Who knew this would be good on fish?

Tonight we grilled mahi mahi and made mashed potatoes with goat cheese. I saw this recipe for the fish sauce and couldn't believe it. 4 things this disparate should not go together...but they did.

This sauce has 4 ingredients:

2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup cilantro
1 kiwi.

Put them all in the food processor and serve on top of the grilled fish

Another call from Wisconsin

I've been intervieweing with a church in Chippewa Falls for a small groups pastor position. The church is a bit on the large side, about 110 people with 500 or the 800 adults in small groups.

Today was my third interview with them. Well, technically today wasn't an interview. I had questions about how they do their small groups. I was on the phone with the pastor who right now splits his time between administration and small groups. He asked for references also. I should know something definite by next week or so.

Still waiting on Walla Walla. They really are a 'hurry-up-and-wait' church.

Chippewa Falls could be good. With a church that large, I'm sure they pay a decent salary. And we can get a 4 bedroom 3-bath house with 250 sq feet for about 175 k. GOtta take that into consideration.

How we are to live in our Christian freedom

My friend Matt used to be fond of saying, "I'm free in Christ. I've read Galatians". Sometimes it seems as if Matt had an issue with libertinism in regards to Christian freedom. I've been doing some reading ab out in Galatians 5 the last couple of days.

Here is the full text of Galatians 5:13-15

"For you were called to freedom, brethren, only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another. For the Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bit and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

Sometimes Christians can look at grace and think that they can sin because will give them grace and forgive them. Paul completely does away with that idea here. We do not have a base from which we can sin freely and without consequence. It is not freedom for the flesh to do what it will, but rather it is freedom to love one another openly through our actions. In this, we fulfill God's ultimate law, that everything we do would show love to others in a way that is similar to how we love ourselves.

The consequences of using our freedom as a license to sin are found in 5:15. If we do not love one another, then we become little better than wild animals. We live only for self and therefore fight and claw against anyone in order to make our way to the top. Others are not there to be loved but rather to be used and then rejected as we focus only on the self.

Pork Milanese Part 2

Best to pass on the Pork Milanese. Making it was actually delayed until tonight. It can best be described as 'Eh'. Not a lot of flavor. When it was done cooking it looked a bit like a hash brown. However, Regan really devoured it. Fortunately for her there is one more in the fridge for her. But for me, it goes out of the cookbook.

Vantage Point

We had the rare opportunity to go to a movie last night. Christa's brother and sister-in-law were in town and we had 'date night'.

Of all the movies out right now, 'Vantage Point' was the only one which was going to work for our schedule. The reviews weren't all that great, but we liked it.

It tells the story of an attempted assasination of the president, told from and seen from many different perspectives. At different times in the movie, it stops and rewinds until just before the assasination. We see it from the president's perspective, an ordinary tourist's perspective, the Secret Service's perspective and a couple of others. It's kind of like 'Groundhog Day' in that respect.

But it changed about halfway through the movie. The rollbacks stopped and it became just another action movie...but a good one. I like Dennis Quaid as an actor and appreciate seeing good movies that he is in

Pork Milanese

Today is Christa's birthday.

Here is the main course I am making for her.

4 Pork cutlets
2/3 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Romano cheese
1 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup flour
2 beaten eggs


Mix the breadcrumbs in with the cheese, nutmeg and oregano. Dredge the cutlets in flour, then the egg and then the breadcrumbs. Heat some olive oil and cook the cutlets. Serve with lemon wedges.

15 minutes????

I got an email from the sedarch team leader of Jacob's Well church in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I interviewed with them last week for about 45 minutes and it went really well.

Now Steve, the Executive Pastor, wants to talk to me for about 15 minutes. I am scratching my head trying ti figure out what he will want to talk about. I don't think it is to tell me that I am no longer a candidate...he could have done that on email and besides it wouldn't not take 15 minutes. It's too short of a time for another interview. I can't believe they would ask us to go out and candidate just based on a 45 minute interview. So what is left?

The only thing that I can think of is that he needs clarification on something we had talked about. our talk (I can't call it an interview) is set for 9 am Thursday

Ah, a holiday

President's Day is today. A good day to get off and spend time with Christa and the kids. CHrista is out walking with a friend right now, Caleb is watching Dora The Explorer of tv and REgan is on her nap.

Later today we're going to go to Walnut Creek and have lunch at Tomatina (good pizza place). We'll hang out there, go to Barnes and Noble and have a gentle family day.

I'm also going to clean out our pantry, go running and make shrimp crab ravioli for dinner.

The next few days will be tense

Now I wait on Walla Walla. The interview went well and they said they will get back to me by the end of next week. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I've interviewed with them before and this is the one church I want to serve at. THey had brought up someone else to candidate in early January, but he didn't work out. According to them, they realized quickly that their ministry philosophies were pretty divergent (how you don't figure that out before is kind beyond me)

THey didn't really tip their hand one way or another, but their Senior Pastor Brad did say at the end, "I can't make any promises, but I've been very encouraged by what we've heard tonight."

