There is no balance

I had an interesting conversation with someone wonderful the other day after a bake off at the local school. After eating 20+ samples of surprisingly high quality baked goods, I ended up in a rant with Ricard Lewellen. My rant of course, not his...

It jumped all over, but what really got me is how does one know when they are fulfilling a lifestyle (materially speaking) pleasing to God?

See I dont hae a second thought about buying a $5 loaf of artisan handmade bread. I dont even have to try and justify it saying "I love to eat" or "God made me a type of guy who loves this stuff" or even better "My favorite thing is to buy this and share it with people I love". All these are true. But I dont think it justifies the action.

I have a guitar that costs more than my first car. No one (including even John Loux) needs or deserves a guitar like this. John rips on one that costs 20%.

Some of my firends will counter with "But you love to give". This is also true. But it doesnt justify spending that much money on something.

There simply isnt a justification per se. But my thought is, I probably dont need one. I hope Im right. If Im not, Im a hedonist, or a glutton, or maybe worse.

I dont feel defensve either, just wondering. Should I buy crap bread at Panera (works in a pinch but comparitively an awful value)? Is it more holy, or more Godly? If Im really Godly, Ill go buy a $100 Fender Squier Crap-O-Caster. There have been times I was GRATEFUL to have one to play. But I dont WANT that. I want my Warrior.

How far does this rabbit hole go? Thats what tells me something is smelly about this line of thought. At a recent IHO staff meeting, the statement about social drink was made. It was a good reminder. I dont actually apreciate the idea, I love to drink wine. But that is the rules, and if you want to be apart of it, you do the rules.

Then it got interesting. Now I dont know any of the people personally who spoke, but I beleive and knwo others who will vouch for them and their character, and their hearts. The statement was made "I have never seen someone with aspirit of revival on them that drank". Ok. I dont buy it, but I appreciate you think that way. It isnt what goes into a mans mouth, but comes out of it that defiles him, but I can accpet a different thought. There is certainly a lot less risk not drinking than drinking when it comes to choices and judegment.

But it kept going. The statement was made "The grain used to make beer on a global scale could feed 50 million people annually". WOW. Lets asusme that is true. I think that is a GREAT reason to reconsider drinking beer. People take cheap grain off the market, and make expensive, non essential drink for people who can afford it. Bad Deal. Im sure tere is lots of other things, but hey, you start somewhere.

But then I almost yelled out "I sure hope all that coffee served at Higher Grounds is Certified Fair Trade". Because see this is a slippery slope. It has no bottom. IF we agree Coffee should be certified fair trade, the momentum builds.

"I hope that produce you are eating isnt picked with illegal and/or migrant labor that is wrking for unfair wages"

"I SURE hope you didnt buy that shirt at Wal-Mart. They have numerous pending lawsuits about cheatng employees out of overtime and payroll"

"Hey, how about we establish that non-essential things like coffee, beer, wine, sugar etc... are unholy because you are spending money you shouldnt, on things that could support the poor both with your giving, and the market not raping innocent poor people"

We get ascetic. How many sets of clothes should you have? How many cars? How big? How much MPG?

But there has to be a balance point Here is where I got to so far...

1. Is this choice Im making purely self-gratifiying? Be honest here. God doesnt hate pelasure at all. HE MADE it. I cannot wait to sit with Hm and cook and eat with Him. Im sue He knows how it all tastes, but it is one of the few things I can give Him,a nd one of the simplest ways I show affection. But, rampant self-gratification is sinful. It creates a tolerance for more, and increases the appetite for more.

2. Is this choice something I feel guilty about? Am I convicted? Am I willing to be convicted?

3. Am I able to give this thing away without enjoying it? If I was aksed or even needed to be commanded, would I try to do it, or put myself in the wy of Grace to be obedient?

4. Am I giving in general? Am I listening and looking for ways to give regardless?

5. Is it reasonable for me to do this? When I bought my guitars, I was debt-free, and had landed a ton of capital. I didnt borrow a dime to do it, and had a simple lifestyle that allowed me to do it without even flinching.

I dont know why Im thinking about this so much. As Richard and I were talking, Im right next to someone I love to pieces. They have just adopted yet again, found out they are prgnant and only God knows where this bus might stop! They live on a shoestring. I honestly dont knwo how they do it. Trust me, on several occasions I have asked if we should sell or do something to help, because now, we simply dont have hardly any resources to help.

I dont live on direct support. Mine is indirect. And it is hurting right now. I use wisdom to pull back on purchases that wouldnt allow us to give some here, and be wise. But I can stall use my freedom to go try and get more work, or change things. Most of our firends would suffer greatly to do that.

I look forward to things God may say about this to me. Im willing to be wrong, or right. Im willing to adjust, I just need to know where my target is. And accept it being different than someone else. Because I dont think there is a clear definition excepet for LOVE and OBEDIENCE.

For all our California Friends

This was last week. It is a few cents less now.

This is cool

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

See how high you are comparatively.....

To amny answers

so we pray on Sundays afternons in our debrief for finances. We also began prayin for ideas. Im starting to get them, a lot of them.

It feels like when I stop taking fish oil. My head starts running. This is very similar. I have 2-3 things I think are viable.

Here is the rub. When they asked me to pray for ideas a) I thought I was praying for THEM and b) the main thing coming out of my mouth was "give us courage to pursue these things".

