Amy Boucher Pye

Author: Amy Boucher Pye

  • Dad’s Mammoth Ice Cream Cake – a recipe for feasting

    My dad was raised on a farm in southern Minnesota, and when he was 10 his father died, spiraling the family into poverty. Out of this background he retains a practical approach to life – why eat a processed, expensive version of an ice cream cake from a popular chain when you can make your own version better and more cheaply? This recipe is perfect for family birthday feasts, like the one we just enjoyed for our daughter.

    Makes 32 standard servings – but most people eat 3–4 servings per slice!

    14.3 oz (405 g) package Oreo cookies
    16 oz (450 g) tub ready-to-spread chocolate frosting (buttercream icing)
    1⁄2 gallon (1800 ml) vanilla ice cream (softened)
    1⁄2 gallon (1800 ml) chocolate ice cream (softened)
    1 cup (120 ml) milk approximately

    Before you start, make sure you can assemble all of the ingredients quickly because the ice cream soon makes a melty, sloppy mess. Crush all of the Oreo cookies, except 5, in a bowl. Add the milk gradually and stir to make a slurry – a mixture the consistency of a thick cake batter. Fold in the chocolate frosting (icing). Set aside.

    Spread the chocolate ice cream evenly into the bottom of a 9-in (23 cm) springform pan. Spoon in the Oreo slurry. On top, add the softened vanilla ice cream. You’ll discover that the pan will not hold the full amount of the vanilla ice cream, so you will need to pile it up toward the middle.

    Crush the remaining Oreo cookies and sprinkle them on the top. Cover with aluminum foil and freeze for several hours or overnight.

  • Forgiveness Fridays: “The one person I don’t forgive” by Penelope Swithinbank

    We say we forgive. We ask God to help us forgive. We think we’d done it – phew, we’ve forgiven. But why the niggle? Why, actually, the unforgiveness that rears its ugly head? What are we holding onto?

    Oh, how I love this post from Penelope Swithinbank. Please, don’t miss it.

    I wish I could tell you that I have learnt how to forgive. That over these past few years there have been lessons learnt from each of the hard places. I thought I had forgiven – the Christians in the church who sent the vitriolic hate mail; the woman driver of an out-of-control car that, as I watched, ran over my mother and ended her life; the man who bullied my husband so much that it made him ill; the Conservation officer who even now is causing us so much stress and headache with our house.

    And all that is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s been a long tough ride for several years.

    I know I need to forgive. To forgive and go on forgiving. Isn’t that what Jesus said we were to do?

    A lack of forgiveness can be one of the main blockages in our lives – holding grudges, not letting go of our rights, allowing distances to grow between us and those who have offended us. It happens in churches, it happens in relationships, it happens in marriages. And it causes a distance not just between the individuals concerned but between us and God. Because if we do not forgive others, the Father does not forgive us. Matthew 6:14–15 says very clearly, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (NLT)

    But I have forgiven them, God, I argue with Him as I walk across the field, dodging the puddles and stomping through the mud. I do forgive!

    I saw that driver across the courtroom and I forgave her – she hadn’t planned to go out and run over someone that day, and her life is in ruins – so I asked the judge to grant her mercy. And the local planning officer – I sat in that meeting and prayed, prayed, prayed for blessings on her even though she seems so unreasonable.

    Isn’t all that proof of my forgiveness, Lord? So why are you allowing all this mess and hurt and pain in my life right now? Why are my prayers not being answered? After all we’ve done for You, God – nearly 40 years in Christian ministry with all its ups and downs and joys and sorrows; following your calling on our lives, giving up so much for the privilege and blessing of full-time Christian service; how could you let all this happen to us now?

    It rains and the sun comes out and there is a rainbow in front of me as I’m nearing home. It pierces me, the realization that it’s not all those people and situations that I have to forgive again.

    Yes, there is still unforgiveness in me. But it’s GOD I can’t forgive.

    I’m blaming Him for allowing all this suffering. For not answering my prayers the way I want him to. I can’t forgive him for the traumas and the deaths and the ongoing unpleasantness.

