Jesus is Enough, fo realz though

The summer is crazy in my job. Crazy. But so fun. Since I work with middle and high school students who GET TO HAVE A SUMMER (seriously, isn't it the best?), we take advantage of that. We take advantage of the fact that they're not in school and that their schedules are less crazy (sometimes) and that they have lots more hours in the day free than they do August-May. So June and July are lots of fun. We've got two mission trips, a retreat, and lots of fun events (like a lock-out from 8pm-7am and no one sleeps - that's fun, right? right?!) When I look at the calendar for the summer,  it's easy for me to get overwhelmed. It's easy for me to look at all the weekend events, the overnights, the long hours, and ask if it's worth it. 

I mean, is it worth it? 

Yeah. Oh yeah. It's worth it. 

It's worth it because these events, whether it's weekly Bible study or a lock-out are about the Gospel. When we do a scavenger hunt, it's about more than just a scavenger hunt. When we have a shaving cream fight (yes. we're doing that. totally.) it's more than just being crazy. It is about being crazy and fun and letting these kids be kids - that's important in and of itself. But it's more than that. 

It's about Jesus. 

It's about students bringing their friends who don't know Jesus to a church and it's fun and it's not  weird weird, but in a way that isn't about being made to feel guilty, or less than, or that because you don't go to church we don't care about you. It's about students who are with us all year and who we get to spend a little more time with. It's about loving people the way that Jesus loves them - right where they are. It's about letting kids know that they don't have to be perfect. They don't even have to have it even a little bit together. They don't have to be "church kids". It's about kids who love Jesus and want to be closer to Him.

Because Jesus is enough. 

Jesus is enough when your parents are fighting.
Jesus is enough when you cheat in school.
Jesus is enough when you don't know where you stand with your friends.
Jesus is enough when you don't have any friends.
Jesus is enough when you get bad grades. 
Jesus is enough when you're hurting.
Jesus is enough when you realize that you need Him more than anything.

He's enough. 

And that's why we do it. That's why we have long days and weekend events and staying up for 12 hours straight and riding roller coasters when you'd rather not. Because we want to introduce students to Jesus. We want to love them like He does. And we fall short - but He's enough for us too. 

He's enough for me when I'm tired.
He's enough for me when I don't know what to say. 
He's enough for me when I don't know if I'm cut out for this. 
He's enough for me in my brokenness. 
He's enough for me when I'm uncomfortable. 
He's enough for me when I realize that I need Him more than anything.

Jesus is enough.

Brown Butter, Kale Chips, and Jesus

I've been finding a lot of joy in cooking and baking these days. It's fun for me to try out new recipes and techniques, and sometimes the process is just as rewarding as the end product. 

Recently, I made Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies (I actually didn't add the sea salt because they were so good without it). You guys. These cookies are incredible. Like, SO GOOD. But they are quite time consuming to make and a little frustrating. It's definitely not a oh-I'm-in-the-mood-for-cookies-let-me-whip-something-up type cookie. The whole process probably takes about 3-4 hours (but two of those hours is just letting the dough chill). Anyway, they will blow your mind. One of the ingredients is brown butter, something I'd never made before. You essentially heat and whisk butter over medium heat until it turns a light amber color and gives off a nutty aroma. It is DELICIOUS in these cookies. I think it's rather easy to burn, but I thankfully had success both times I tried. 

There's a little of what the process looks like. If you decide to make the cookies or want to try brown butter, the link I posted to the cookie recipe also has really easy to follow instructions. 

The next thing I tried that I fell in love with was kale chips. I was a little late to the kale bandwagon. I mean, it's super popular recently, but I had no memory of ever having kale and not much interest in trying it. And then my friend Laura made me kale pesto pasta. Oh my gosh, so good. And I kept hearing about kale chips so I figured I'd give them a try - kale is really cheap, by the way, and super nutritious.

