Today is Josh’s 15th birthday.  It is hard to believe that he is that old.  It seems like yesterday that he was born. 

I am proud of Josh and the man that he is becoming.  I am thankful for the way he is and the characteristics that God has given him.  He is a headstrong boy that is not easily swayed.  He stands for what he believes and does not waver from it.  He is a kind-hearted young man that gets along well with others.  He is well-behaved and respectful of his elders.  He serves in church any way he can and is willing to be my “pastoral assistant” (aka grunt labor). 

I am also thankful that Josh would rather read a book than do other things.  He would rather communicate with his parents than hang out in his room and listen to his ipod (which he refuses to own).  He would rather sit down and play board games as a family than to hide in his room and play video games.  He is a much different kid than I was at 15.  Josh is a gift from God and I look forward to what the future holds for him.

Happy Birthday Josh!  Your mom and I are proud of you!

"The exuberant joy of the early Christians was one of the most potent factors in the spread of Christianity."

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, page 5.   HT: Ray Ortlund

Intercessory prayer might be defined as loving our neighbor on our knees.
-Charles Bent-

I had Chinese food yesterday and when I broke open the fortune cookie, I got a good fortune (not that I believe in that kind of stuff).  I, at least, thought it was a good word.  The fortune: “The star of riches is shining on you this month.”

Hey! that was exciting:)  We’ll see if those fortunes really work!

My lesson from the library today?  Kids are possessive! 

Hannah enjoyed playing with a little boy about her age at the library.  Hannah would lead him over to the computers and tell him to check his emails.  They each had their own computer, but the little boy wanted to check his email on Hannah’s computer.  So Hannah in her “Hannah” way says, “You check your email right there, I check mine here.”  This happened on several occasions.

As they were sitting there checking email, Hannah looks over at me and says, “That’s my daddy!”  The little boy simply repeated what Hannah had said.  He replied as a question, “That’s my daddy?”  Hannah jumped out of her seat screaming, “No, that’s my daddy! That’s my daddy!”  She comes and puts her arms around me and yells, “That’s  my daddy!”

After that if the little boy came near me, she would replay that whole scene again.  I know you are supposed to be quiet in the library but Hannah hasn’t got that down yet:) 

What is it about kids that they become possessive and do not want to share?  Is it simply the sin nature within us?  Honestly, we do not grow out of the “not sharing” thing.  It just takes different forms as we get older.  The Bible labels the grown up version as, greed, envy, jealousy and a host of other sins.  Is there any thing in your life that you have become possessive of?  Money, possessions, people, positions, etc.  Another thing we seem to be possessive of is the gospel…we withhold it like it is ours only and never share it with others.

We had an awesome service Sunday morning.  It seemed that God was really present in the House.  Worship went great!  The worship team were off the hook (incredible) on All Things Are Possible.  It seemed like they were on fire!  We sang Healer by Hillsongs and you could sense that God was touching hearts.

We began our series “Getting Through” and talked about Channel Blockers, the things that block our channel with God.  We discussed five things that hinder our prayer lives and focused on working those things out of our lives. 

The five things that block our channel with God are:
1.  Our sin
2.  Our bitterness
3.  Our motives (wrong)
4.  Our pride
5.  Our past failures (condemnation)

We talked about overcoming these things and creating a prayer life that brings results.  This coming Sunday we will be looking at Abiding That Will Help Us Get Through.

Our attendance was good (107) with about a dozen guests.  Our prayer is that lives will be transformed and changed by the power of God’s Spirit.  God is certainly at work in our midst.

We fired up the grill tonight and cooked some supreme Club steaks.  Club steak is the cut of meet close to the T-bone and makes for a tender and great tasting beef.  We put together an incredible mixture of seasonings and the steak melted in our mouths.  I will share the mixture with you because I know everyone looks for the perfect blend of seasoning for their steak.  Just mail me a check for $19.95 for the recipe:)

First, I pour some Soy sauce on the steak and rub it in.  I put Soy on the first side then season that same side, turn it over and put more soy, rub it in and put the seasoning on that side.  I only let the steak stay in the soy sauce for 15 minutes before cooking it.  If you leave it too long it could make the meat a little tougher.

Second, season with Cavender’s Greek Seasoning found at Wal-mart near the spices.   Make sure it is the Cavender in the yellow container.  I cover all of the meat with Cavender’s and rub it in.  Again, do the first side and after it is fully seasoned then do the other side.

The next part is optional.  Just Soy sauce and Cavender’s creates a good steak but I tried something new tonight that tasted great!

After the Cavender’s lightly sprinkle garlic power and onion powder.  The key is lightly!  Cavender’s has these already so do not go overboard or it will effect the taste and create after-dinner garlic breath:)

When done with that, I put Cracked Black Pepper on the steak.  Crush the pepper moderately.  Cracked Black Pepper is different from Ground Black Pepper.  You may have to go to the spice aisle and find the container of Cracked Black Pepper.

Put your seasonings on both sides and grill.  The best flavor comes by cooking your meat medium rare to medium.  If you cook it too long it cooks out the flavor (that is my opinion).  Sonya requires me to cook hers until it looks like charcoal and beef jerky.  I would rather eat vegetables than eat a steak that way:)

Hope you enjoy!

How do you prepare your steaks?  Leave a comment and let me know!

Monday’s are family days at the Cheney house.  The weekend is always busy getting ready for Sunday so Monday is our Sabbath.  We took a journey to Roaring River State Park in Missouri (about 45 minutes from home).  It was a gorgeous day and the weather was perfect to spend outdoors. 

I had flashbacks of childhood as we went through Roaring River.  I was about 12 when we spent a week there with my family.  It was neat being there with my own family and seeing the same things I saw as a child.  We got a lot of great pictures of the beauty of this river park.