I don't know much about St. Patrick's Day. What I do know is that I love eating these little indigenous Phila. delicacies that only come out during this holiday. Oh, how I love Philly.Irish Potato Candy is a traditional Philadelphia confectionery that is not Irish and does not contain any potato, but is a cocoa powder and cinnamon covering over a white inside of coconut nougat made to look like a potato. It is an extremely sweet treat, generally made up of some blend of coconut, confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk or cream. The treats are about the size of a large marble and are especially popular around St. Patrick's Day.
Oh Ryan's of Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, makes the largest distribution of Irish Potatoes shipping about 80,000 pounds to major chains and smaller candy stores mostly in the Philadelphia area.
Many people believe that the Irish Potato was created as a commemoration of the Irish Potato Famine.
The word guilt in today's verse means literally to bend, to twist, to distort, to warp, to pervert, or to ruin. The word means sin. David in effect said, "For Your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my bent-ness; pardon my twistedness, God. Pardon my distorted, warped, perverted way of thinking, God. Pardon my ruin, what I've done with myself." It's an incredible statement of personal admission. David's prayer flowed from humility born of adversity. "I'm wrong, God! My actions are wrong! My words are wrong! My motives are wrong! I am wrong!"
When was the last time you were undone? When was the last time your life was unraveled by your own shortcomings? How quickly we are worked up about the shortcomings of others. When was the last time you were taken apart by yourself? Not by what your spouse needs to learn. Not by what your mom’s doing wrong. Not by the shortcomings of the leaders in your church or where you work, but by yourself. That's the moment that God’s trying to bring about. That's where all this is headed. Not that you should observe the shortcomings of others, but that you should have a better understanding of yourself and where you're failing. That's what God is always going for in your life.- an excerpt from this week's The Weekly Walk by James MacDonald
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. -2 Corinthians 12: 9
You and I have got to conquer. Jesus said, "The one who endures to the end will be saved" (Mark 13:13). People who aren't really saved give up and quit. The truth is, we will all experience tough seasons in our lives. We will experience hard weeks or even a rough month or year. But we get moving again. Endurance doesn't save us, but it does prove our salvation. We have to finish strong. We have to pick up the pace as we get older. A real Christian says, "I love Him more and more. 'I press on' (Philippians 3:14) to be sanctified day after day, growing in Christ." That's the life of a believer - one who conquers. Conquerors get the rewards. Rewards will not go to the quitter. They will not go to the "I-tried-it-and-couldn't-do-it" type of people, nor to the "faith-was-just-a-phase-I-went-through" kind of people. All those people? Not conquerors.
"The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life." The book of life is the volume containing the names of all the people alive on the face of the earth. If they die outside of the Gospel, without receiving the gift of eternal life that is found in Christ - their names are blotted out of the book. They're not going to live forever...
I'm waking up with the sun shining brightly through my window on this beautiful Saturday morning, and I think...what could be more fitting of a tribute than a beautiful day for a beautiful man that we lost 2 years ago today. 
Uptown Sushi
When I look in to examine all the intricate structures of the eye, I sometimes forget that there’s a soul looking back at me. That patient is a person, sitting in my exam chair, whose past experiences and relationships significantly color how they see and perceive the world.
*There are times where you choose to believe something that would normally be considered absolutely irrational. It doesn’t mean that it is actually irrational, but it surely is not rational. Perhaps there is suprarationality: reason beyond the normal definitions of fact or data-based logic; something that makes sense only if you can see a bigger picture of reality. Maybe that is where faith fits in.
*Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.
*…we could talk about the nature of freedom itself. Does freedom mean that you are allowed to do whatever you want to do? Or we could talk about all the limiting influences in your life that actively work against your freedom. Your family genetic heritage, your specific DNA, your metabolic uniqueness, the quantum stuff that is going on at a subatomic level where only I [God] am the always-present observer. Or the intrusion of your soul’s sickness that inhibits and binds you, or the social influences around you, or the habits that have created synaptic bonds and pathways in your brain. And then there’s advertising, propaganda, and paradigms. Inside that confluence of multifaceted inhibitors, what is freedom really?
*Everything is about him [Jesus]. And freedom is a process that happens inside a relationship with him.
*You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved, is a limitation.
*I [God] don’t need to punish people for sin. Sin is it’s own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It’s not my purpose to punish it; it’s my joy to cure it.
*The real underlying flaw in your life, is that you don’t think that I [God] am good. If you knew that I was good and that everything - the means, the ends and all the processes of individual lives - is all covered by my goodness, then while you might not understand what I am doing, you would trust me.
*You humans, so little in your own eyes. You are truly blind to your own place in the creation. Having chosen the ravaged path of independence, you don’t even comprehend that you are dragging the entire creation along with you.
*To force my [Jesus] will on you, is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationships are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy.
*Just because I [God] work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering, you will find grace in many facets and colors.
*I [God] have never put an expectation on you or anyone else. The idea behind expectations requires that someone does not know the future or outcome and is trying to control behavior to get the desired result. Humans try to control behavior largely through expectations. I know you and everything about you. Why would I have an expectation other than what I already know? That would be foolish. And beyond that, because I have no expectations, you never disappoint me.
*Forgiveness does not establish relationship. In Jesus, I [God] have forgiven all humans of their sins against me, but only some have chosen relationship.
Iron Hill BreweryWhen you are in the midst of a trial, there's a power coming into your life that you've never experienced before. When you see a hard thing coming, try saying, "I may not want this, but I know I'm going to see Christ working in my life in an incredible way."
God never allows a thorn but that He provides sufficient grace and strength in our weaknesses. Sufficient grace is not just enough to survive, but enough to have supernatural joy in the midst of anything He allows us to go through.-Taken from the Weekly Walk by James MacDonald
Growing up, I used to think of people as either having a happy or not-so-happy demeanor, nothing in the middle. But as I’ve made my way into adulthood, I realize that life happens, and depending on the circumstances (as mentioned above) we now have to try…we have to try to maintain that joyous outlook despite what may be going on around us and in us. And on this Christmas day, I’m reminded that instead of trying, I can believe that my outlook on life can be eternally fixed. That on this day a baby was born, so that I can have an eternally joyous outlook. That on this day “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory… and from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1: 14-16). That on this day, all those faces I’ve seen that may be struggling because of life’s circumstance, can be as joyous as the person who’s lost nothing, because Christ came to this earth and experienced everything that we could possibly experience and then some. That true joy doesn’t depend on anything that happens on this earth, but comes from delighting in the words and life of our Savior. 
Bonefish Grill
LUPA
A couple weeks ago I was out to dinner with some friends and the question was brought up, “Is it okay to pray for certain things?” When we expanded that question a little further we were essentially asking, is it wrong to pray for the things that you desire? My immediate gut answer was….of course not! Immediately I think of things like praying for someone’s health, or praying for a child’s upbringing, or asking God for world peace (I just had to throw in my standard pageant answer). Prayer is communicating with God and regardless of whether I say it out loud or not, He knows the desires of my heart. I’m fooling no one if I don’t mention it so why not put it up in prayer? Sounds easy enough. My friend also added that it’s not only asking God for what you want, but what you do with the response. Are you willing to accept God’s answer if the answer is not in line with your own will? 
Yesterday, we had our first snowfall and although it can be difficult to drive in, I’m a sucker for that fairy tale winter wonderland look.
