How to Eat Fried Deer

(I know it's actually called venison.   "Fried deer" is just so fun to say.)  

Last night we had the privilege of hosing a "Beast Feast" at our home.   My only job was to do some tidying up and then get the girls out of the house.  No room for estrogen at this manly soiree.  

I did manage to sneak a few photos, though. 

Cinderell-o sweeping up.   Trent is a wonderful cook and a pretty good cleaner. I wish I could hire him on a regular basis.   

Trent's brother drove down to help with the pre-feast work.  Thanks Uncle Bradley!

 

More importantly, Bradley recruited his friend Kyle to prepare and cook.  

Kyle is like the Julia Child of wild game.  

Thanks, Kyle!  We couldn't have done it without you!

Mmmmmm.....quail wrapped in bacon. 

A little closer look at that bacon......

Thanks for the quail and pheasant, Jim B.!

 
 

The venison in the buttermilk batter.   So very Southern.  

Thanks for the venison, Bo!

And what do we have here? 

Venison stew.  Nice and steamy.  

And, yes, many moons ago we bought this table from Dollar General for $15. We're just keeping the price tag on it to add a touch of class to all of our get-togethers.

The tasty charred remains of an enormous wild hog shot by our friend Bo. 

The men gathered. 

They ate.  

And they stood around with full bellies.  

We girls made it back just in time to do a little chowing ourselves.  

To read the full story behind this event, visit http://www.gtcrossroads.blogspot.com/ later today. 

Billie Jean is Not My Lover

One of our campus ministry directors often says, "Lovers Tell," as in, if you are crazy about something, you won't stop talking about it.   When you're in love, you tell everyone you know, ad nauseam, about the object of your affection.  

So, with whom do you think this person is "in love"? 

I have to say, that's quite a tribute.....especially to be on a small, neutral-colored sedan.   (And this photo is not off the internet; I parked in front of this little gem a couple of weeks ago.)

Having my obsession airbrushed on my automobile may be a little over the top for me, but what do I learn from this?   (Besides the fact that the owner of the set of wheels above is not ashamed to be an MJ fan.)

I learn that I can't hide my true love   What I'm thinking about, watching, meditating on, and spending my time and money on will, in various ways, be apparent to others as it spills out into my life.  

Jesus puts it this way:  "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."  (Luke 6:45) 

Jesus was always saying wise things like that.  

For thought:  If whatever you're most in love (obsessed/concerned) with were airbrushed onto your car, what would it be?  

A Fresh Perspective

Speaking of perspective......Trent was gone over the weekend to an event planned to give college students a little perspective.  The event was called:

They got away, indeed.  And they may have frozen a little bit (one student, who left his tootsies au naturale in an open-air cabin,  actually started experiencing frost bite symptoms -- we are thankful that all ten digits are still intact and attached).

For the most part, though, the students and campus ministry staff found the cool weather refreshing, and they enjoyed having their minds and hearts refreshed as well.   It always surprises me how much leaving your daily surroundings, even for a few hours, can impart valuable perspective.  

Like us, many of our students spend every day of the week in the concrete jungle.   And like it or not, the din of trucks, horns, and sirens is the soundtrack accompanying our daily lives. 

Add to this the reality that (in the city) we are constantly interacting with strangers, but we have little time to spend with people we actually know, and getting away to the country for two days with real friends becomes quite a treat.

The staff and students on Fall Getaway got to do this: 

and this (notice the green space): 

and this, and this and this: 

And of course, they were able to soak in hours of God's Word, brought to them by:

Justin.  

The fun connection with Justin is that he came to know the Lord when he was a student involved in our ministry (back in the 1900s :-)).   About 13 years have passed since then, and Justin, along with his wife and son, is now planting a church not too far from us.  What a privilege it is to see God change Justin's life and now change the lives of others through him!

But back to Fall Getaway.    The students gathered.  

   They listened, took notes, sang, prayed, and meditated.   Sorry -- no photo of those activities!

But I do have photos of these activities:  

Not sure what's going on here, but the guy at the mic is named Cecil.  The girl in the white hoodie seems amused, so I'm guessing that Cecil is saying something funny.  

And I don't know this guy's name, but I do know that those bags he's sporting don't even remotely qualify as "man bags."  Sorry, guy.  It looks like he's having fun, though.  Way to be a good sport, Guy Wearing Purses! 

As Trent was looking at the pictures on this post, he started telling story after story about these students....of lives changed, students praying for unbelieving parents, students sharing Christ in hard places.....of the Lord and His work.   

You can find some of those stories soon on his blog:  GTcrossroads.blogspot.com

The Lady with the Brownies

Fifteen years ago, as a college freshman, I sat in a fraternity   suite at a semi-secret meeting, when a lady walked in with a pan of brownies.  She was there, with some other very old people (all at least 25 years old -- nearly senior citizens, really), to help us start a new Christian group at our very large, very un-Christian, university.

Although I discovered later that she really had more of an affinity for middle-of-the-night tater tots, Sandy, this lady with the baked goods, was dutiful in bringing her brownies to every meeting .  What Sandy was actually bringing into our lives, though,  was the truth and love of Christ. 

