Cranberry Bran Banana Muffins

These are REALLY good.  :)

Preheat oven to 400

1 egg
1 cup mashed banana
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Mix these five ingredients.
Add 1 1/2 cup 100% bran cereal  - NOTE: I used bran flakes as that is what we had on hand

let it set for a while to soften the bran.  

Mix the following together in a separate bowl
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Plus OPTIONAL ingredient: 1/2 cup walnuts  (I did not add the walnuts as I don't much like them in food, and we don't need the extra calories). :)

Mix both bowls together until just moistened.

Set to one side 3/4 cup whole berry cranberry sauce (we used homemade)

NOW; grease your 12 cup muffin tray.  Note: greasing is important for this recipe (or use paper muffin thingeys).

Spoon mix into muffin spots until half full.

Then put one tbsp of whole berry cranberry sauce on it.

Then cover that cranberry sauce with another scoop of muffin mix.

Cook for about 25 minutes.  In our oven it took 27 minutes.

Then eat them.  NOTE: we found them best eaten warm, though cold was fine...warm was better.  :)

Day by Day - Hebrews 5:12-14

Using as a base for devotions, Day by Day by Charles Swindoll.

Hebrews 5:12-14  ESV

¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, ¹³ for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

And here it is in the NIV

 ¹² In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! ¹³ Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

 I have to admit, I am so used to looking at things in context that I find myself wondering...what comes before this for him to say "for though ..."

Ah... here is verse 11 which shows why this is an issue:   

¹¹ We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.

The people the author is writing to are no longer trying to grow in their faith.  They are old enough as believers to being taking in the meat of the word but all they want to do is take in the easy stuff.   They are being encouraged to eat more meat!

This is the struggle isn't it?
To work out our salvation as God tells us to.   We mustn't be satisfied with what we have, we must continue to hunger after the truth of God's word.

What Charles has to say: He talks about how spiritual growth needs work "it's a painstaking process that God takes us through, and it includes such things as waiting, failing, losing, and being misunderstood --each one calling for extra doses of perseverance."  We need to apply what we learn into our lives.

Windows of Wisdom : Proverbs 4:20-27

Today's Scripture is Proverbs 4: 20-27 ESV

 ²⁰ My son, be attentive to my words;
   incline your ear to my sayings.
²¹ Let them not escape from your sight;
   keep them within your heart.
²² For they are life to those who find them,
   and healing to all their flesh.
²³ Keep your heart with all vigilance,
   for from it flow the springs of life.
²⁴ Put away from you crooked speech,
   and put devious talk far from you.
²⁵ Let your eyes look directly forward,
   and your gaze be straight before you.
²⁶ Ponder the path of your feet;
   then all your ways will be sure.
²⁷ Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
   turn your foot away from evil.

I find it fascinating sometimes to read the same passage in different translations.
here is the same passage in the easy to read version

 ²⁰ My son, pay attention to what I say. Listen closely to my words. ²¹ Don’t let them out of your sight. Never stop thinking about them. ²² These words are the secret of life and health to all who discover them. ²³ Above all, be careful what you think because your thoughts control your life.
 ²⁴ Don’t bend the truth or say things that you know are not right. ²⁵ Keep your eyes on the path, and look straight ahead. ²⁶ Make sure you are going the right way, and nothing will make you fall. ²⁷ Don’t go to the right or to the left, and you will stay away from evil.

Isn't it interesting to see how different folks translate or paraphrase the same words?  I do find though that one needs to be alert when reading out of different translations.  Sometimes it can change the meaning of a passage and then more checking and reading is needed to discern the truth.

Enough of that though...
Listen to what this passage tells us about God's word.
1. we need to PAY ATTENTION..

• that means to listen closely 
• to keep them in sight/in mind
• to never stop thinking about them

2. be aware they are life to all who find them

• and this I know is a difficult one to understand....how can words to be life?  How can God's word make our lives more of a life?   I know for me they give definition and purpose to what I do.

3. keep your heart with all diligence.  

• Hmmm.. What does that mean?   Does that imply that we can control our hearts?   Can we control our emotions?

