Texas food

I need to give my buddy Ross credit for this one. He told me about a cool blog that he found called Homesick Texan.

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/

The author is an expat Texan living in New York city. She writes primarily about the food of Texas with some awesome recipes.

For all those Iowa folks that had to put up with 7 years of my complaining about the food, here you can find what Texas food is all about - Cheese Enchiladas, Sopapillas, Barbecue, Chicken Fried Steak with cream gravy, sheet cake... oh my goodness... I'm getting light headed. She even has the recipe for gingerbread pancakes from one of my favorite restaurants in Austin called Magnolia Cafe. I have had those pancakes. They are out of this world - I can't wait to make them.

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Just thought I would share the wealth.

Blogger tag

I think I got blogger tagged. The reason I say "I think" is because I am not quite sure if I am the right "Greg" that was supposedly tagged. I am sure this is very confusing for you, so let me esplain... no, it's too much. Let me sum up.

Evidently somewhere someone started this thing called blogger tag with the following rules.

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4. You may need to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged and to read your blog.

Well, you see - here's the rub. I was reading Drew's blog and he was talking about being tagged. He listed his 8 random things and then listed some names at the bottom. One of the names was "Greg". Is that me? I'm not quite sure. How many Gregs does he know? I could call or email I suppose, but that could be awkward don't you think? If it wasn't me? "Hey, are you talking about me at the end of your blog?" Answer - "Well... um... sure."

Remember when you were in school and someone waved at you and you waved back only to realize they were really waving at the person behind you?

Yea, that feeling.

Well, enough of this. Whether or not I am the "Greg" in question, I am in the game. Here are my 8 random things.

1. I am not as boring as everyone thinks I am.

2. I am fascinated by the art of things. The art of food; the art of furniture design, the art of communication through paint or pencil or the written word; the art of preaching.

3. I can't operate in clutter, but I also can't seem to keep things organized. It's a vicious cycle. I usually end up "piling". I put all the clutter in one big pile which makes the rest of the room look nice and clean.

4. Raiders of the Lost Ark is still my favorite movie

5. I really like Lost but I was bummed that they killed off Mr. Echo. He was my favorite.

6. I don't know what I am doing. I am a husband, father and pastor of a church. Usually I feel like I am just making it up as I go.

7. I have decided to audition for American Idol. Just kidding. Actually, I do wish I had more singing and/or musical ability. I love music. I feel like I am a musician trapped in a non-musical body.

8. The wind in Kansas is about to drive me batty. It... just ... never... stops... blowing.

Here's the people I tag:

Jenna, Ashley Nicole, Stephen, Greg L, Ross (It's time, bro. You need to start your blog. This could be your first post), Matt.

Notice I didn't mention any last names. Why should I be the only one living in ambiguity?

Quote of the Day - June 7

"If the world is sane, then Jesus is mad as a hatter and the Last Supper is the Mad Tea Party. The world says, Mind you own business, and Jesus says, There is no such thing as your own business. The world says, Follow the wisest course and be a success, and Jesus says, Follow me and be crucified. The world says, Drive carefully - the life you save may be your own - and Jesus says, Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. The world says, Law and order, and Jesus says, Love. The world says, Get, and Jesus says, Give. In terms of the world's sanity, Jesus is as crazy as a coot, and anybody who thinks he can follow him without being a little crazy too is laboring less under the cross than under a delusion. "We are fools for Christ's sake," Paul says, faith says - the faith that ultimately the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men, the lunacy of Jesus saner that the grim sanity of the world."

Frederick Buechner, The Faces of Jesus.

Update - June 6

It has been about 2 weeks since I have written anything on this blog. I keep waiting for creative inspiration for some really great blog posts.

Nothing.

Oh, well - here's what's been going on in my life over the last couple of weeks.

The Bachelor. Kelly and the girls were gone for a week. I survived on leftovers, cereal, ice cream, and the kind generosity of people who felt sorry for me and brought me food. I started a new woodworking project while they were gone. I am building a new bed for Kelly and me. One of my first furniture projects 10 years (or so) ago was bed. I had very little idea what I was doing. Now, that bed is kind of squeaky and rickety - not a good thing. I will tear that old bed down rebuild it as a twin size for Gracie. I am building the new bed out of black walnut. It is a beautiful wood, but I have no dust collection system in my garage, so now everything is coated in brown dust. And, every night after working out there I have to clean out my nose of dark chocolate boogers. (That would be a good name for a band, don't you think? - Dark Chocolate Boogers)

Luke is eating my lunch. Or, I should probably say that Jesus is eating my lunch. I am preaching through Luke and over three consecutive Sundays I have covered the Good Samaritan (10:25-37), Mary and Martha (10:38-42) and then Jesus' teaching on prayer (11:1-13). Wow. I have studied these passages before - many times. But, looking at them again - afresh and anew - it's kind of hard to take. I have a long way to go.