Im not sure what ot do. I dont have a lot of energy and focus, and I dont comprehend how to move forward. But I am connecting all these thing together, and feel kind of stuck! Im stuck moving forward?

We shall see what comes up. One of them involves a media blog, and anoth involves media distribution. The other involves making my basement into a bakery. Oy Vey!

Art for Adoption

This is (yet again) one of those times I shamelesly ask for contributions. This one has a time frame on it...

Adopting children with any kind of untypical needs from thisp art of the world is serious. It is shocking to note that at 3 years old, these children are put into an institution, and are no longer adoptable. This is shocking even more so because of the treatment. I cannot quote the number because I couldnt remember it, but it was so signficant that I was stunned. Children at 3 are palce in a situation where they are tied to their bed, fed once a day, and many of them dont survive the first year. The ones who do are kept like this until they hit a certian age, and are turned out to the street, making perfect victims of child traffickers.

Our friends are adopting from there, and have their hearts entangled with a boy named Aiden.

John and Tracie are in the process of adopting a little boy named Aiden from Eastern Europe. Aiden has Down Syndrome and will be 3 in March. We are excited to welcome him into our family.

The Loux’s are currently raising finances to help pay the cost of adoption. They are still in need of $18,000, and are trusting God for total provision.If you would like to help support their adoption, they are currently having a fundraiser called ART FOR ADOPTION.They are currently selling photographs and will be listing some original paintings and other artwork soon.The link to their webstore is http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6457320

You can read more about Aiden and their adoption at their blog www.tracieloux.wordpress.com, where they also have posted other ways that you can give to their adoption fund.

Do it. 5$, 50$, 500$. It doesnt matter. Give what you got. Give now. I want them going to Ukraine with several thousands of dollars in extra money for gifts, and funding the next couple that wants to do this. If you want it anonymous, give it to me, and I will get it to them.

Dow 6000

Im dont know the fellow whowrote this etc... ut I have ben waiting since 2001 for this to appear.

I have believed for quite some time (since 2001) that the DOW will hit a bottom of 6000. I can say I believed it was Divine, regardless of what other people would think. Some may say "The market goes up and down" but NO ONE I know ever believed it could go that low.

I beleive that this will be either the bottom, or so near it as to make the difference negligable. The important thing here is to know where the bottom will be, and to buy there as low as possible. WHAT to buy is beyond me. An indexed fund exposed broadly might be safe, then again, the bottom could be the price for a long time, and only certain sectors could go up.

I dont have any capital to invest, but I might within the next 2-3 months. If Im tracking, I have said I believed that the current slump isnt the bottom, it would be here in the next few months. This article is saying the same thing, only slightly earlier.

This isnt investment advice, only information. If you get confirmation, or feel something similar, Im only writing this to help confirm.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80642

Trying to Edit my Tomato SOup

We took movies of making hte SOup to share with people, but the problem is they are brkoen into about 8 different files, and the camera we used made really large files. I have a QuickTime eitor on my old laptop, ont he old hard drive on that laptop, and this is going to take some time.

I apologize in advance for the host, he is a little quirky, but we hadfun. Im going to try and see if I can get som professionals (like Nick Loux and Jackson BOhlender) to record the next one about home made pita bread If I can convince their parents to give them HomeSchool Credit for doing it! LOL.

Tomato Soup

A Wonderful friend, mother of at least 6, and avid prayer fortress asked about some tomato soup I made with Richard "Superhero" Lewellen as a test run a while back.

I realized I take for granted the thousands of hours I spent watching TV and eating while people like her were praying and fasting...

So, Im going to record the process of making a pot of tomato soup. This will kind of be like "The Omega Course on Tomato Soup". A simple overview of a deep subject.

Then Im going to record a "EGS Tomato Soup", where I will show how I go deep into this topic, and hot rod soup with all sorts of different things I might have on hand, and applications beyond just tomato soup that you can use with the left overs.

Im a cheap skate, so I will also share the how and how much to see if we can make this simple and cheap for all our missionaries, or cheap skates like me.

My new hobby

I certainly aint no Richard Lewellen or Fevere Bread, but Im making Pita. I have tried a basic recipe, and modulated it. I dont care if it actually has a pocket or not, and I like them bigger like a pizza sized flat bread, but it works the same small or big.

Here is my recipe if you want to try it. You can use a simple bread recipe, but this is a hybrid of ingredients, and method that gives a really good yummy bread.

5 cups total of Flour:
3-4 cups White Bread FlourRemaining Whole Wheat flour

2 teaspoons sea salt, or 3 teaspoons regular. Ground sea salt seems to be stronger, I like it better.

2 Tablespoon Honey, Agave Nectar, or Sugar

1 Packet Instant Yeast

2 Tablespoon OliveOil

2 Tablespoon Flax Seed Oil (Oilve Oil is ok, I just like a little flax)

2 Cups Warm Water

I take 3-4 cups of the flour, mix it with the Honey, Yeast, Oil, and Water, and blend it all together. Then I leave it sit for as long as possible, at least 2-3 hours in a warm spot, covered.
Then I add the remaining flour, and salt and knead it for as long as I can, until it forms up.
Typically about 6-10 minutes.

I roll it out as thin as possible in fairly big rounds, but you could do smaller. I put them in an oven preheated on broil for at least 30 minutes (basically as hot as it can go). I put them on the stones in the bottom of the oven for 3-5 minutes.

Sometimes I put olive oil and salt on them before cooking. Cumin is good too.