4. Watch what you say.

• well that one makes sense.   And there is a passage, I think in the new testament that talks about what is in our hearts comes out on our lips which links these two verses doesn't it?   What is in our heart comes out in our speech.   I just wrote a piece on my rabbit information blog about the need to be careful how we think about animal rights people as it affects how we write and communicate with them.   That would be an example of this in real life.   Guard your hearts, watch your tongue.

5. Watch where you are going

• in other words...don't walk looking backwards or to the side.  You know the adage of where you look is where you drive...guess what.. same thing goes for life.  If you want to move forward you need to look to where you want to go.   Just as in rabbit breeding one develops a picture in one's head about what they want their rabbits to look like so you breed to that end.  If you want to raise a child to be a certain way.. you train them to that end.   If you want to be a person called after God's own heart...then look to God and his word and train yourself to that end.   Walk toward what you want to be.

6. not only look to where you are going...but THINK about it.  Ponder it in your heart.

• If you think about where you are going you'll have a better picture in your brain about what you need to do to get there.

7. Don't wander off the path.

• If you set your mind on the things of God you aught not to be going off it after things that aren't of God.  
• OR.. in bunny language.. if you want to breed a polish rabbit with a nice big head with eyes that pop.. well you don't go keeping the one with squinty eyes.    
• Keep focused on the goal and don't let other things get in your way. :)

This is at least a brief look at what I think on this passage...
And in keeping with what God has laid on my heart lately.. on how I am to trust him with my whole heart.  If THAT is my end goal.. to really totally trust God.. then I need to keep my eyes on HIM.   Not on the world around me with it's worries and cares...but ON HIM.  Not letting myself get freaked out about the events of life and what not.  My goal needs to on God.

what does Olford have to say about this passage?
"for this chapter the dominating theme is that of Discipline"
"if our lives are going to please our Father, then we must accept discipline over our hearts (v. 23), our lips (v.24),our eyes (v.25) and our feet (v.26).

this made me laugh. what do you think? :)

Cod with Lemon and Dill

Going to make this recipe for supper

Baked Cod with Lemon and Dill.

I'm going to play a bit since I have fresh dill not dried, and dried lemon Zest not fresh.. so we'll see how it turns out.  :)

 Hopefully good.

I'm going to have pasta on the side with it, and probably a salad.

The lad is going to try some of the fish, but will mostly have bacon instead of fish.

Christian Carnival - January 18, 2012

Welcome to the January 18, 2012 edition of christian carnival ii.

Charles Chua C K presents All About Living With Life: 5 Ways to Live With an Attitude of Gratitude posted at All About Living with Life.

An attitude of gratitude is good for your health and happiness. How do you develop a habit of thankfulness and appreciation?

Shannon Christman (blog editor) on behalf of author Ridge Burns presents Letting Love Lead posted at Mission Blog.

I’m asking God to help me have a heart of love for people this year. I want to love them not with a “because I should do it” attitude, or an “it’s the Christian thing to do” attitude, or a “because they love me first (or well)” attitude, but with a love that is purely from God, a love that will reflect Christ in the things that I am doing and the way that I am being as I work with others, serve others, and meet them along the way.

Jason Hess presents It Is Religion That Makes Us. posted at eckSermonator.

Religion when viewed and participated in correctly is the manifestation of the unseen belief we call faith.

Joseph Lule presents Day of the Lord: Sin and Salvation posted at Day of the Lord.

What is sin?

Rom 14:23 “…..whatever is not of faith is sin.”

What is faith? It is described in Heb 11:1 that “Now faith is the essence of things being hoped, the evidence of things not having been seen”.

Chelsea Prescotti presents Mortgage Lenders Hunt Home Owners Even After Foreclosure posted at CreditScore.net, saying, "No one ever buys a home with the intention of one day losing it to foreclosure or being forced by circumstance into a short sale. Unfortunately, that is exactly the situation in which many homeowners find themselves. Financial struggles push thousands of homeowners into short sale or foreclosure every year. When the housing market collapsed in 2008-09, many found themselves upside-down in their mortgage and opted to simply walk away, leaving the bank to foreclose on the property and sell it for whatever a buyer would pay."

