My Life Group, A Helpful Article

I really love my Life group. We gather each Wednesday night at Guillermo's Gourmet Grounds, a fantastic little coffee shop in West Little Rock (you can order online and they'll ship). A typical evening begins with snacks and conversation, followed by a group discussion, then prayer. These discussions, which are generally facilitated by the wise and insightful Dr. Bill Oliver, have covered an array of subjects too wide to list here. We are not afraid of any topic of discussion or of any opinion...all viewpoints and beliefs are welcome and encouraged.  Participants have included Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and even an atheist or two.  We are mature enough to objectively listen to each other and agree to disagree when necessary.  Friends remain friends, even when opinions differ sharply. I've been attending this group for around five years and I have watched as souls have grown, matured, and developed together. It is truly amazing what God's Spirit has done to us. We have progressed from simpler discussions about everyday life to the deeper topics of God and spiritual warfare.  We have examined and challenged the very basic tenants of faith and have been unafraid to do so, knowing that God would prove Himself.  Recently, we discussed the Holy Spirit. We studied scripture and asked ourselves how the Spirit manifested itself in us, and if we were holding it back from doing more. I was so proud to be a part of that discussion. As we spoke of the promised gifts that came with the Spirit, I saw minds open.  As we talked about how much power the Spirit holds, I sensed excitement.  And as we discussed the reasons we don't possess the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. 5:22-23, I felt hearts breaking.  Each of us began to see how much we get in the way of the Father's desire to fill us with His Spirit.  We are held back by so many things - fear, selfishness, ignorance, empathy.  Our group is still growing.  We'll continue to objectively study, discuss, and pray over these things in an attempt to improve ourselves and reflect the nature of the Father just a little bit better than before. I don't know what I'd do or where I'd be without this wonderful group.  That's something I really don't want to think about. 

I came across an archived post on Patrick Mead's Tentpegs blog which really left an impression on me. I hope he's okay with my reprinting it here, because I'd like to share it. We can't do a stinking thing about the negative interactions and challenging hurdles we run into, but we can certainly decide how we're going to deal with them before they hit. Take it away, Patrick. 

Act or React? 

In every circumstance today you will get a choice: will you act or react? Most people never give it any thought. They go through life as if they were a ball in a pinball machine, reacting to this and that all day, every day, never in control of their path. Others make a decision about who they are, what they will do, what they will not do, and how they will honor their belief system regardless of any “action” in their way. They are faith heroes. And you can be one.

Look at Hebrews chapter 11. It is considered the faith chapter, the honor roll of faith. You might know the chapter very well but I would like for you to check something out: look for the verbs. When you do, you discover that the chapter is a primer on HOW to live by faith. Real faith has a verb attached to it; a purposeful, decisive action.

11:4 — by faith Abel offered…
11:5 — by faith Enoch pleased God…
11:7 — by faith Noah prepared…
11:8 — by faith Abraham obeyed…
11:9 — by faith he dwelt…
11:11 – by faith Sara conceived…
11:17 – by faith Abraham offered…
11:20 – by faith Isaac blessed…
11:21 – by faith Jacob blessed…
11:24 – by faith Moses chose to be known as a son of Israel… forsook Egypt… kept Passover…
11:29 – by faith the Israelites passed through the sea…
11:30 – by faith the walls of Jericho fell…
11:31 – by faith Rahab received the spies…
11:33 – subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped mouths of
lions, quenched violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, went from the
weakness to strength, became valiant in battle, drove away the invaders, the dead
walked again…

These people did not merely believe (as some weak form of intellectual assent), but they matched that faith to a verb and so became great heroes. The scripture tells us that God honored their choice to act by:

1. God Himself witnessing that they were righteous.
2. They became heirs of righteousness.
3. They did not see death.
4. They received the inheritance.

You have a choice today and every day. You can either act or you can waste your life in reacting. Once I was partnered with three non-believers during a golf match. My opponent took every opportunity to curse, make noise while I putted or teed off, and never gave me a putt regardless of how close it was to the hole. In response, I helped him look for his errant tee shots, gave him putts well outside the normal range, and gave him every compliment on his good shots. The other two players in our foursome watched this almost the whole match before finally coming over to me. “Why are you still giving him putts and treating him so nice? He’s cheating! He’s rude!” and so on. I responded, “I decided before I left my house this morning what kind of person I was going to be. He doesn’t get to change that decision.”

