept her life.

Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:11-13)
Cheese Burger Soup

23 October, 2013

Ah, the fall season — crisp weather, autumn leaves, ripe apples, nasty allergies, and warm soup. This soup began life as a way-too-cheesey potato soup, and has now settled down as a meat soup with respectable levels of cheese.

A bit of bloggish news: I’ve added a recipe book page. It has all the recipes I’ve posted in one convenient, organized location so you can easily find what you’re looking for. I’ll keep it updated as I post new recipes.

Cheese Burger Soup

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les légumes

5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (about 4 cups)

1 large carrot, finely chopped (about 1 cup)

1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)

2 cups water

2 cups beef broth

1/2 pound ground beef, cooked

Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil; reduce heat. Cover and simmer until the potatoes are tender (15 – 20 minutes. Add ground beef.

bringing to a boil

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

6 Tbsp. flour

3 tsp. steak seasoning (see recipe below)

2 cups of shredded cheese (cheddar or a mixture of different types)

In a small bowl, combine ingredients except cheese. Stir into soup, increase heat to medium and cook, stirring until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Steak Seasoning

ready to eat

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon paprika or chili powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 t teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon . cayenne or chipotle powder

1 dash each coriander and tumeric (optional)

Combine all and place in a container.

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Fictional MBTI — Loki

21 October, 2013

Update: Click here for a newer post about Loki with a more complete type analysis.

Over the past couple weeks, without even looking for them, I’ve stumbled upon two blogs talking about Myers-Briggs types for fictional characters. One is a Tumbler called MBTI in Fiction. The other is a blog titled A Little Bit of Personality, with a series of posts analyzing heroic archetypes.

I’ve been intrigued by the characters each of these writers choose to type as INFJs. Neither of these writer’s are INFJs themselves (the writer from “MBTI in Fiction” is an ENTJ and the writer of “A Little Bit of Personality” is an ENTP), and it’s interesting to see who non-INFJs think are INFJs. I don’t always agree with them, but it’s interesting.

Loki

This was the first post I saw from MBTI in Fiction. My initial reaction was, “There’s no way Loki and I have the same personality type.” But I agree that he’s an introvert, and I don’t think he’s logical or grounded enough to be either an S or a T type, so that leaves us with INFJ or INFP. (Some people type him as an INTJ Mastermind, but he seems to rely on Extroverted Feeling more than Extroverted Thinking as a function).

Both INFJs and INFPs feel everything very deeply and trust their intuition. However, INFPs tend to keep their emotions to themselves, though feelings will inform all their actions. Outwardly, they appear “receptive and non-judgmental.” INFJs prefer to approach the world through Introverted Intuition (Ni), followed by Extroverted Feeling (Fe). They are the rarest type, often question their sanity, rely strongly on their intuitions about people, and tend to talk about their feelings. Dr. A.J. Drenth’s profile includes this descriptions, which I think sounds a lot like Loki (as played by Tom Hiddleston in The Avengers):

INFJs are far less serious inwardly than they may appear outwardly. Their inner world is well described as playful, imaginative, colorful, mischievous, and daring. Characterized by Perceiving rather than Judging, it is far less controlled and regulated than that of INFPs. INFJs love playing with ideas, perspectives, theories, images, symbols, and metaphors.

Another reason I’ve been won-over to typing Loki as an INFJ is because of the description of INFJ villains on A Little Bit of Personality’s page. It really does sound like Loki, and the last line hits a little too close to home for me to brush this analysis off as written by someone who just doesn’t understand INFJs.

When turned to villainy, the INFJ is *creepy*! There isn’t really any other word for it. Dark Paladins are the best of manipulators because they are incredibly intuitive about people and can apply their mild-manneredness to going under the radar as long as they need to, manipulating others who would never suspect them. Because they are so good at this and *know* it, pure-hearted INFJ’s often wonder if they are secretly evil and manipulative at heart, like one day they’ll wake up and realize they were bad all along.

Future Posts?

I was planning on covering several characters, but after I started writing Loki I decided one would be enough for a single post. Maybe I’ll write more at some other time, if anyone is interested. Are there any characters you’ve been thinking are INFJs? Would you be interested in me typing non-INFJ characters?

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Bad Girls of the Bible

19 October, 2013

I’ve been reading a series of three books by Liz Curtis Higgs titled Bad Girls of the Bible, Really Bad Girls of the Bible, and Slightly Bad Girls of the Bible. The first book was decided upon for a book club at church, and once I’d finished it I tracked down the other two from the library. Higgs’ writing style is a little more informal than I usually like (I found myself skipping some of her “Lizzie style” commentary), but I like the short fictionalized stories that begin each chapter and bring the woman’s story into a modern setting. I also appreciate spending an entire chapter discussing the Biblical accounts verse-by-verse, and sometimes even word-by-word, since I don’t always take the time I should to really think about the people in the Bible. I’ll talk about the first two books in the series now, but I have enough to say about Slightly Bad Girls that I think I’ll save it for another post.

