Enjoy Your Meal!

-originally from Paul de Pruno in the 1980’s

Louisiana Style Meatloaf

“A classic comfort food that is guaranteed to feed and fill your whole family.” Chef Brian

“Who eats meatloaf anymore?”

Nobody!

“Why?”

Because it is boring!

Meet Brian Hopper, whose words are the intro, and allow him to guide you in creating a delicious surprise for the inhabitants of your home.

A trained chef from Baltimore Culinary Institute, Brian and his wife Suzi once owned their own restaurant in Pennsylvania. Now, they serve on the staff at Bay Area Community Church where Brian is the Annapolis Campus Pastor.

Brian’s enthusiasm for cooking becomes the secret ingredient for this mouthwatering entrée, Louisiana Style Meatloaf. With an engaging manner, he invites you into his kitchen, and he leads you step-by-step through the preparation process. You will enjoy the video, and as his fans say, “This recipe is absolutely fabulous.”

Click the link for an opportunity to bless your family and friends! Cooking With Pastor Brian

Louisiana Style Meatloaf

2 lbs. ground beef/pork mixture (3:1) (or ground turkey) 1 tsp of each - salt, black pepper, cumin, white pepper, cayenne pepper 2 bay leaves ½ cup of each - all finely chopped - green pepper, red pepper, onion, celery 4 cloves garlic ½ stick butter A couple swirls of olive oil 2 tbs Worcestershire sauce 1 tbs Tabasco sauce ½ cup ketchup ½ cup evaporated milk 2 eggs 1 cup breadcrumbs

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

As you and I embrace Living With Eternal Intentionality, even sharing a meal with our family and friends takes on significance. “And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Col. 3:17 HCSB).

When is the last time you had boring meatloaf? Who shared the meal with you? Try to remember what you talked about. Did the conversation make you smile or did it make you want to cry?

How could a new recipe encourage your family, particularly right now?

Escaping the Whirlpool of Negative Thinking

All at once, I stopped in my tracks. The ferocious sight captivated my attention.

My late afternoon walk meandered along the river’s edge, and I drank in my surroundings. All at once, I stopped in my tracks. The ferocious sight captivated my attention. A vicious whirlpool dominated the current, and an ominous swirling motion pulled objects into its powerful, downward grip. The vortex made me shudder, and I wondered what I would do, should I find myself trapped by the underwater tornado.

However, the daunting force in the river leads us to consider another whirlpool, the whirlpool of negative thinking. Such swirling in our heads, leaves us being pulled down by a cruel and dominating strength with a pattern that is both dangerous and destructive.

Negative thinking possesses countless faces and can unexpectedly gain a life of power and strength. A thought, an event, an announcement, a comment, a call, a conversation, a situation, a text, a letter, a fear—to name a few—all hold the potential to take over and take us under.

So, is there a way forward when negative thinking threatens to take us down? Yes, I believe there is. But we must read the river and be vigilant. The recent teaching of our pastor offers a strategic plan. With his permission, I share four phrases for Escaping the Whirlpool of Negative Thinking:

Don’t rehearse it Don't nurse it Don’t curse it Ask God to reverse it

“A sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) is a self-disciplined mind of someone who knows how to handle their thoughts, control their mind, and not let their thoughts and circumstances control them.” (Chad Hovind)

The Bible definitely sheds supernatural light on the murky mental waters of negative thinking. While these concepts are not a formula, they do offer strategic steps of action :

Don’t rehearse it: Monitor your soul talk, and refuse to let mental anguish loop over and over in your mind. Rehearsing the thought—event, announcement, comment, call, conversation, situation, text, letter, fear—over and over inside our heads takes us places God never intended us to go. Instead, turn toward Philippians 4:8 for the counterclockwise motion needed. “Finally …whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.”

Don’t nurse it: Deny the negative thought—event, announcement, comment, call, conversation, situation, text, letter, fear—emotional fuel. Counter the pull, and lift your eyes to heaven where your sanity can be restored (paraphrase Daniel 4:32). Look to God. Let it go. Love like never before!

Don’t curse it: Resist the swirling urge to harbor resentment. Rather, embrace the opportunity to know the sweet and supernatural Presence of Jesus in a place of pain or difficulty. “When you walk through the waters, I will be with you …” (Isaiah 43:3). “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1Thessalonians 5:18).

Ask God to reverse it: Reach upward and grab hold of the promises of God. Only God in His sovereignty can take the negative thought—event, announcement, comment, call, conversation, situation, text, letter, fear—and redeem it. But He can and He will! “For God causes all things (ALL THINGS) to work together for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

As long as you and I walk the trail of life, the danger of being caught in the whirlpool of negative thinking lurks just around every bend. But, God be praised; He does not leave us helpless. He offers His Word—placed in the Hand of The Holy Spirit—to provide fullness of joy, even within the confines of our heads. (John 17:3)

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

How has COVID-19 made the threat of negative thinking more prevalent for you?

Which of the 4 phrases in the strategy against negative thinking draws you in the most?

What is one step you want to pray about and initiate in order to see negative thinking give up its hold on your thought life?

*Chad Hovid, lead pastor at Horizon Community Church, gave permission for these four phrases to be used.

Where Do We Go From Here?

When this is over, you and I will look back and wonder how on earth we made it through such an unprecedented time in our lives. We are still shaking our heads, aren’t we?

Questions race unchecked across the forefront of our minds; questions like these: “How did we get here? Where did this come from? Will this happen again? Will this happen again soon? How quickly will there be a vaccine? How can I cope with the pain of loss? Will life ever be the same again?”

And, along with the questions, we are forced to face the realities—life moments have been lost.

I think of the high school senior who has lived since she was a little girl imagining the night she would go to prom with her Prince Charming. (Life moment lost.) I consider the mom who birthed that baby boy, and knew one day she would sit in the audience to proudly watch him walk across the stage, and accept his university degree. (Life moment lost.) I picture the dad who pitched a baseball, year in and year out, to a hopeful lad in the backyard, and anticipated the night his son would take the mound for the College World Series (Life moment lost.) I ache with the parents denied the privilege to be near their only daughter as she gave birth to her firstborn. (Life moment lost.) And I grieve to consider the granddaughter who never missed a family gathering, and yet was forced to bid farewell to her beloved grandfather through the chill of a cold a computer screen. (Life moment lost.)

And, as we acknowledge the loss of life passages, you and I willingly admit that our upside-down life has nudged us to get a number of perspectives right-side-up again. These come to mind: With a fresh tenderness, we acknowledge that life is a gift, and …life is a vapor. Health is an unspeakable treasure. Relationships sweeten our sojourn, and going to work is an absolute privilege.

So, while we prepare to walk out from under the smothering blanket of COVID-19, we will never fully walk away from it. COVID-19 stories, lessons, memories, and heartaches have been woven into the fabric of our society, and into the fabric of our souls. We are different; we are forever altered.

An entirely different blog post was prepared for this week, but somehow the Holy Spirit brought me back to my computer to start over. My rewrite flows out of a desire to stop at this moment, and express gratitude to you, dear reader. Thank you. Thank you for being here to journey with me. I needed you, and you have brought light to my life in the darkness of a pandemic. I savor the treasured fact that you and I have partnered together in an unprecedented time in history.

Now,

Where Do We Go From Here?

We move forward Living With Eternal Intentionality® into the future that God has for us. For only in our Living With Eternal Intentionality do hard questions find their answers, and lost moments discover their redemption. Indeed, only in Living With Eternal Intentionality do you and I lay hold of a reason for living at all. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Yours for Living With Eternal Intentionality - I love you, Debby Mark 12:28-30