I learned that from Hebrews 11. Faith means nothing without a verb. Choose your verb. Don’t let the world choose it for you.

Books, Lamb Meatballs, and Rules

Greetings, everyone!  Let's head to the kitchen...after a few random thoughts.


I've been reading a few good books recently - Disappointment With God by Philip Yancey and God At War  by Greg Boyd. These books were both challenging to read in their own rights. DWG deals with a painfully honest question - where is God when trouble comes? Yancey objectively asks and examines this question by interviewing people who have lost their faith because God did not "show up" for them when they felt He would or should. I think this an important issue to consider.  Many people among us believe that if they meet some undetermined level of faith and pray hard enough, God will rescue them from difficult situations or tough times.  This belief is reinforced each and every time they hear a testimony crediting God with pulling someone out of the depths of some kind of depravity or trouble.  The jarring reality (to them) comes when God doesn't seem to do the same for them in their time of need. What is going on? DWG takes the reader inside the mind of someone who is going through this struggle, then searches scripture to see what expectations we can have of God when we are hurting. Good stuff. 


I'm still in the beginning chapters of GAW, but I'm enjoying it. Most of you who know me have heard me talk about the Patrick Mead lesson series by the same name, and this book is his source material.  Be warned - this is not a Yancey-style easy read. Boyd's main goal is to disprove the classical Christian view that God is in full, total, and ultimate control of everything that goes on, and that He has a purpose in all things. Boyd eschews this view in favor of what he calls a "warfare worldview," which supposes that there are free-acting spirits  with power that can and do oppose God.  Since this idea flies in the face of mainstream Christianity, Boyd writes in a scholarly level of detail to give credibility to his theory. This makes GAW read like a textbook some of the time, but it is compelling nonetheless. I am inclined to agree with Boyd's theory. There are too many intellectual roadblocks involved with trying to find "God's good will" in the evil acts of evil men.  Better to believe that there is a real enemy with real power to effect our world.  We know Satan has control/dominion over this earth, as we are told multiple times (Jn 12:31, I Jn 5:19, Mt 4:9, among others), so why wouldn't he have the ability to fight against God's people with real power? I can discuss this at length in another post if anyone is interested. 


I've been thinking about some of the rules and laws we Christians impose on one another.  It seems to me that a law of love ought to have the opposite effect.  We should understand that we are free from law and rules but bound by something stronger - a love that compels us to sacrifice and bend over backwards to serve others.   Last year's journey through the Daily Bible rammed home a very important point to me - the New Testament is not in any way, shape, or form a rulebook. Leviticus is a rulebook, and it reads like one. I'll bet the bones Ezekiel saw raised weren't as dry as Leviticus is.  Why, then, do we treat our new covenant like the old one men already failed at?  How many man-made regulations and procedures do we hold people to and defend to the point of separation, all in the name of a God who came to earth to free us from such things? I've heard of an interesting test for our "laws," and it makes sense to me.  If you were able to read the New Testament as though you had never seen it before and had no previous teaching or influence of any kind, would you infer from your study that your rules should apply? Try this with all aspects your religion.  By the way, absence of permission for an action does not mean that action is wrong.  If it did, we might need to reevaluate staff ministers, church buildings, and elders elected by the congregation.  Try it out - it's just another part of "working out your own salvation."  


Do you remember the time I devoted an entire post to the practice of chopping/grinding beef at home? Today I found this article, which supports my theory with some exhaustive research. Notice how pale that store-bought patty looks? Grind your own meat, people.


Tiffany and I have recently taken up attempts to eat in a more healthy manner in preparation for our summer vacation. Generally, this means cooking meals out of her litany of South Beach Diet cookbooks. Surprisingly, most of the entrées don't taste like "diet food" in the typical sense. The meal plan is mostly devoid of carbs and sugars, but you get to eat hearty meat-and-veggie style meals which fill the stomach. Am I ready to abandon 12-layer lasagna (we'll get to that one later), pancakes, and hearty, delicious burgers forever? Of course not, but as lean eating goes, the meals in these cookbooks are more than bearable. Plus, you trip across a gem every now and again. 


