BBQ Journal: rib cook off

With some extra time on my hands this summer, I have decided to enhance my barbeque and cooking skills. As part of this adventure Rebecca has been encouraging to keep a BBQ Journal about my cooking transformation. I have three entries to catch up on. So, if these are good, all the credit goes to my writing. If they are bad, then talk to Rebecca...

Sunday, June 12 — The First Annual Crossroads Rib Cook Off. The one church event I was looking forward to the most this summer was my last at CBC. Simply put, this was a pool party for the whole church with a pile of baby back ribs for everyone to eat.

The event was shaping up to be an epic battle between the Seasoned Veteran (Reynolds Stewart), the Rough Neck (Tim Martin), the Rookie (Jordan Jensen), and the Ryno (me). I was pretty excited about the whole thing, until it became my last Sunday at CBC. We had all planned to skip second service to prep our meat and get it on the grill. I was not going to be able to make it in time to prep and cook. It seemed like a lost cause.

Luckily Jordan proposed teaming up. The Paterson rub and sauce, with some Jensen flair. Jordan set us up with indirect grilling over mesquite charcoal and whiskey soaked hickory chips. The setup was sweet! We definitely nurtured the ribs with rub, smoke, sauce, and a lot of love. When done we had a great set of ribs. With a rich hickory aroma, a sweet outer taste, and final kick of hot from the inside, they were spectacular.

Unfortunately, the judges didn't agree. We came in third of three. Tim took first with a ton of brown sugar, Jack Daniel's, and some spices (he has a similar smoking setup). Reynolds kept his sauce more under wraps, but had a classic BBQ ribs flavor. Apparently the hot kick from our ribs was too much for the judges.

I proposed a more elaborate scoring method for next year (even though its likely I won't be there next year)... I guess you could say I was a poor loser.

BBQ Lesson 1: In competition, a whole bag of brown sugar with a whole bottle of Jack Daniel's wins every time.
BBQ Lesson 2: In competition, cook to enjoy & eat to win.
BBQ Lesson 3: In competition, sweet beats the heat. (courtesy of Andrew Jensen)

SOAP: lay it out

S - After Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord’s Temple and spread it out before the Lord... Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria,... — Isaiah 37:14, 21 (NLT)

O - God is pleased with Hezekiah's leadership based on prayer. Hezekiah inquires of the Man of God (Isaiah) and lays out the situation before God in prayer.

A - I hear God calling to lead my family through prayer. To inquire of godly men, and to specifically lay out all the our family faces before Him.

P - Lord, we want to be a true godly family. Thank you for this time of testing and refinement. Help us welcome it with the anticipation of joy when our faith is perfected. We want to glorify you with our lives. We may have made plans in the past about what that looked like, but now we are more and more open to anything. We need shelter and food. You know when the money runs out. We're trusting you for our daily bread. Help us to not hold on to the things of this world. We need community. We need men and women, families, and children who want to follow you, in your power, no matter the cost. We need Elders, to shepherd, pray, and guide us. Rebecca needs your care through the end of her pregnancy. Grant her and Eli strength and health. Heal any of side effects that only make this process harder than it has been. We are yours.

the dark truth

The dark truth is that we may praise love (or, more weakly, "benevolence" or "compassion"), and few people would refuse to do so when love is rightly understood. We may wish to be loving—to be kind and helpful in our relations to those near us. But we do not trust love, and we think it could easily ruin our carefully guarded hold on life. — Dallas Willard, Knowing Christ Today

marking the path

So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong. — Hebrews 12:12-13 (NLT)

When walking through the wilderness it is easy to get lost. What are the markers that line the path of your life which will keep you headed in the right direction no matter the circumstances, storms, pain, or obstacles that will come?

Hebrews invites us to come to Angels, Assemblies of God's children, God, Spirits of Righteous Ones in heaven, and Jesus (12:22-24). May all of these mark your path today that you may be strengthened in heart and confident of your direction.

it's quite simple

Here is my secret. It's quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes. — The Fox, The Little Prince

hail to the ch- ch- ch- chief!

This is for real!

valleys and hilltops

If any of your dreams has appeared to end in disappointment, don’t throw it away! Receive it now into your sacred space, and let it show you how the experience of that disappointment has also shaped the years which followed. Probably, if you can distance yourself from the immediate pain of it, you can begin to notice how that difficult time has helped to form you into who you really are, more surely than the easier conquests might have done. In whichever direction the flames of a particular burning bush have directed you, the years which followed have been a crucial stage of your personal “becoming”. They are part of the realization of your inner dream. One of the great gifts of your hilltops is that of perspective. The world looks different from the top of a hill. The sweat and struggle of each little field of effort is seen to be part of a much larger landscape. The failed crop of one year becomes the nourishment for the growth of the next season. — Margaret Silf, Sacred Space

Vote Pablo!

Passion: A New Day

The point is that if God's new creation has already begun, those of us who have been wakened up in the middle of the night are put to work t make bits of new creation happen within the world as it is. And that is why we need to leave behind, on the cross, all the bits and pieces of old creation that have made us sad, that have depressed us and our communities, and start to pray for vision and wisdom to know where God can and will make new creation happen in our lives, in our hearts, in our homes and not least in our communities... (New creation) is going to have to be rooted in prayer and in celebration of the lordship of Jesus; that's the only way to do it properly... What matters is more prayer and more parties.
– N.T. Wright, Christians at the Cross

May you be wakened to Christ in prayer and parties.

Passion: Servant King

(Jesus) is calling us to see him as the Servant who has put things right by his death; and to see him, therefore, as the one who can set us right individually, and through the work he gives us to do can help to set things right in the world, in the wider community, in the lives of others who need him so much.
– N.T. Wright, Christians at the Cross

May we hear Jesus' call and respond, "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening."

Passion: Palm Sunday

Part of the challenge of Holy Week is that when we hear the tune of Jesus going up to Jerusalem and on to his death, and when we listen to the Old Testament which helps us make sense of it, we don't use this as a way of escaping from the realities of our world, but rather as the framework within which we can look at our world in a new way... to hear that story – the story of the pain of the world, our world – going on within the music of Jesus' story and the Old Testament story, like the tenor part between the treble and the bass.
– N.T. Wright, Christians at the Cross

May we learn to sing our song along with Jesus instead of settling for the tune of the world.

Mexico Trip

I would really appreciate your prayers for my upcoming Mexico Trip. I'm personally apprehensive, and know I need a good amount of prayer.

I want to keep you in the loop on our trip to Mexico. Please follow our progress and prayer updates online at www.twitter.com/cbcthrive.

Here are our daily prayer points:

Sunday, April 12: We left this morning at 6am. It’s a 10 hour car ride. Pray for unity, strength, and safety.

Monday, April 13: Our first day of ministry (VBS and Women). Pray for developing relationship with new pastor and church.

Tuesday, April 14: Pray for growing number of children to share God’s love with. Endurance for team after two nights in tents.

Wednesday, April 15: Tonight is the big night. We put on a whole adult service. David M is preaching. Kristina and Hannah lead music.

Thursday, April 16: Pray spiritual protection over our words, attitudes, and relationships. It has been a long week.

Friday, April 17: Last day of ministry. Pray for children and their decisions to follow Christ. Courage for us as we say goodbye.

Saturday, April 18: The long ride home. Pray the Enemy does not get the better of us in the car or when we return to our families.

MEXICO MEMORY NIGHT
I hope you’ll join us May 10 from 7-8:30pm at CBC in the HS Room for dessert so we can celebrate and share all that God has done on the trip. You can RSVP on Facebook.