Off Tract

From time to time I find an interesting blog that really gets my attention and then I usually find a post or two that gets me interested.  The following post was copied from THE HOMELESS GUY in Nashville TN.  Kevin is a Christian and homeless...And posts are/come from his knowledge of being chronically homeless.  Check out his site sometime and catch a few articles of his...you might be surprised what 'grabs' you!

Off Tract

Posted on April 10, 2007 by TheHomelessGuy

Someone recently asked about religious tracts for the homeless. For those who don’t know, tracts are small pamphlets some Christians use as a way to promote the faith. Personally, I’ve never known tracts to be an effective means of ministry, especially to non-Christians. And they often have the opposite effect - instead of bringing people closer to god, they often turn people away from Him.

Faith is a personal thing, and can only be properly dealt with on a person to person basis. Personal interaction is needed, and tracts are not personal. If anything, tracts are about as impersonal as you can get - and are often used so to avoid personal contact with people. Handing a person a piece of paper and then walking away from them is not how Jesus teaches how to minister to people.

Throw those tracts into the trash, and go out and meet people, and talk to people, and get to know them, and their needs, and help those people you encounter to meet their needs because that’s what God wants you to do. Then these people, so effected by your act of kindness, will be converted and they will begin doing as you do - going out and meeting people and meeting their needs, with the help of God.

And that brings up another subject.

What a weak and selfish people Christians have become. Even the well intentioned Christians get it wrong and make mess of things. When a Christian encounters a person with a problem, they will introduce Jesus, and tell the person with the problem that Jesus will help. And then the Christian leaves the person with the problem alone with Jesus, for them to work out the problem between themselves.

As Christians we are called to help people, and to be the problem solvers. We are supposed to be involved in the solutions. It is not our calling to point people in the direction of help, we are supposed to be the help. Passing out Bibles, or tracts, or inviting people to Church, is a way of avoiding our calling. We serve no one when we pass the buck, not our fellow citizens, not our God.

Old friends, New friends.

Posted by: StephanieRN

On Thursday I got a phone call from Tyrone saying that he wanted to have some friends (Chasity and Janel)over that night that he knew from Mercy Ships and of course I said sure. It was so fun to meet people that Tyrone and known before me and get to know them. Tyrone made us yummy frozen coffee drinks and I baked cookies and we chatted the night away. I think that at times it was Tyrone that felt out numbered being that he was the only guy, but he loved it.

Chocolate truffle ravioli with...

So I guess my playing around with the pasta roller 'rolled' on over into work.

As of the beginning of this week (maybe earlier, I don't know) our International Board (capitalization?) was here at the Operations Center for conferences and meetings. Meaning: they wanted us to plan some lunches that would be lite (mind read salads) so possible board members would be more alert for 'meetings' and such...And because they would be taking them out to eat dinner later in the evening for a more 'full' meal. But anyways...

One of the desserts led me to get a little creative. Using a chocolate truffle recipe that Gary (fellow Chef) gave me and some fresh made pastas rolled thru the machine, we put together our Chocolate Truffle Ravioli with a Vanilla Bean & Cardamom White Sauce accented with a Raspberry Glaze...Yes, I know - How delicious! hahaha!

The trick with the fresh pastas is frying it which melts down those oo-ee gooey truffle centers...enjoy the slide show:

One by One...

Posted by:  StephanieRN

As the time comes closer to moving out of our apartment and onto the base then eventually onto the ship my things (my lovely, wonderful possessions) find new homes. Today my dining table and chairs got packed onto a truck and hauled away. It was bitter sweet. I probably won't miss my table per-say, but the girl that I am attaches memories to my things. But then again, because our belonging are gone we have much more flexibility in order to live on a ship and live out our dreams. Oh man, if I get this emotional over my table I imagine I will be a mess when I have to see my amazing collection of shoes step into new feet.

Pasta Roller, Pantry, & Packing

As we start cleaning, packing, and moving stuff in order to get our apartment empty since our lease is up at the end of the month I broke out the pasta machine one last time before the dust collecting storage.  It's been nice having the challenge of using everything up but still trying to create that great meal out of dwindling pantry supplies that will not be restocked.

Tonight I made a simple tomato sauce with canned (that's right, Muir Glen organic fire-roasted) tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and a little red wine.  Oh yeah, a little of the extra virgin olive oil.

The pasta was pretty simple, a pinch of salt, cup and half flour, pour of oil, and a few eggs...when it starts coming together in little balls is a good sign just to smoosh it all together in a ball and let it rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes.  Roll it thru the pasta roller down to 2, my pasta roller goes from the high numbers to the low.  Our pasta roller at work goes from low to high, kinda crazy huh?!

Instead of going the simple (or hard?) way of rolling it thru the fettuccine or spaghetti cutter I cut 2-inch squares and finger egg-washed the edges of the square folding the sheets over some pan sauteed leftover spinach mixed with some shredded provolone cheese.   (I threw a quick fix of cajun seasoning in there too...just for good measure.)

Read the labels on your spice mixes if you have them, usually no matter what they call it there are a few that have all the flavors you want.  Like Cajun seasoning, it usually has some salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic, onion, etc...and 'other' assorted spices.  I usually don't buy spice mixes because I have so much of everything I can make about any mix I want.  But there are a few that seem to be good quick solutions to bump up a little flavor.

Anyway...Maybe you remember a few posts ago about Konop Meat Market in Wisconsin and how my mother-in-law bought up a bunch of meat for me?  Well, I oven-roasted them in foil.  They were called Swiss & Mushroom Brats (totally pork) and maybe you're saying they didn't really go with the pasta and sauce...but you can't tell my stomach or my wife that.  We are sitting pretty with a smile on our faces.

Last but not least, I had some sweet white wine I wanted to use up so I poached a few fresh pears I had with a little cinnamon sugar mixture (I also wanted to get rid of).  Made a little caramel-type sauce with the leftover juices and poured them over the pears which were on top of some puff pastry (that I also had in the freezer begging to be used).  Yes, it could have been better but nobody cared to go get the ice cream so we had to suffer and eat it like it was.

Kinda made me feel like a 'Door Knock Dinner' success...what is that?  It's an old Food Network show where...oh never mind.