Steph's Review on the Huntin Camp BBQ & Grill

Ray Stevens wrote a song about this subject...BBQ. I am not the biggest BBQ fan in the world. I mean I can come up with lots of other kinds of food that I would like to eat. However, the Huntin Camp BBQ and Grill on Highway 25 North of Travelers Rest is about the best that I've had. After a Saturday evening revival service, Jamie and I were driving past there looking for something to eat. We've heard good stuff about it, so we wheeled in. It was 9:05 and they were standing around outside talking to customers who were leaving. We hollered out, "What time do you close?" and they replied, "9:00". Jamie told them, "No problem and we'll catch you next time!" Grady McCombs, the owner, told us to come on in if we wanted to eat off the buffet. The wait staff were so gracious and brought us out fresh hush puppies!! We got chopped bbq, bbq chicken, bbq hash, and veggies off the buffet. Excellent!! They had a sweet potato crunch that should have been on the dessert menu!! I had that and the peach cobbler. The next week, we called back over at lunch time, for take out. I had the "smoked chicken salad sandwich". Incredibly good. It is a very clean, very rustic, very friendly environment. Go there and try it for yourself. I give this 4 out of 5 Stars!!!!

What if the cross never happened?

I love to teach adult Sunday School. I usually use the scripture and background scripture for my lessons as my devotion and quiet time. I was teaching this past Sunday and in preparation for it, the Lord stopped me in my tracks with a question. I keep a prayer journal and I was expressing to Him that I didn't enjoy teaching on the cross. It's painful for me. I then wrote in my journal, "but I'm so thankful for how I benefit from the cross. Where would I be without the cross?" I first thought, "Well, I wouldn't be at Marietta First Baptist. Maybe I would be worshipping at a synagogue." I then thought, "Well, no. I wouldn't be at a synagogue, because I'm not a Jew. I'm not one of God's chosen people." It hit me that I probably wouldn't be in the United States, because our country was founded by those who promoted the gospel of Jesus Christ. Would there be settlers coming over from England? I kept going farther and farther back into Western Civ (thanks Mr. Gaines!) and I realized that everything hinged on the cross. Nothing would be as it is today, without Jesus. I spent a great deal of time studying the "time between the testaments" to see where God's remnant was when Jesus came on the scene. They were being "absorbed" into a Hellenistic culture with the Ptolemnists, the Seleucids, and then the Romans. They were losing their identity and their focus. During the radical influence of the Seleucids and the Greek culture (i.e. mythology), a statue of Zeus was erected in God's temple in Jerusalem. Get this...an elderly villager, named Mattathias, and his 5 sons...revolted. They said, "ENOUGH"!! They started a 24 year war and won Judah's Independence. As the last of the 5 sons died...the Jews lost their drive once again. The Romans came in and slaughtered the priests as they were working the in the temple and they entered the Holy of Holies. It was time for Jesus...

I wonder. Is history repeating itself again? Are we being absorbed into another culture? Are we losing pieces of ourselves? Is it time to say, "ENOUGH!!!"?

Another couple of thoughts from this weeks lesson...

On Saturday, I was teaching my lesson to half the customers that came in the shop. One of my customers started asking questions about our church. Jamie and I both were encouraging him to come. He told us that he was too big a hypocrite to show up at church. He was trying to joke about it, but it was obvious that was truly how he felt. It occurred to me that when the thief asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom, that Jesus didn't question him about what he'd done to get on that cross. He didn't ask him about his crimes. He didn't care. He saw a repentant heart and took him to Glory with Him. My other thought was this: The greatest thing that could have ever happened to the thief was happening simultaneously with the worst thing that could ever happen to him. Isn't that just how it is sometimes?

This is really how I look today...