I love lamb. No, not the cute and cuddly versions which generally accompany Western paintings of Jesus. I'm talking lamb meat. Succulent and flavorful with wonderful texture and mouthfeel, lamb is truly awesome. Last night, we prepared lamb meatballs from the aforementioned South Beach cookbook. Actually, I adapted the recipe to a meatball application - the original called for leg of lamb. I'm sure the leg would have been delicious, but these meatballs were out of this world. They were hearty, full of flavor, and very filling all by themselves.  I plan to use them (sans mustard) in future spaghetti applications as well.  They'd also be incredible mixed with dill, feta, and cumin and made into Greek burgers. Kroger sometimes offers quality ground lamb for half price, so keep your eyes peeled at the grocery store and buy that stuff up when it's on sale. Store it in the freezer until it's time to cook. 


Lamb Meatballs 


Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground lamb 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp parsley, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (a microplane zester is great for this)
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, minced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp freshly cracked pepper
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• Dijon Mustard, to coat

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 


In a large bowl, combine lamb, egg, parsley, garlic, thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper and mix with fingertips until combined. Try not to squish the meat. Form meat mixture into decent-sized balls-You should get 5 or 6 meatballs out of the mixture. 


Preheat the oil a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the meatballs with plenty of space in between. Cook the meatballs on one side for three or four minutes, or until a nice sear develops. Using tongs, flip the meatballs over and sear for another three or four minutes. If you want to be really fancy, braise the meatballs by tilting the pan slightly to the side so that the oil and juices pool. Using a spoon, pour the hot oil over the tops of your meatballs. 


Once the meatballs have developed a good sear, coat them in dijon mustard,  move to the oven, and bake until they hit an internal temperature of 160, about 10-12 minutes. Remove the meatballs and allow them to set for five minutes so that the juices redistribute. 

The Finest Burger in the Land

Greetings, one and all. As promised, I'm going to try to blog more often, at least once a week or so. Of course, this presents the small challenge of coming up with interesting content to write about. Sometimes that's difficult, as routine life here in central Arkansas can become a bit droll. Days run into days, as they say, and I just don't always feel like I've got pertinent information to share with you all. Every once in awhile, however, something jumps up and surprises me. Let me tell you about a meal I had this weekend. 

If you're like me, the act of eating a hamburger has degenerated from a memorable affair (remember "burger night" when you were a kid?) to something much more plebeian. As an adult, the thought of eating burgers conjures up images of endless drive-through lines, dollar menus, and barely palatable patties of pitiful construct. The great hamburger experience has truly fallen from its once lofty perch in my mind. I just don't expect that much from dine-out burgers anymore....frankly, I can do it better at home.  So then, I'm really not sure what motivated me to choose the burger from Capital Bar & Grill last Friday night. Maybe the unusual side of Parmesan fries caught my eye. Maybe I was just in the mood. Who knows? Boy, am I glad I did. 

The Capital Bar and Grill, located inside the Capital Hotel in historic downtown Little Rock, is a local institution. Alongside its sister restaurant, the exclusively expensive Ashley's, the Capital Bar and Grill (henceforth CB&G) is home to critically acclaimed dishes of all shapes and sizes. Knowing as much, I went in expecting good things from them. I ordered an Old Fashioned to start dinner and began perusing the menu. A few delicious-looking items caught my eye. The ham sandwich with house cured and smoked ham looked spectacular, as did the roasted chicken. Above all, one entry reached out and grabbed me. Simply titled "The Burger," it was a 7-oz. patty of all-natural local Arkansas beef, topped with house-made pimento cheese,  house-made pickles, lettuce, tomato, and onion, and served with a side of freshly cut Parmesan fries. Despite my instincts, I couldn't resist the pull. I ordered The Burger. Brilliantly, I was asked how I'd like it cooked. "Medium rare!" was my reply, and the excitement began to build. Could I finally have found a burger worth paying for? My mouth continued to water as I munched on complimentary deep fried black-eyed peas (oh yes) and sipped my drink. After a moderate wait, it arrived. The Burger, oozing with that homemade pimento cheese, looked as though it had been prepped for a photo shoot. I topped it with onion, lettuce, and mayonnaise (house made, naturally) and took a bite. 

