Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I finally fried our turkey. It was a 15 lb. turkey from Sam’s and it was delicious. I got a little nervous when I put it in because I didn’t have enough oil in the pot. It was six inches too short from covering the backend of the bird. So when I added the extra oil, the temperature dropped to close to 200 degrees. I pumped up the heat (it looked like the back end of a fighter jet) which took about ten minutes to get it back to 300 degrees. The oil began to rumble and there was a little bubbling over the edge of the pot as the oil shot out the end of the bird like a poultry volcano. I cooked it for 55 minutes, and it came out a nice golden brown. This was definitely a cool way to cook something!

I had a ladder set up over the pot and rigged it to a pulley so that I could pull it out in case of emergency (along with a fire extinguisher close by) and so that it could drain into the pot.

This was also the first time I carved an entire turkey. I used and electric knife (of course), and separated the white meat from the dark. The hardest part was keeping Hannah-Grace out of it long enough to finish.

We ended the meal by throwing a nerf football around in the backyard and somehow I fell asleep on our living room floor (how or when I don’t remember).

Long story short – our house is still in one piece – no fire, fun with family, and one delicious turkey.

Oh, the bottom picture is deep fried oreos — yum! And did you notice the name of my blog is something to chew on? When I named it that a year ago, I really didn’t think it would have anything to do with cooking. Such is life.

This past Sunday our small group had it’s last get-together of the cycle so I wanted us to just have some fun. So we had our first annual “Will it Fry?” Everyone was to bring anything they wanted to try fried. I set up some halogen lights, had a fire extinguisher on hand, and set up a table with all the needed instruments.

Kimberly and I had two chickens, someone else brought potato wedges, and then there were many other things to be tried and fried. Here’s the list:
oreos (chocolate and vanilla)
fudge brownies
3 Musketeers
Snickers
Rice Crispy Treats
bananas
apples

Everything we tried came out delicious except for the Rice Crispy Treat. It wouldn’t sink, so before it could fry it soaked up the oil like a sponge (yuck).

It was a great night, and I have a feeling there will be a second annual “Will It Fry?”

Isaac has taken to water like Scooby to Scooby Snacks. He loves the water and has no fear what so ever of it. So we have started him in the “Inia and Perch” at the YMCA (am I the Inia or the Perch?). The goal of the class is to acclimate the child to the water, and to learn early skills to swimming. We jump off the side to the tune of “I’m a little tea cup,” and we are working on “reach and pull” and kicking while laying his back. Most of all, I just enjoy spending time with my son and watching him grow.

I remember being in the class with Hannah-Grace not that long ago and now she is taking gymnastics! So I am simply enjoying the time.

Beginning this coming Sunday, Daybreak will begin to gather Operation Christmas Child boxes to send to needy children all over the world. So please begin to gather your materials and share in the joy of giving. You can click on the graphic in this posting and it will give you all the information you need. Remember this is an activity that you can do with your family, as a Sunday school class, small group, etc…

There are some churches that have “discovered” the best way for them to “do church,” and they continue to do this same method, practice, style, etc.. until today. The problem with this inflexibility is that this way of doing church may stretch back fifty or more years. Many look to the church and a worship service to be a place that changes very little over time, and this gives them a sense of comfort.

I have talked with many people over the years who may go to church a half dozen times a year, and they expect it to be exactly the same every time, or it’s not really “church.” I even talked with one gentleman who literally argued with me about how churches should have a cross in their logo, or they were “sell outs.” After more discussion with this I guy I learned that he did not even go to church and had not, nor would not, for some time.

The world has some whacked out views about what a church experience should be like. They also have some healthy and fair expectations of what a church experience should be like. We know that bad experiences with less than credulous Christians greatly impacts a persons desire to attend a local congregation.

So in an effort to show the world how relevant and “real” we are we try to different things to seek to bridge this cultural gap. Change is a healthy and natural part of relating to the world around us – but it has to be within the bounds of what the Bible teaches. In many ways appearance and perception is foundational, and of extreme importance. If people think you are crazy, unapproachable, judgmental, or irrelevant then why would they ever want to set foot in your church services.

Which brings us to this video – they are seeking to blend some things in which you just need to make a choice (dance or no dance, dress or casual, modern music or 80’s, etc…) I believe that when the world sees this mixed up mess (or other things like it), they laugh and are reassured that their choice to sleep in on Sunday has been the right choice. The main problem that I see with this fandango group is that they aren’t willing to let go of tradition but are trying to add modernity to what they have already been doing. Churches have to be willing to learn from the past, treasure tradition, but let go of it in order to move into the future. When you try to do both at the same time it just comes across as comical. Remember culture changes (who still has a 8-track in their car?) but the Bible and it’s truths never change. We are to tell the never changing story in ever changing new ways.