I can't Believe he Missed Him!

I’ve been thinking about this post all week, it’s about a passage that I always read and never thought much, well of course I thought about it but not in this way. One thing that has always amazed me is that the Bible is never the same the second time around, I mean when I read a book more than once of course I may notice something new, but not in the same way as in the Bible, which shows us that it truly is God’s living word. Anyway back to my post; the verse is John 18: 38 “What is truth?” This is a question posed by Pilate to Jesus when Jesus says in verse 37 “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” What really gets me though is Pilate, I mean in the presence of Jesus, God’s Son, all he can manage is “What is truth” I mean I want to get up in his face and say “Hey! Pilate, dude the truth is right in front of you!” For a moment in time Pilate is in the presence of God and he is unaffected; some people were overjoyed by Jesus and others were angry, but to Pilate this was just another case. This happens to us, we miss Jesus in our lives. In our trials we lose sight of God and forget that He is in charge. In our daily lives we miss the small blessings all around us. One thing I’ve been doing every night is praying to God and saying one thing I am thankful for, whether it be a hit I got in a game, or simply that I have a family that loves me. The point is I don’t want to miss Jesus and take things for granted, because every good thing is a gift from God. Pilate was in the direct presence of God and the only thing that amazed him was His silence; let us not miss the silent blessings around us in our lives.

GO RED SOX

I extended the poll, so please vote! It is an extremely exciting season that (for Sox fans) is taking a turn for the better. The Sox currently have a 7 game winning streak and are behind the Yankees by 6 ½ and ahead of the Rangers by 6 ½. Dice-K came back and was good, as hoped. Beckett has turned around. Lester has been dominant since May. Clay has also been really good. It looks like the playoffs are imminent. One thing I have neglected to talk about is the addition of Gonzalez; my main thought is KEEP HIM! They haven’t had a short stop like him since, well, he played in 2006. It was a great move to get him and he hits well and is great at fielding, ever since he came to the Red Sox he has started every game (except a few) and has contributed in big ways. Also Ortiz, currently he has 24 homeruns (remember the poll in April?) and is hitting pretty well. I’ll predict anything above 25 for him, which will be good considering his slump and the steroid controversy. Overall it has been a good season and while it is not over yet I have to say I am not looking forward to a long baseball-less winter,

It is a Journey

Well I am back to where it all began and gladly in a much different situation. Today was the first meeting on the year of the “Philosophy club”, which is not exactly the very beginning of my struggle but it was when I fully realized there was a struggle. Currently I am back to believing, I have faith and due to both logic but mainly (as C.S. Lewis stressed) experience and trust. So, I am at the stage when I believe/know there is a God and He is the God of the Bible, He is who He is. Now I am at the stage where I want to/need to know God. See that is where the real journey begins, knowing if there is God is really the first step, like knowing where we are going. Knowing God is the journey, or the trip there. For several reasons I fell away from God at a slow pace, and then on one frightening day as I walked through school I realized I there was a problem. I’m learning something new every day; I’m changing every day, that’s what life is all about. 1 John talks about it in detail but I’ll summarize it, sin separates us from God but the journey is to cast off that sin and run towards God. Paul uses the analogy of running a race; imagine that sin is a heavy burden we must carry, Jesus takes that upon Himself so that we may run with open hearts to God’s open arms. About half a year ago I was slowly (yet steadily) taking a wrong turn and I am so grateful that God woke me up to it. Even though I went through all that worrying I am happy (yes happy) that it all happened so that I can be here today. I often heard the analogy of God as a potter; in my school I am taking ceramics (oddly enough I didn’t sign up for it) but to make a pot first I have to take the lump of clay and then knead it into a useful piece, and then I need to smooth it out by running a sharp (unknown tool) along it. Then I dry it until it is fragile and put it in the kiln and fire it so it will be strong. It is a painful process to shape the piece of clay (for the clay, not me) but at the end in my hands is a masterpiece. God shapes us by hand and takes us from where we are in life and works on us to make us a masterpiece, it is a long, hard process, but in the end we are made into something beautiful.

Once Again

I feel there is a need for an apology. I know I already wrote one but this is a somewhat longer and better explanation. For the past few weeks I’ve been going through a writer’s block. I’ll have a great idea and then sit down at my computer and the post doesn’t come out well or I don’t word it well or express my idea. All I know is that I need to organize my thoughts and hopefully put them down coherently. Anyway I’m sorry for my severe lack of posting. Some quick thoughts: I’ve come a long way from my posts in May about how I don’t know anything so that is good, hopefully soon I can write a good deal about that. Also I am going to write down and organize a set of posts on 1 John, and also the Sox are doing pretty well lately, I’m sure they have a chance in the Wild Card.

Good Italian Recipe

I just made the best thing last night to go with dinner, it’s one of those things you never see here in the U.S., but it’s made all the time in Italy. What I am talking about is fried zucchini flowers. Yes that’s what I said, I fried up zucchini flowers and before you say “What the heck is he talking about” listen, even though it sounds weird it actually tastes very good, the flowers have an interesting flavor, it’s kind of what you would expect a flower to taste like, and the batter is light and crispy. If you like the sound of them I’ll give you the recipe. They're pretty hard to find, you'll have to find them at a farm stand, or you could ask a friend who grows zucchini for the flowers. Ideally you want the flowers slightly opened, not all the way closed but not wide open either. Like all other times I cook, I usually take the ingredients and loosely follow the given recipe. So the list of ingredients is…

This recipe made much more batter than needed for the five flowers I had, but I guess you could make it for 10 – 15. You need roughly 1 ½ cups of flour, ¼ cup cold water, ¾ cup milk, ½ teaspoon baking soda, dash of salt, dash of pepper, and one egg. Mix all this together (dry first, then liquid, then egg) , the batter shouldn’t be too thick, but not too thin, I like to dip my finger in to test it, if it drips add flour, if it is thick add water.

Next step is to prepare the flowers. You pick up the flower and carefully cut out the pistil (the thing with the pollen), and then gently take a q-tip (you’ll need a bunch) and scrape the pollen, dirt, and any bugs out. DO NOT WASH IN WATER! The flowers are extremely fragile, and washing in water will tear them.

Then fill a small frying pan with olive oil, till the bottom is covered and heat on high, when the oil is hot dip the flowers in the batter and then put in pan to cook. When they are golden brown on each side they are done. You should put them on a paper towel so to get rid of the excess oil, and then arrange on plate with some salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese.

Sorry

Sorry for my lack of posting in the past week, I’ve been going through a lot lately and have been thinking a lot so I didn’t have much time to write. I have a few topics I really want to write about, they are 1 John, the Gospels, and the third, developing a relationship with God ties into what I will write about 1 John. I’ve been thinking a lot about faith and what it means, and will write about that also. One thing I will say now is this, when we become Christians it’s not like God hands us a golden ticket to Heaven and that’s it, there is much more left to do, faith isn’t just plain belief in God and His Son, it’s the series of choices in our lives that follow that, in other words, faith isn’t saying “yes” to God in our minds, it’s saying “yes” to God and “no” to the devil in our actions. This is very hard, it’s hard to completely surrender our lives, but fortunately God is very patient, and He helps us.