Anyway, kale chips are the easiest thing in the world. Just wash and dry your kale (I used two big leaves for this batch), rip it off the big stem and into bite size pieces, put it on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and season how you like (I used salt, pepper, and garlic powder - duh.), and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 min until the edges are brown but not burnt. They taste like potato chips. I'm not kidding. I used a little too much oil on my first batch so I'll scale that down next time - I might even try just using my olive oil cooking spray to cut down on the calories. 

Voila! Kale chips!

K, one last thing. Jesus is just good. Really. I know that sounds obvious, especially if you are a believer, but the depth of that truth has been hitting home lately. I've been reading the Gospel of John for a few months now and the way that Jesus loves and who He shows His love to is incredible. He was so counter-cultural, so unconcerned with the stigmas associated with certain people. I'm trying to love like that. I'm trying to give myself away. I'm trying to love the people that make me uncomfortable and the people that are driving me crazy. I'm not doing the best. My selfishness is deep and my pride is ever-constant. But Jesus is better. His grace is enough. It is. I mostly believe that. And the more I live into it, the less my own sin gets in the way and the more He shines through. He's good, you guys.

Peace, 

Emily

The Art of Bread Making

I've recently discovered that it's really easy to bake bread from scratch. And super cheap. And way more delicious that store bought bread. Baking bread is also therapeutic for me. It takes time and patience and a little bit of planning. You get to knead the dough and shape the loaves and then smell the delicious aroma as they bake. Then you get to take them out of the oven, force yourself to wait 10 minutes, and cut a thick slice of hot bread and spread some real butter (or nutella!) on it. Mmm. So good. 

I baked some yesterday. Here's the process and recipe. 

The first step in bread making is letting a packet of yeast and 1 T of sugar sit in 2 1/4 C of warm water for 45 minutes. Like I said, baking bread requires a little bit of pre-thought to make sure you have enough time that day. 

Next, add 3 C flour and 1 T salt to the bowl and beat until smooth. I've only used regular white flour so far but plan to experiment with bread flour and whole wheat soon.

Add up to  2 1/2 more cups of flour to mixture until the dough becomes easy to handle. (I always use the full 5 1/2 cups when all's said and done.)

Then knead the dough until it is soft and pliable, about 5 minutes. (This is my favorite part!)

 

Next put the ball of dough into a greased bowl and cover. Let it rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. The warmer the room, the better. If I happen to be doing laundry while I'm making bread, I put the bowl on top of the dryer while it's running. 

You know the dough is ready when you press on it and the indentation remains.

Separate the dough into three 5-in in diameter loaves (you can also do long baguettes if you prefer. I never do.) Mix 1 egg with a few T of milk and whisk. Brush the mixture over the eggs (this is where you get your crispy crust! yum!) and then cut 4-5 diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf. I invested in a bread knife after my second batch of bread - SO worth it!

Bake for 25 minutes at 400 degrees. It's important to preheat the oven. Take the loaves out when the crust is golden brown. Your house will smell delicious at this point.

 Ta-da! Bread!

I got this recipe from http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/2371/crusty-french-bread by googling crusty french bread. It's the only recipe I've tried so far. If you have bread recipes you love, send them my way! All in all, the bread takes about 4 hours, but with only about 30-45min of active participation.

1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast

2 1/4 cups warm water (105 to 115°F)

1 tablespoon sugar

5 to 5 1/2 cups bread flour 
or all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 tablespoon milk

Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl; stir in sugar. Let stand 45 minutes. Stir in 3 cups flour and salt; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. 

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Place into greased bowl; turn greased-side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in size (about 1 1/2 hours). (Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.)

Punch down dough; divide into thirds. Shape each third into 15-inch loaf (baguette) or 5-inch round on greased baking sheets. Cover; let rise until double in size (about 30 minutes).

Heat oven to 400°F. Stir together egg and milk in small bowl; brush over top and sides of loaves. Make 5 diagonal slashes across top of each loaf with serrated knife. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheets; cool on wire racks.