    And Matthew 6:15 runs through my mind again. Forgive. Literally, let go, or give up your right. The word translated as forgive is one that means: Yes, you may have complete justification in demanding recompense; yes you do have the right. But let it go; give it up. You are owed something – but let it go. Regard it as having been paid in full.

    And I hear Him say, “Come to me – I know you’re weary and tearstained and blaming me. But you have my undying love, always, all the time. I’ll take everything you’re carrying, all your brokenness and pain, all your sorrow and heartache. And in return, my Grace is pouring over you, in and through it all. You are my beloved daughter and I love you more than you can imagine. This all will pass but my love for you is for ever and ever.”

    Lord, I need your help to be a forgiving person. Help me see the great love and forgiveness you daily bless me with and from that may I love and forgive others – and you.

    Penelope is an Anglican priest who writes, blogs, mentors others (mostly through Spiritual Direction), contributes to Daily Bread Bible reading notes, and speaks on conferences and retreats. She has just retired from running a small retreat house and now is able to spend more time hiking, reading and daydreaming. With grandchildren on both sides of the Atlantic there is also quite a lot of travelling to be done. She can be found at  http://www.ministriesbydesign.org

     

  • Forgiveness Fridays: “Unless you forgive others…” by Jane Clamp

    Goodness me, what a story. When I first read Jane’s account of her rage and pain, I could relate. But what comes next you cannot miss…

    “But you know you have to forgive me, don’t you?”

    This from my husband, who’d left us only a matter of weeks before. We were standing just inside the French doors that opened onto what used to be “our” garden. I looked at him, my face impassive, my mind whirring.

    My theology is pretty sound on forgiveness, as it happens. I’ve done my time in Sunday School and have progressed through the ranks until I could consider myself fairly well-versed – if you’ll pardon the pun – in Scripture. I’ve got a degree in it, for goodness’ sake. I’ve also got a pretty active conscience and a genuine relationship with Jesus. I know what I’m supposed to do.

    The verse that always struck me so very particularly was the one where it says unless we forgive others, our Father in heaven won’t forgive us. Boy! Do I need forgiveness! Countless times a day when I’m careless with my words – for either saying too much or nothing at all; being un-steward-like with my time; having an attitude that smells like a mouldering compost heap instead of the fragrance of Christ. If I don’t get forgiven, I’m sunk.

    Most of the time it works quite well. If I get over myself and stop being so offended and over-sensitive then it’s fairly easy to forgive what people do against me. Most of the time we’re just tired, let’s face it. People don’t always mean stuff. Some things take me a bit longer to work through, admittedly; but I get there, I really do.

    But this. The man I’d been married to for twenty-one years, who had recently decided that his love affair with my best friend needed placing on a firmer footing, was telling me – not terribly nicely – that however badly he’d behaved, I had to forgive him.

    I gave him no answer, but he was right; and this was not really about him, although he was playing a fairly major role. I did have to forgive. I didn’t have the choice I would have liked. If I still want my Father in heaven to forgive me, then I have to forgive others. Even the big stuff like infidelity. I still loved him at that point and found that forgiving him was easier than I’d imagined. When it came to “her,” however, it was a whole other story.

    I hated her, I’m not going to lie! I had frequent day-dreams where I would have her pinned up against a wall, my free hand smashing her head against the brick-work. I imagined pummelling her with blows until she could barely crawl away. Forgive her, Lord? Really?

    Of course I had to, for all the reasons given above. Plus, I was determined not to become a bitter old divorcee and I knew that forgiveness was the antidote to that particular venom. After an awful long time, I got myself to the point where I told God that I did intend to forgive her. Not yet, but I would. That transmuted to saying “I forgive her” but without it touching my heart. It took something else to get me the whole way.

    I happened to help run an annual holiday for single-parent families. Oh, the irony of finding myself among their ranks! As the week approached, I knew I couldn’t tell any of these mums what I hadn’t been able to do myself. I had to do it, and it had to be now.

    How kind God is! I remember sitting on my bed thinking, “This is it.” I began as before, speaking out the words without engaging my heart. Then something shifted. I listened to the words coming from my mouth. It sounded like someone who meant it. My heart beat faster. The words intensified. By the time I was done, I’d forgiven her “freely, willingly and from the heart” (my exact phrase); and in the nick of time. A lady came to me for ministry. She was physically weak and mentally broken, unable to forgive her ex-husband. I shared with her about forgiveness, telling her my story. A year later we met again: her health restored, her mind free, her spirit joyful – just like mine.

