Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
A Place for New Beginnings
Today I led worship at First Baptist Church of Holly Springs, GA. This is a great little church with a heart for God and God is honoring that heart. Lives are being changed and people are being reached with the gospel. I will be leading in musical worship each week through the end of the year and then we will seek God for His good pleasure.
Pastor Phil Young is in the midst of a sermon series entitled "Fireproof Your Relationships" Today's sermon was on parasites in a relationship - a parasite being anything which taps into your life and takes away life from the health of the relationship. Common parasites...anything which would fall into the category of an idol...or anything which could be followed by "-aholic".
It made me want to stand up and offer my testimony. "I know what a parasite can do to you. It can decimate your faith, cost your career, and almost destroy your marriage relationship. BUT GOD..." Those are my two favorite words in the Bible...I'll share more along those lines soon.
I just think its kind of cool that my first "regular" post as a worship leader since leaving ministry to get things back on track is at "The Place of New Beginnings". God is indeed oh so good!
Pastor Phil Young is in the midst of a sermon series entitled "Fireproof Your Relationships" Today's sermon was on parasites in a relationship - a parasite being anything which taps into your life and takes away life from the health of the relationship. Common parasites...anything which would fall into the category of an idol...or anything which could be followed by "-aholic".It made me want to stand up and offer my testimony. "I know what a parasite can do to you. It can decimate your faith, cost your career, and almost destroy your marriage relationship. BUT GOD..." Those are my two favorite words in the Bible...I'll share more along those lines soon.
I just think its kind of cool that my first "regular" post as a worship leader since leaving ministry to get things back on track is at "The Place of New Beginnings". God is indeed oh so good!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Cherry Pie
So my latest weird thing around the house is the baking of cherry pies. It all started when I discovered a can of pie filling in the pantry and a leftover store bought pie crust in the fridge. Being a lover of desserts, this soon led to an impromptu pie-type dessert which was pretty good. Another part of the weirdness of getting older is that as an adult my tastes are changing. Growing up, I would rather skip dessert than to eat cherry pie. But as an adult, cherry pie has become my pie preference. This adult-onset craving led me to pick up ingredients at the store to attempt a cherry pie to rival all cherry pies. But, being the non-baker that I am, I got the wrong can of fruit and had to actually create a cherry pie filling from Bing cherries. This led to some experimentation and the following recipe which has become a favorite...in fact I just baked this one today!
So, for the benefit of all mankind...my Cherry Crumble Pie Recipe...not exactly from scratch, but fun and yummy nonetheless!
Kevin’s Cherry Crumble Pie
Makes 2 Pies
For the topping:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and butter in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, combine all ingredients until evenly mixed. Place in refrigerator while preparing filling.
For the filling:
4 15 oz. cans of Bing cherries, drained – reserve 1 cup of juice
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
In a small bowl, add the almond extract to the reserve cherry juice. Add the cornstarch and sugar into the juice and mix until completely dissolved.
Place two store-bought pie crusts into two lightly greased 9-inch pie plates. Divide the cherries and place the cherries in the crust, forming a single layer. Pour ½ of the cherry juice/cornstarch/almond extract mixture into each pan of cherries.
Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely.
Place the pie plates on a sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the cherries are bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Oh...and another reason I love cherry pie...it reminds me of the Trinity. A good cherry pie is runny on the inside. If you cut the pie into three equal pieces, you show the lines of the cut on the surface. But once the knife has passed through (and once you attempt to remove the piece in tact from the pan) the cherry filling will all run together. So it is with the Trinity...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. On the surface, three distinct personalities but on the inside, all the same essence. At least that's how my mind can wrap around it! (Thanks to Mike Warnke for the illustration.)
So, for the benefit of all mankind...my Cherry Crumble Pie Recipe...not exactly from scratch, but fun and yummy nonetheless!
Kevin’s Cherry Crumble Pie
Makes 2 Pies
For the topping:
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and butter in a large mixing bowl. Using a pastry cutter, combine all ingredients until evenly mixed. Place in refrigerator while preparing filling.
For the filling:
4 15 oz. cans of Bing cherries, drained – reserve 1 cup of juice
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
In a small bowl, add the almond extract to the reserve cherry juice. Add the cornstarch and sugar into the juice and mix until completely dissolved.
Place two store-bought pie crusts into two lightly greased 9-inch pie plates. Divide the cherries and place the cherries in the crust, forming a single layer. Pour ½ of the cherry juice/cornstarch/almond extract mixture into each pan of cherries.
Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the fruit, covering the fruit completely.
Place the pie plates on a sheet pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the top is brown and the cherries are bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Oh...and another reason I love cherry pie...it reminds me of the Trinity. A good cherry pie is runny on the inside. If you cut the pie into three equal pieces, you show the lines of the cut on the surface. But once the knife has passed through (and once you attempt to remove the piece in tact from the pan) the cherry filling will all run together. So it is with the Trinity...Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. On the surface, three distinct personalities but on the inside, all the same essence. At least that's how my mind can wrap around it! (Thanks to Mike Warnke for the illustration.)
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