It was the mid-90s.   Hiking boots were a fashion statement.  Grunge ruled the airwaves.  Apathy was in style.  Undeterred, Sandy,  her Vera Bradley bags, and her co-workers, could be found all over our little college town talking about things that were not of this world.   They were discussing scripture, giving out slinkys, going through tracts, publicizing meetings, doling out pizza -- whatever it took to see the spiritually sleep-heavy eyes of young students opened to the truth of God.

Sandy and crew were a small group of full-grown adults, daily laying down their lives (and many times their dignity) in order that some might be saved. Seeking inroads for the gospel, these people with college degrees and extensive ministry training would knock on fraternity and sorority doors cold-call style, seemingly at the mercy of whomever answered.  Often these ministers were politely refused or just flatly denied by twenty-year-olds who thought they knew everything (but who didn't even have a remote clue about the most important things). Still, Sandy and her friends persisted.  

From Waffle House to cofffee shop, and from dorm room to sorority parlor, Sandy and the other campus ministers faithfully met with me and scores of my peers in small Bible studies, large Bible studies, and God-please-let-somebody-show-up Bible studies.  

Sometimes we stood them up.  Sometimes we spent the whole time talking about our boyfriends, or lack thereof.   And I was particularly fond of questions like, "What about the people in Africa who have never heard about God?"   (Those questions were always big crowd-pleasers in the sorority Bible studies.) Still, Sandy and her friends patiently answered our questions and gave us the truth. 

Sandy and her co-laborers lived in small apartments.  They drove less-than-top-of-the-line cars.  They made ends meet on a support-raised salaries.   They chose to call "home" a town with approximately nine other single people their age. 

And still, this little band of missionaries did it.  They consistently made sacrifices, large and small, in an effort to make Christ's name known and celebrated on our campus.   They knew the Lord and His glory were worthy of being known and celebrated on Greek row, regardless of the immediate and tangible results. 

Well, it's been a decade and a half. 

Fifteen years have passed since they knocked on the first door.  

Are there any tangible results?  

I don't have stats, but I have a picture.   I can picture the faces of countless students whose lives were changed as they (eventually) sat by hundreds in packed-out rooms listening to the Gospel preached.  I know dozens who are in some kind of full-time Christian work because of those first seeds planted in 1995.  I know or have heard of hundreds more who are walking with the Lord in their marketplace jobs, their communities, and their families because someone knocked on their fraternity, sorority, or dorm room doors. 

The power of the gospel through a handful of lives changed a few more and then a few more. 

The Lord took a small team of young, nervous, but faithful ministers and used them to start a movement that has had spiritual influence not only throughout our area of the country, but in Asia, Russia, and many other parts of the world. 

Thank you Sandy.  Thank you for believing the Lord and for not giving up on us.  Thank you for becoming "all things to all men so that by all possible means, some might be saved."* I look forward to writing about the other members of your team soon, but today, on this occasion of your wedding, I'm glad to celebrate you.  We give thanks to the Lord for this new chapter in your life.

Best wishes you and congratulations to John. We love you!

* 1 Corinthians 9:22

Orphans

Last Friday morning Trent and I had the rare opportunity to go to the gym on campus together. S and L were at school. K was at parents' morning out. And Trent and I actually had a conversation or two. It was amazing!

After we had worked out hard for thirty five minutes or so (we're total animals), we strolled through the gym lobby which overlooks the fitness area.

I took a deep breath and said, "All of our kids are in school right now. Wow!" And Trent looked down at the empty treadmills and said, "Yeah. I guess they all have ten o'clock classes."

I laughed. "No, I mean our biological children are in school. But yes, it looks like our Georgia Tech children are somewhere else too."

Our exchange reminded me of God's specific ministry call on our lives. Why did He compel us (the McEntyres), four years ago, to leave a great neighborhood and lots of friends in order to live one block from Georgia Tech? Was it just for the 'cool' city life? (We actually prefer the country.) Was it for a better house? (Our current house is older than our first....and has bars on the windows.) Was it for the 'night life'? (Umm....I'm in bed by 10pm.)

God moved us down here to be spiritual parents. He called us to be father and mother to students who have no Christian father and mother. He called us to pray for students who have no praying parents. He called us to preach the Word to students who have never seen their biological parents open a Bible.

God moved us down here to minister to the spiritual orphans of Georgia Tech. He sets the lonely in families (Ps. 68:6).

Of course we won't even meet all the spiritual orphans on this campus of 20,000, but we are called to meet many. Just like caring for biological children, we are called to love these children and lay down our lives for them. And we are thankful that we don't do this alone......we are just a small part of Go

d's plan for this campus.

Please join us in praying for the spiritual orphans of Georgia Tech. Pray that by the time they graduate and become the leaders of our city, nation, and world, many will know the love of the true Father.

"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." Galatians 4:4&5

One Body, Many Parts



Nagib and Trent

 ""Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it...." This beautiful passage in 1 Corinthians 12 goes on to describe the body of Christ as made up of "apostles, prophets, teachers..." etc.

What about grillers? College students are hungry, and we often find ourselves praying, teaching, and feeding them into the Kingdom (by the Lord's grace).

This also reminds me of 1 Corinthians 9:23 "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some." Please pray that we would live sacrificially among college students that some might be saved for the Lord's glory!