You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
    all my enemies are before you.
Scorn has broken my heart
    and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
    for comforters, but I found none.
They put gall in my food
    and gave me vinegar for my thirst.
…
Charge them with crime upon crime;
    do not let them share in your salvation.
May they be blotted out of the book of life
    and not be listed with the righteous.

• Psalm 69:19-21, 27-28

I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion, help these women since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

• Philippians 4:2-3

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

• Revelation 13:8

The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and yet will come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because it once was, now is not, and yet will come.

• Revelation 17:8

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

• Revelation 20:11-15

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

• Revelation 21:22-27

I asked my son about using a bunch of lemons.  A doctor added lemon juice to my diet, to hopefully rid my body of the kidney stone factory that I have had going for the past few years.  I just squirt lemon juice into my morning water bottles.  It is an easy fix except I have gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), and the added acid is a problem that is now being dealt with.  I just have to get used to my new normal.

But in talking with my son, he gave me some ideas.  The first thing was to create a lemon pasta.  Then, I could add fish with lemon juice, a piccata of one sort or another, or just make up something.

I chose the last option.  I was going for chicken piccata, but I was missing a few ingredients.  I have IBS issues with the garlic, so that was out.  So, it ended up becoming my “Messy Lemon Chicken” dish.  Lemon spaghetti, a blend of gluten free and regular noodles – living on the wild side with that, and then I pan fried the chicken.  Then my sauce was melted butter, rosemary, lemon juice, lemon slices that I fried, capers, parsley and Italian seasoning.  And then when the sauce was too watery, I added some parmesan cheese.  I did not add the cornstarch to the sauce, which would legitimately thicken it, but it was tasty and filling.

But this story starts when I printed the recipe for the lemon pasta.  I found something that looked easy to fix and the only ingredient to eliminate was the garlic.  That and a couple of items that I did not have.  I hit the print button and then immediately got the circle of death.  You know, that circle that spins around in the middle of the computer screen indicating that you have to wait.  You either did something that the computer has to think about or you made a grave mistake…  “Grave”, “Circle of death”…  Come on, it was not that bad of a joke…

Oh, no, what did I do wrong?

Then, a message popped up next to the circle of death.

“Please wait.  Validating that you are human.”

After a few seconds, my printer started to hum and I looked at the screen.

“Congratulations!  You have been validated as human.”

I felt all those yummy words all at once.  I was validated.  I was affirmed.  I was real.

Really, what all that meant was that I was not a robot stealing their recipes, but I like validated, affirmed, real, maybe even special – but that may be going too far.

But really what I would wait a long time while that “circle of death” continues to spin to get the ultimate in validation.

Your name, sir, has been found in the Book of Life.

Now, that gives me joy that is expressed by words that we cannot find in the dictionary.  The joy would exceed any expression that we now have on this mortal coil.

Yes, that would make me feel extremely validated.

But as for now, being validated as human might be my best shot for a while.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.