Those of you with a webcam, I know that you've done this. You have taken a picture of yourself to see what you look like when there was no mirror to be found. This is how I really look this morning. Unfortunately, my darling husband, has a migraine today. I didn't get this little piece of information until 7:40 am. That gave me 5 minutes to throw on clothes and throw on this hat. It is a Briggs and Stratton Tech 2000 hat. I'm not even a Briggs and Stratton tech. However, my hair has hit the two day mark, and you ladies know what I mean. I last washed this hair Sunday morning. Monday, I was able to spray it and carefully place it so that, unless someone actually tried to run their hands through it, you would never know that it was dirty. This morning, there is no denying it. No makeup, incredibly gross hair, and once again...no quiet time. Jamie stops on the way to work to pick up one of our mechanics. As Rusty got in my car this morning, he didn't comment on my shabby appearance. He simply said, "Got your green on today?" Hmmmm...St. Patricks Day. That's all I need is a bunch of loggers trying to pinch me today. Somebody might possibly die. I happened to think. Jeans...nope. Oregon shirt....blue. Jacket....brown/pink. Hat....no green in the Briggs logo. I then began to replay my undergarments. Ah ha!!! Green....I've got it on and you'll just have to take my word for it!!! So...what's the moral of this blog children? Even on the worst of days, God's grace is sufficient to guide you into picking the green bra. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Steph and Missy on AZIA

Steph: First of all...how do you pronounce the name of this place? They set you up from the very beginning to let you know that you are stupid and they are elitist with a sound grasp of how to pronounce...."AZIA" You could say "Asia" (which was my first inclination) or "AAh zee ah" or "AAh zia" I still don't know for sure which one is correct. When Missy and I get ready to choose our newest restaurant pick, we hit the internet. To get picked by us, you must have a cuisine that we have not yet experienced. If you serve something fairly weird, be looking for us. You will know its us. We are always dressed the same. Steph in neutral tones and Missy in LOUD colors (to draw the most attention to herself :) We were first attracted to AZIA because of their "Dinner for Two" internet special. It was an interesting sampling of courses. We pretty much knew what we wanted to order when we got there. We decided to try it the first of December and the first impression of the restaurant was that it was a little stiff. Alas, we were not hindered by pretension. I was excited to start sampling the courses, until...(duh, duh, dun) the internet special was discontinued after Christmas. What? I was taken aback. Even now, we pressed on. The entree items were a little pricey, so we decided to stick with the appetizers and a salad. I settled on the $12 appetizer sampler. As the waitress came to take my order, she informed me that there was a two person minimum for that appetizer. (duh, duh, dun) Not looking good. I eventually went with a sushi entree. The volcano. It was excellent, however, it wasn't looking good for AZIA. Toward the end of our meal, we inquired about the desserts. All of them took between 20-30 minutes to prepare and we were told that none of them were of any size that could be shared. Check please!!!! We ended up across the street at Panera for lattes. Mine in a pretty mug and Missy's in a to-go cup so that she could forego the germs that someone probably left behind on my mug. Missy and I have consulted and we're giving AZIA a rating of one out of a possible five stars. Sorry "AAAh Zia"

First Time for Everything

Monday morning. I missed my quiet time and I layed back down after Jamie and Emily left for school. Lauren woke me up at 8:45. Don't you just love to start the day off that way? Despite what it sounds like, I am still encouraged about this week. We had a great service yesterday and I am still pondering Nehemiah. Do you know Nehemiah? What an incredible man of God!! Brian, my co-teacher, and myself have been teaching on him all month. We teach co-ed's 35-44. (By the way, I barely make it into that age group...) Am I a Nehemiah? When God lays a vision on my heart, do I take the reigns and see it through? I hope so. I want to. Jamie says that I keep too many irons in the fire. I think that just a woman's perogative. There are so many things that I think I could make better. It's a sickness really. I wish that I could care less about things most of the time. It's not gonna happen. (Unless we're talking about doing the laundry) There's just so many more worthy things I could be doing than laundry. To bad its kind of a necessity. I would rather end my life with memories of great experiences, than memories of piles of perfectly folded towels and baskets of sorted socks. (p.s. I hate socks.) Give me an experience over stuff anyday!!! Time spent with family, friends, and Jesus are the things that get me through this life. My way of living may not stimulate the economy, but its not gonna break my bank!!! Just think of how much we could save on our power and water bill if we didn't have to do laundry. Adam and Eve screwed up a good thing for us. Clothes are expensive, time consuming, and lets face it...binding. Don't worry preacher, I'll keep mine on. I'm just a conforminst I guess.