Bad

Higgs’ reason for studying less-than-perfect women is that they can “show us how not to handle the challenges of life.” They can also be more relatable than women who seem perfect, and studying the weaknesses we share with women who stumbled can help us avoid pitfalls in our own lives.

The women discussed in this book are Eve, Potiphar’s Wife, Lot’s Wife, The Woman at the Well, Delilah, Sapphira, Rahab, Jezebel, Michal, and The Sinful Woman. I was really impressed with the fiction in this book. Eve becomes a sheltered rich girl, Delilah is a hairdresser, and Lot’s Wife a woman who refuses to leave her home near Mount Saint Helens. The fiction story for the Woman at the Well isn’t quite as well done, but it’s hard to come up with a modern fictionalized character to stand-in for Jesus so I think we’ll cut the author some slack.

Really Bad

I read these books slightly out of order, so this is the one I just finished. The title is a little misleading — it’s more like additional bad girls, rather than girls who are worse than those in the last book. Higgs describes the difference between the two books like this:

If the first Bad Girls of the Bible was all about grace, this second one is all about the sovereignty of God, the unstoppable power of God to accomplish his perfect will, no matter how much we mess up.

This book covers the Medium of En Dor, Jael, The Adulteress, Athaliah, Bathsheba, Herodias, Tamar, and The Bleeding Woman. What struck me most about this book was the Bleeding Woman’s story (from Matt. 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48). This woman was bleeding for twelve years — that’s 4,380 days, plus a few extra for leap years. According to Levitical law, she was ceremonially unclean the entire time (Lev. 15:19-27). She couldn’t touch anyone, and probably had to live alone because everything she came in contact with became unclean. Can you imagine people not even wanting to be in the same house as you for twelve years? I like solitude as much as the next introvert, but that’s way too much alone-time.

When Jesus healed her, He took away not only her physical infirmity, but also her separation from other people. And He talked to her in public — not something teachers normally did with women, especially women who were still ceremonially unclean (Lev. 15:28-30). She is also the only woman in the Gospels who Jesus calls “daughter.” What an incredible story!
Vegetable Chicken Chowder

16 October, 2013

The first time I made this soup, my family was praising the smell even before they got a taste of it. The basic recipe comes from an old cookbook my grandmother gave my mother called Country Classic Pioneer Cookbook. I’ve changed it a little, streamlining the recipe instructions and adding meat. This version calls for chicken, but you could easily make it with beef (which is what I did the first time I tried it). It goes well with bread, such as these Easy Bread Sticks.

Vegetable Chicken Chowder

right after boiling

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2 cups water

3 cups chicken broth

1 can tomato soup

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons onion powder

¼ teaspoon pepper

ready to add milk

½ cup rice

2 cups chopped potatoes

½ cup diced celery

1 cup diced carrot

2 cups chopped chicken

1 cup milk

3 Tablespoons flour

Voilà!

Combine liquid, seasonings, and rice in a large sauce pot. Heat to boil. When soup boils, add chopped potatoes, celery, and carrots. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook chicken. Add to soup after the 45 minutes cooking time or when the rice is tender. Whisk milk and flour, add to soup. Bring to boil and serve immediately.

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Renaissance Faire …… Huzzah!

14 October, 2013

Albannach called this kid on stage after seeing him Highland dancing in the audience.

A couple years ago when my sister and I were at the Ohio Renaissance Festival on Barbarian Weekend, we heard the sound of drums and bagpipes from the direction of Reveler’s Stage. Intrigued, we followed the music and saw Albannach perform for the first time. Since then, our goal has been to make it back to the Ren Faire on a day Albannach was performing, and this year we finally made it for Highland Weekend. We watched all three of their shows, so it was nearly three hours of awesome music. You can hear samples and buy songs on their website.

In between Albannach’s second and third shows, we meandered over to the Arena of Champions for a full armor joust. It’s always a highlight of the Ren Fest, and this year we were treated to a tourney with four knights jousting instead of the usual two. Usually it seems that when they divide the audience up to cheer for a specific knight, I happen to be sitting on the side that loses. This year, however, “our” knight won his joust, but unfortunately we couldn’t stay for the 5:00 joust to see the winners compete.

I was sewing like a mad woman last week so all three of us (my brother, sister, and me) were able to go in costume. Perhaps not quite the costume we were hoping for (my brother would have preferred noble man to peasant), but we’ll plan on that for next year. Only a couple of our pieces were new for this year, but I think the overall mixing-and-matching turned out rather well.