Board retreat. This weekend we are having a board retreat with our elders and deacons. I can't wait. So much of church leadership revolves around "management". It's sort of a necessary evil. The church is a fairly complex organism and "management" is just part of it. It's not the fun part, though. At least from my perspective. The great part of church ministry is "the mission" that we are called to fulfill. Like all churches, however, it is easy to begin with a sense of mission and then get hunkered down with the details of management. Periodically we have to lift our head - see the bigger picture and remember why it is we are doing what we are doing. I, especially need to know where we are going and that we are indeed getting there. This weekend, we (as a leadership board) will breath the country air, we'll pray together, study together, reflect on Biblical mandates - together. In light of those mandates we will assess where we are as a church and where we need to go in the future. We will develop action items and a fresh prayer list of things we desperately want to see God do in our midst. I am hoping and praying for a great weekend.

Kelly and I know how to put away the groceries

Yesterday was Kelly and my wedding anniversary. 14 years! Happy Anniversary to us. Last night we went on our big anniversary date which included dinner at PF Changs. We got to the restaurant late (8:00pm - which is late for us). But even at 8:00pm we had to wait 30 minutes to be seated. By the time we finally sat down we were hungry enough to eat the table.

We quickly ordered an appetizer (which is rare for us - we're pretty cheap).

Then, the manager brings us a second appetizer - for free. How great is that? Evidently it had been made by mistake for another table that didn't want it. He asked if we wanted it. Well... yeah!

Then our entrees came. We were sitting at a table for four and we had to rearrange our plates to make them all fit. So great! What a feast. The amazing part... we ate it all (except for one lettuce wrap). Our waiter was actually laughing at us that we were eating so much.

Then we had a piece of chocolate cake (called The Great Wall of Chocolate). It was our anniversary after all. We couldn't finish the cake though - it was ginormous. We had met our match.

All in all, it was feast worthy of a true celebration. Kelly is my greatest earthly blessing. I love the fact that we get to be married. Happy anniversary, Kelly.

Perhaps, by next May 22 I'll be hungry again.

Dull

Starting this blog has made me feel at times like Peter at the Transfiguration. Peter, not knowing what to say, said...

Not much writing lately because I haven't felt like it and I haven't really known what to say. I have not been feeling terribly eloquent - or clever - or creative. I am actually feeling quite dull of brain and spirit.

But, I know that God is still at work in and around me. Sometimes it just doesn't look like it... or feel like it. It comes as no shock to anyone who might be reading this blog to know that even pastors go through times of dryness and distance - when the glory of the "mission" seems squashed by daily, mundane maintenance - when the pleasures of sweet communion seem much more real in theory than experience.

Today, my mind is drawn back to a dog-eared prayer in one of my favorite books by A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God. Here it is (changing "thee" and "thy" to "you" and "your").

"Oh God, I have tasted your goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need for further grace. I am ashamed at my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want you; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me your glory, I pray, so that I may know you indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, "Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away." Then give me the grace to rise and follow you up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long."

Isn't that good? This prayer is dog-eared is because I have visited it before. On many occasions - spanning years and years - I have felt the same longing, the same frustration. Is that a shameful thing - that I feel just as needy now as I did then? I hope not, because it seems to be the story of my journey. God seems to teach me dependence, not through success and mission advancement, but through times of dryness, inadequacy and a profound discontent with who I really am.

I am in one of those times.


By the way - the Honduran team had a great trip. They gave away tons of food packs; they equipped a hospital and a clinic with much needed medicine and equipment; they fitted and gave away all-terrain wheelchairs to very eager recipients. Good job. No coffee - but I guess I'll let that slide.

International Coffee Broker

There is an orphanage in Honduras that several of the folks from our church help out with. We sent a team down last week with a whole 18-wheeler size trailer full of supplies (including an x-ray machine for a local hospital there, several thousand bottles of antibiotics and 100 wheelchairs - among other things). Very cool.

My one request of the team - find me some good coffee to bring back. But, I don't want roasted coffee that will go stale in a couple of weeks - I want green coffee, still in the burlap sack (I roast my own coffee). And, it needs to be good quality, high grown Arabica beans. No problem, right?

They quickly informed me that I would need to tell them where to go and who to talk to get those beans. This proved to be much more difficult than I thought it would be.

I should have realized that stateside coffee wholesalers would not be too eager to tell people like me where to get good quality coffee. (Current "fair trade" price is about $1.39/lb - which means market driven, non fair-trade coffee has to be around $1/lb or less. And, considering the fact that coffee roasting is not a terribly difficult or expensive art - it is amazing that the same $1/lb coffee is being sold for $12 -$16/lb or $1.50-$4/cup in coffee shops. No wonder Starbucks is making a killing.) That being said, I was very much on my own.

I found a promising Honduran Fair Trade Coffee Cooperative web site. Too bad it was all in Spanish (and Google translator wouldn't work). My four years of Spanish in middle school and high school did me no good - what a waste. For a few brief moments I tried to muster my courage to make the international call to the phone number on the web site. But, I just knew someone would answer and say, "hola, como estas?" - and I would be completely lost. I wrote down the phone number and the address and gave it to our team. "Call them" I said. It was the best I could do.

One of the team members called me yesterday to tell me they couldn't get a hold of anyone at that number. On to plan "B". They said they talked to someone who knows someone, who knows someone, who... could connect them to a grower up in the mountains. Who knows what they will get. Who knows if they will be able to get the beans past customs. They might have to "smuggle" it. They'll probably get arrested. I'll probably get arrested. You'll probably see me on the news.

All I wanted was coffee.