Gleanings of Wheat

I get frustrated pretty easily, especially around Christmas. I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that you see our society's focus so clearly portrayed at Christmas. Yes, I know people give more and think more about the poor at Christmas, but when you put that in perspective and see just how much more it is focused on getting stuff it is rather sad. What frustrates me even more is that many people just don't seem to notice how selfishly they celebrate the holiday, "What did I get?" is on the hearts, minds, and lips of millions of people Christmas morning often with little, or no, thought of Christ. Even among professing Christians. I was struck this morning that for the world, that really is all they have. The focus on getting stuff, of making sure they've gotten everyone else exactly what they want (even if they can't afford it), even the less selfish people who seek to serve others during the holiday - all they have is that. Even if they cared nothin...

My friends from Nashville are up celebrating Thanksgiving (and Christmas with Matt 's family) in Chicagoland, so I get to visit them. I'm pretty excited.

I recently migrated from Windows to an exclusively Ubuntu operating system, and the only software/ capability that I missed from Windows was E-Sword - great program, by the way. After doing some reading I found a way to install E-Sword on Linux, but so far it isn't working properly. It installed, starts up, but there is absolutely no content when it does. Weird. Anyway, I've been pretty spoiled by E-Sword so I was a little weary of trying a new program out but I wanted to get something working so I installed BibleTime . First impressions? I love that they have all the dictionaries, various translations, books, devotionals, ect built into the installer. LOVE it. I just had to click on various items in a list and they installed for me. So far the program's layout seems less customizable than E-Sword, but that is ok because the default layout is a mirror image of how I had E-Sword set up. BibleTime comes with Strongs numbers, but unlike E-Sword the numbers aren't thrown ...

While you enjoy your food, try to remember to turn your eyes to the Cross and give thanks for that! :)

I've hit my first problem...Bible software. When I was on the mess that we call Windows I had E-sword , and I used it a lot. I had tons of commentaries, dictionaries, and devotionals installed. It was my favorite program. Well, now that I'm not on Windows any more I'm going to have to get creative and find new software. I'll be downloading and installing JSword , I'll let you know how it goes. If you know of any other programs that will run on Ubuntu 7.10 please email me or leave a comment!

I am incredibly under the weather right now. So, under the weather that watching the Food Network makes me nauseous! Blah, how is that for lame?!

This was my birthday cake this year. YUM. There is no such thing as to much chocolate. The cake actually ended up with an interesting marbled effect b/c I chose not to mix the butter/ chocolate in fully. Oh, and it tasted a bit like fudge. 8 oz Dark semisweet chocolate pieces 2/3 cup Butter 1 cup Sugar 4 Eggs 4 heaped Tb All purpose flour 4 Tb Unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/2 tsp Baking powder 1 tsp Vanilla extract 4 Tb Sour cream 2/3 cup Heavy cream or whipping cream 9 oz Semisweet chocolate pieces Oven Temp ~ 350° Baking Time ~ 50 Min. Pan Type ~ 10 inch round cake pan (3 inches high) Preheat oven. Line your cake tin (3 inches tall) with greaseproof or other non-stick paper and grease the tin. Melt chocolate pieces with butter over hot water. Beat together the eggs and sugar, mix in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla extract. Slowly fold in the melted butter and chocolate mix along with the sour cream. Bake at suggested temp. until a wooden pick inserted in center...

I'm a big fan of the book of Hebrews, in fact 4:16 is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. I was reading/ reflecting on somethings today and these verses came to mind: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12-13) I've been thinking a lot about the Body of Christ lately, especially in regards to accountability/ encouragement/ church membership. I know a lot of people who claim (and may be) to be Christians but have completely isolated themselves from any form of formal gathering. The only discussion of Biblical things that goes on in their lives takes place online, or in random conversations as they discover another person is a Christian. They are not in a local church, and in fact reject the necessity of the local church. I know of a group of people who "meet...

I found this one at Epicurious. I served this over steak that I had prepared with the salting method and some rosemary. See my notes at the bottom for my alterations. 1 pound mixed fresh white and exotic mushrooms such as cremini, oyster, or shiitake (discard shiitake stems) 4 large garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 onion, chopped fine 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1/2 cup dry red wine 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 1 1/2 cups cold water 1/2 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley leaves Slice mushrooms. In a 10-inch heavy non-stick skillet cook garlic in butter over moderately low heat, stirring, until pale golden. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened. Add mushrooms and soy sauce and sauté mixture over moderately high heat, stirring, until liquid mushrooms give off is evaporated and mushrooms begin to brown. Add wine and vinegar and boil until liquid is evaporated. Stir cornstarch mixture and add to skillet ...

I've been pretty busy lately and haven't been cooking much in the way of actual recipes so forgive the inactivity. I've got a birthday to prepare for on Monday so hopefully I'll have something of the yummy variety to post after that.

I have always been a Windows user. The first computer I got on the internet with 10 years ago was running Windows 95, eventually I got XP (new computer) and have even upgraded to Vista (another new computer) about 6 months ago (and then down graded b/c Vista drove me bonkers). Well, I've had lots of problems with Microsoft in general and have been toying with the idea forsaking my high cost software background for an open source solution. I've been using OpenOffice for about a year as an alternative to Microsoft Office, and have been VERY pleased with it. The same goes for The Gimp , an Photoshop alternative - and yes, I know Adobe makes Photoshop. Last night I backed up my files and installed Ubuntu 7.10 . It has been less than 24 hours, but I'm very happy. Obviously things are going to be different from Windows, but overall I haven't had any difficulty configuring my programs. I forgot to back up my bookmarks in Firefox, so I'm in the process of painstakingly sav...

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:11-12) I recently had a discussion with someone who claims to be a Christian, who basically told me they don't think they can continue on as they are. That if God doesn't (presumably) audibly speak they will walk away from their faith. I told this person that if they want to hear from God they need to examine their heart, repent of their sins (I'm not sure they agree that being involved with another married person is sin) and then get a Bible and start reading. I told them if they want to hear from God they have to be willing to dig into Scripture. I was informe...

I just found out a very dear friend's father has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I can't even begin to express anything in conjunction with this. Just...lame.

I like peppers. I have a lot of them. I have to be creative because even a food you love, if eaten every day in the same way for a month, can become boring. So I experimented. They turned out pretty well, though I think I'd like them better with some sort of seasoning in the beef. Bell peppers, tops sliced off 1 lb ground beef 1 box Rice A Roni Spanish Rice First, start the rice according to the package directions. Next, over medium-high heat brown the beef and drain. While those are cooking grab your bell peppers, slice the tops off them and remove the seeds. Preheat the oven to 350. Once the rice and the beef are finished cooking mix them together and scoop the mixture into the peppers. Place the tops back on the peppers and then put them in a baking pan in the oven for about 20 minutes. **Notes: You might want to try adding some seasoning to the beef, maybe some garlic, or even some taco seasoning. Also, when I made this the peppers ended up having a bit of liquid in them, I...