It's been said that great food does more than fill the stomach or satisfy cravings. Truly great food takes you places, brings back memories, and evokes feelings that had previously been dormant. I'm going to tell you people something....from the very first bite, The Burger yanked me from my seat at CB&G and sent me to a time, years ago, when I loved burgers as much as anything. A time when a trip to McDonald's was a happening (these were much simpler times), and when ground beef smothered in cheese was my very favorite food in the whole wide world. The beef, seasoned with steak spices, was incredibly crisp on the outside, yet tender, juicy, and perfectly medium rare in the middle. The bun was toasted perfectly and added another level of crunch. The pimento cheese....well, the cheese was sublime (I'm running out of adjectives here). The locally-sourced veggies and homemade pickles were as flawless a compliment as could possibly exist, and the real mayo added a tiny bit of tang that blended right in. Every single ingredient was delicious in its own right, and when combined became an orchestra of contrasting flavors and textures. I enjoyed about eight perfect bites before the end came and I had to return to reality. The poor fries, tasty in their own right, were an afterthought. I munched on them for awhile, but I'd have traded three plates of fries for another mouthful of the Burger.  I could not think of a single other thing I'd have rather eaten at that moment.  As the check arrived, I realized that a cheeseburger had just vaulted itself to the very top of my list of memorable meals. Just like old times. Thanks, CB&G.

http://capitalhotel.com/CBG/

Guinness Chocolate Cake

Wow....I'm not all that diligent with this blogging thing, am I?  I'd love to blame this on my nonstop, too-busy-to-think schedule, but the truth is that I sit at a desk at work for eight hours a day and have more than enough time to punch up an entry now and then. Shame on me...I'll try to do better. Who knows, all this writing may come in handy someday. But enough talk. Let's get down to the business of baking. 


I have waxed poetic at the joy of baking on these virtual pages before. I love the technical, nit-picky nature of weighing flour down to the gram and carefully mixing everything together. It seems the quality of one's baked goods are directly proportional to the amount of obsessive-compulsive detail that goes into them. Give your cake, bread, or muffins a bit of time and effort, and they'll reward you with moist deliciousness. Baked goods truly come into their own during holidays, when the baker can fashion themed treats based on the occasion. Christmas obviously takes the cake (haw haw) on this topic, but I think that some of the "lesser" holidays deserve some baked respect. And since it's March 17 and your writer is fair-skinned, red-headed, and a lover of stout Irish beers, let's give some love to St. Patrick's Day with a fantastically moist creation called Guinness Chocolate Cake. 


Beer in cake? Yes, it's unorthodox. But as we have shown here before, beer is great at providing a yeasty backnote that is right at home in a variety of dishes. In this cake, the rich chocolaty Guinness brings a complex twist to an otherwise standard cake batter. I expected that, but I did not expect the incredible moistness this cake packs. Wow.  The "frothy" cream cheese icing is a perfect complement to the cake's yeasty sweetness. I took the cake to our church's small group and people were blown away by the moisture and pleasantly unexpected flavors. This one was an unqualified hit, and I'll absolutely make it again. Trust me, give this one a try. If you have friends/acquaintances who are teetotalers, just tell them the alcohol cooks out.  I think that it does, anyways. 


Guinness Chocolate Cake 


Ingredients:

• 1 cup Guinness stout 
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed 
• 3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa 
• 2 cups superfine sugar (pulse regular sugar in a food processor if you don't have any) 
• 3/8 cup plain yogurt 
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour 
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 

For the topping:

• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar 
• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 
• 1/2 cup heavy cream 
• 
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. In a large saucepan, combine Guinness and butter. Place over medium-low heat until butter melts, then remove from heat. Add cocoa and superfine sugar, and whisk to blend.

In a small bowl, combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla; mix well. Add to Guinness mixture. Add flour and baking soda, and whisk again until smooth. Pour into buttered pan, and bake until risen and firm, 45 minutes to one hour. Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely in pan.

Using a food processor or by hand, mix confectioners' sugar to break up lumps. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add heavy cream, and mix until smooth and spreadable.

Remove cake from pan and place on a platter or cake stand. Ice top of cake and serve.