    Jane Clamp is Creative Writer in Residence on the Sunday Breakfast Show of BBC Radio Norfolk and on the Thought of the Day team at Premier Radio. She writes a monthly blog for the Association of Christian Writers and preaches regularly at her church. In her free time, she is an Interior Designer and plays saxophone in function band, The Ideals.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: ‘He is risen and is with us’ by Leo Boucher

    “He is risen and is with us” by Leo Boucher

    I feel like I’m sharing an Easter treasure today, from my family to yours. I believe you won’t look at my dad’s painting (not a watercolor) in the same way after you read his story of transformation.

    “Before God did major work in my life I was cheap – afraid to spend money because we had been so poor as a child; without friends – I couldn’t really talk to friends or relatives; afraid of authority at work; terrified to give a talk or lead a discussion; too self-conscious to sing in church; one who rarely prayed; dependent on tobacco; with an instinctive fear of and even hate for strangers; often anxious and worried; one with a great fear of death – mine or someone in our family.”

    But for my dad in his mid-thirties, God began to change all of that. “It started with a dream. In it I was at a retreat, and most of the people there were strangers to me. I did see one man whom I knew a little in high school. For some reason we knew that this was going to be a very special retreat. So we gathered in a large group and each of us was given a sheet of paper with a short prayer on the top, followed by a long list of our faults. We were going to find out the one thing on that long list of faults that was our major problem in life, which the Lord would completely fix. This problem was the one thing that most kept us coming closer to Christ.

    “I didn’t even read the prayer on the top of my paper but noticed immediately that the third item was printed in bold type with large letters: SCARECROW = AFRAID OF PEOPLE! I felt sure that others could see this, and wanted to hide the sheet of paper. But I knew that after we prayed together that the Lord would completely fix this problem.

    “Then the radio on our alarm clock came on and instead of this wonderful experience, I had to get up and go to work. But the amazing thing about this dream was that I knew how fast and easy it would be to make a very major change.”

    The new pastor at my parents’ church played a crucial role in my dad’s transformation. “Father Tony introduced a new Sunday-night course called the Christian Life series. He adapted the ‘Life in the Spirit’ seminar from the Catholic Pentecostals along with material from the Cursillo movement. He also included material from the evangelicals, like the four spiritual laws – we needed to renounce our sins. The music and songs were from the Southern Baptists. This was all in the context of a Catholic mass.

    “What we were learning is that God was not just a judge, judging us, but that he loves us and that we need to respond to his love on a daily basis. During one of the sessions we prayed to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, when we asked the Holy Spirit to fill us completely so that we would be immersed in the presence of God.

    A couple of weeks after my dad’s dream, while at church, he experienced a vision. “I saw Jesus like a huge light, and we all were like small lights around him – think of the sun, with us as stars. We were all the very best friends and knew everything about each other, even our faults. But Jesus was forgiving all those faults and our sins, and we were all so happy. We were saying to each other, ‘Isn’t he wonderful! Isn’t Jesus wonderful!’ I cannot put into words how amazing it was.

    “And even our sins and faults were being redeemed by the Lord, with beautiful shades of color shining out of everyone. To get an idea of this communion of friends, think of your very best friend – perhaps someone you have known for many years. Think of having complete transparency with this person; you know their good and bad points but are totally accepting, and the reverse is true. Now imagine a third person, a fourth, and so forth – all in this intense communion of mind and heart. Finally, imagine being in a crowd of hundreds of thousands, all who are being loved and redeemed. That’s what it was like. After that half-second vision, I was no longer afraid of people. I couldn’t be because I could see how Jesus loves and forgives all of us.”

    As my dad ruminated on the vision, he realized that it hearkens to the mystical communion of the saints: “This is the connection between people that goes on all the time although we don’t see it; we’ll see it after our death.” After this vision, he was released from his fear of people. And his view of God changed. “God within us is like a star. He is always polishing us, taking off the dark so that light can shine through us. And the light comes out in various beautiful colors, a different set for each person.”