Chris Brooks presents Why was Jesus Rejected? posted at Homeward Bound, saying, "Examining what the Jews of Jesus' day were looking for in a Messiah."

People didn't know what to do with Jesus. Some people accepted Him for a while, then turned against Him. Some rejected Him from the beginning, Even those that followed Him to the end didn't respond well to his execution and didn't expect His resurrection - despite the fact that they'd been warned.

Isabel Anders presents The Faces of Friendship | BlogHer posted at BlogHer, saying, "That there is something about earthly friendship which, like an icon, invites us to see through it into sacred dimensions."

I chose the book’s title, The Faces of Friendship, and the publisher kept it, which is not always the case. I intended it to function in two ways, the first of which is the literal sense, which these wonderful faces on the cover of the new edition show—how friendship is mediated from person to person.

But the first edition of the book, with its icon of St. Ann and St. Joachim embracing, provided a sense of the second meaning: That there is something about earthly friendship which, like an icon, invites us to see through it into sacred dimensions—into the many faces or facets of friendship as sacrament.

Chris Price presents Catholics, Evangelical Protestants, and a Shift in Presidential Politics posted at American Church History.

The evangelical voters considered Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry. The very fact that they chose Santorum shows a significant shift in American Protestant politics over the past few decades.

Dan Lower presents To Men Who Style Themselves Chivalrous posted at keyboard theologians, saying, "In which I speculate that the first place a truly chivalrous man ought to make his stand is his own mind."

Chesterton said that fairy tales describe what sane men do in mad worlds, and modern psychological novels describe what mad men do in sane worlds. We are the heroes of modern psychological novels, we are trapped in the setting of fairy tales, and there is no hope for us but in Christ.

Annette at Fish and Cans presents Day by Day - Psalm 139.

The lad and I talked a bit about this the other day. How God ALWAYS knows us. That God knew we would get upset even before we were born, He knew that I would like bunnies and that The lad would like angry birds and lego and telling stories. That he knew that RIGHT NOW we would be eating breakfast. God knows us full well.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of christian carnival ii using our carnival submission form.
Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Day by Day - Psalm 139

Using as a base for devotions, Day by Day by Charles Swindoll.

Psalm 139. You can find the whole psalm here.

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹ You have searched me, LORD,
and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
^.......

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

......

The lad and I talked a bit about this the other day. How God ALWAYS knows us. That God knew we would get upset even before we were born, He knew that I would like bunnies and that The lad would like angry birds and lego and telling stories. That he knew that RIGHT NOW we would be eating breakfast. God knows us full well.

When I think of this in the light of how God is impressing upon my heart that depth of what it means to trust him... I feel VERY secure. Perhaps for the first solid thinking as an adult time in my life I am starting to feel VERY secure in God's love. Knowing how bad I can be within myself. Knowing the God knows that and for some strange reason loves me none the less. It kinda blows my mind.

It's like my hubby loves me even when I'm a jerk at times.
It's like my son loves me even though I fail him at times.
God loves me MORE....but he uses my family to show that to me at times.

God is SO infinitely more. And he calls loudly...trust me, know that I have your long term best interests at heart. Even if you have hard days, even if you aren't perfect, even if you fail, even if you make me smile.... I will love you, I will watch over you, I am always, and forever THERE.

I don't have to impress God. I don't have to make myself someone different for him. God won't reach out and surprise me, telling what I've done wrong. HE KNOWS what I've done wrong, he tells when I've done it if I'm willing to listen. ALL I need to do is live for him. To do my best for him and that's ALL he wants. I think perhaps this knowledge is too simple, and yet too big for me. :) One of those conundrums that is God.

To trust him with my everything....he knows it anyways...

What does Chuck have to say about this passage?
Chuck talks about the importance of upholding Human Dignity. How in today's clime it is so easy to lose that personal touch.
And he calls us to trust him completely.