Now is the time for prayer

Walla Walla back on the table

The church that I had been most interested in being a pastor at was Trinity Baptist Church in Walla Walla. I had a series of pretty good interviews and felt very comfortable with them. Of all the churches I had talked to or interviewed with, Trinity seemed like the best connection. So I was disappointed when they told me in mid-December that they were bringing someone else up to candidate but that I was still 'in play' if the other person did not work out.

I did not hear anything from them for awhile and had pretty much given up on them. Until last week when I got an email from them and tht they want to continue the process with me.

I have a video interview with them tonight. I think that it is pretty much a 'catching up' interview to see what is going on with both of us.

But this is the job I want. I'll post an update tomorrow

The new Red Green show

I didn't even know this was still on, even in reruns!! I saw 2 episodes once while visiting my friend Bryan in Boise. Caught an episode last night on a PBS pledge drive.

This may well be the funniest show ever made. It was on Canadian tv and was a cross between a reality show and sketch comedy. The basic set was the Possum Lodge in Canada and Red Green was the leader. The show was built around men helping other men to be men.

Here's what last night's show dealt with. Trying to pu a sunroof in a van. But once the hole was cut, Red broke the pane of glass. He therefore used an upside-down aquarium with the logic that you could stick your head out and see above traffic.

There was a section on bungee jumping, but Red decided that the bungee rope was too expensive and instead bought 100 pair of extra stretch panty hose for the job.

The third bit was about establishing a petting zoo at the Possum Lodge. The first idea didn't go over so well because all they had were badgers and skunks. The second idea was for a drive-through petting zoo, with animals in mail boxes. You would drive by, open a mailbox, p[et the animal and go to the next.

I heard some of these were on DVD. Gotta get some

Ministry at any (almost) cost

Christa's small group meets at our house on Sunday nights. Usually I'm just upstairs with the kids. Regan goes down just abut the time the group starts. Caleb, maybe a half hour later. So I was going to have some 'me' time last night, reading, that sort of thing.

There's a woman who signed up for the group. New to Bay Hills and a single mom with a 3-yr old. I had said that I would watch her son with Caleb if she came to the group. She didn't show the first 2 weeks so I think the group maybe gave up on her a bit. She came last night ith her son.

So much for my 'me' time. But that's a good thing. I was able to minister in a way that I'm normally not able to...by babysitting. This woman would not be able to come to this small group (or maybe any other) unless someone could watch her son during the time. I guess this is just an extension of my role as small groups pastor. Her son and Caleb had a good time together. This next summer, Caleb and I are going to go on an overnight backpacking trip. Caleb asked tis other boy (having met him only an hour before) if he wanted to camping with us.

Caleb is good at ministering as well

Blessing upon blessing

Our heater went out the other day. Just refused to keep working. Obivously this becomes an issue in February with 2 young kids. So we sucked it up and called the heater repairman. A friend of mine recommended him to us. He's local, works by himself and is also a Christian. He goes to Valley Bible Church.

While he was working on the heater today, Christa was in the bedroom talking to me about ministry opportunities, espeically the church in Walla Walla which is back on the table. Greg the repairman heard a bit of the conversation. When he was done and the heater was fixed, Greg said that he would accept no payment from us because of my pastoral search. His exact words to Christa were "Let me bless you".

Blessings indeed come from God when we least expect them. Blessings aren't always desperately needed but they are contually a sign that God is working in the lives of his children. The challenge for us as Christians is to take the blessings which God gives and somehow pass them along to someone else.

Speaking of that, we're fnally getting the DMV work done on the Buick today so that we can pass it along to Emily and Joe

The Last Season

I just finished reading "The Last Season" by Eric Blehm. It's the story of a backcountry ranger in Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Park who disappeared one summer.

Backcountry rangers are those who live in the backcountry during the summer and into the fall. They've got elaborate tents or even cabins to live in. It is their job to be the ranger presence far away from any road or other building. They direct hikers, clean up trash, destroy illegal campfire pits and lead search and rescue operations (called SARs).

The main character in the book, Randy Morgenson, had been a backcountry ranger for almost 30 years when he suddenly disappeared while on wilderness patrol.. Tis book gives his history and what eventually became of him.

I was a good boy with this book. I didn't turn to the last chapter to find out what happened to him...I really had no idea, even mostly through the book. It comes to a head in the last few pages as his disappearance is explained, but there was no hint of it before in the book. Just questions and no answers until near the end.

What the book also did for me was to give me a hunger for the wilderness again. Until the past 4 years or so, I regularly backpacked 2-3 times during the summer. Since 2004, I've been only once. Having 2 kids is of course a factor in this. But I had forgotten how much I miss it until I read this book. The writer talks about and describes places that I've heard about for years but never been to, such as LeConte Canyon, Dusy Basin and Rae Lakes.

This summer I will take Caleb backpacking for the first time. Just an overnight trip, maybe to Union Resevoir with about a 1-mile hike. Bt it is time to indoctrinate him. And it is time for me to get my wilderness mojo back

Friday night dinner

Friday night dinners tend to be my most complicated. But it doesn't always have to be that way. Tonight I sauteed Veal Scaloppine and topped it with a wild mushroom sauce (bottled from Williams Sonoma). I also stir-fried some asparagus with garlic, soy sauce and a pinch of sugar. Bon Appetit!!!