     

  • The Living Cross – A poem by Sue Cherry

    I love when readers become friends, which is what Sue Cherry has become over the years as we meet on social media and at conferences. She came to the BRF Quiet Day that I led at the beginning of Lent, and wrote a marvelous poem, called, wait for it, ‘The Living Cross.’ We’ve made it through Lent into the glorious Easter season, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll need a daily dose of forgiveness at the cross. I share Sue’s poem here with her permission.

    The Living Cross

    How do I forgive?
    But allow the living cross
    To be my focus, be my guide.
    That cloak of shame and sin,
    That judgemental attitude
    That bitterness carried
    The un-forgiven inside.
    And a dark cloud over me.
    How do I forgive?

    How do I forgive?
    Temptation surrounds
    amongst the permitted.
    Let the living cross teach me.
    Jesus, my Lord, my Saviour,
    The one who rescues me,
    As I linger with you, my living cross.
    Lead the way, light my path

    How do I forgive?
    Take my cloak of shame and sin
    Replace it with the robe that is righteous.
    Show my heart, my soul to live,
    From bitterness released.
    As I walk that extra mile
    In forgiveness I give myself
    To the Living Cross.

    © SueC / S A Creations 2017

    Bible Reading Fellowship Quiet Day 7 March 2017 St Paul’s Church, Finchley

  • Weekly Devotional: Spurring on to hope (14 in Hope and Trust in God series)

    Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… Hebrews 10:19–25

    Tenacity. Holding unswervingly. My children can both display tenacity and commitment. My daughter can get lost in her world of imaginative play, creating worlds and relationships for long swathes of time. Similarly, give my son a football game and he’s happy to commit his focus and attention. But sometimes my Sweetie Pyes remain unswervingly committed to a bad attitude or thinking that they’ll never be able to achieve a certain longed-for goal.

    Yes, I too can convince myself that someone will never change or that a certain situation is hopeless. I might stew, descending into a mire of mud and sludge. To get free I have to look up and out to God, asking him to send me a life-belt and haul me out while pouring over his cleansing, living water to wash away my dirt and gunk. As he sprinkles me clean, he reminds me of the hope to which I should hold unswervingly. The hope that is the message of the gospel, namely release from our sins by the work of Jesus on the cross.

    When our eyes are no longer aiming down, we can lose ourselves in worshiping the triune God or in serving others. Indeed, as the writer to the Hebrews exhorts his recipients, may we not give up encouraging each other in these last days. We need on another, for when one person wavers in unbelief, another can come alongside and spur her on to faith and hope. Sometimes a listening ear is needed, or perhaps practical support such as running errands or washing up the dishes. Or maybe what is most needed is the promise of prayer.

    May we too hold unswervingly to our hope that will never fail us. For our hope is personified in the person of Jesus.

    To reflect: Who could you encourage today? How could you show them love and good deeds?

  • Resurrection Sunday! He is risen!

    Alleluia, he is risen! He is risen indeed! Death’s curse has been broken by our Savior’s death and resurrection. He’s alive! Rejoice with me and be glad!

  • Holy Saturday

  • Forgiveness Fridays: Poetry and art for reflection on Good Friday

    Today, Good Friday, defines Forgiveness Fridays. On this holy day, we remember the death of our Savior, Jesus Christ. By his death he imparted to us forgiveness. We receive and give forgiveness because of this saving act.

    Some poems and watercolors to consider on this day. My prayer for you is that God’s love poured out through his Son on the cross will envelop you through the Holy Spirit.

    My dad’s rendition of the scourging at the pillar. By Leo Boucher.

    “By his wounds we are healed.” By Leo Boucher.
    Watercolor by Leo Boucher.

  • Watercolor Wednesday: The Hints of Life to Come

    I have a few more of my dad’s watercolors to share with you this Holy Week, but they are more suited to Good Friday than today. I chose this one as fitting because of the starkness of the trees that appear dead, but yet will spark into life. I love the mixture of green grass and mud that is common in Spring in Minnesota – again, that intermingling of death and new life.

    As I think about this painting, I ponder how the events of Holy Week bring us back to the central tenets of our faith:

    Christ has died
    Christ is risen
    Christ will come again!