Out of trouble and into glory

Often we are told the story of Moses and his leading the people of Isreal out of Egypt, which includes the glorious parting of the Red Sea. In that event, the Children of God are backed up against the sea, crying and complaining that Moses has led them out of captivity only to be slaughtered by Pharoah's army. Upon instruction from God, Moses holds forth his rod, the sea parts and the people cross over into safety. The stuff of movies!

But I wasn't quite aware that there is another such parting of the waters miracle. In the opening chapters of the book of Joshua, the Isrealites are camped out on the banks of the Jordan River, having wondered in the wilderness for forty years after missing their first opportunity to cross over into the Promised Land. Moses has passed the mantle of leadership to Joshua and gone to the hills to be with God, and Joshua prays to God for a way to demonstrate to the people that he is the right man for the job, and that God is with them. Upon God's instruction, Josh has the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant to the water's edge and God parts the Jordan so that the people of Isreal can enter the land of Canaan. (Josh 3:13-17)

Two things strike me about that, although I'm sure there is more to be mined from these passages. First is the idea that when faced with an obstacle, sometimes the answer is the same. Moses was in dire straits with trouble pressing in, and the waters parted in answer. Joshua was languishing in leadership, not facing a formidable foe, and the waters parted. In the first instance, getting out of trouble; in the second, getting into promises. 

Second is the message of hope. After forty years of wandering and wondering, God used the same plan to move His people forward, first saving them from certain destruction, then, in spite of the wailing, crying, disobedience, disbelief and everything they went through, moving them into the promise of God. What that says to me is that, in spite of what I've done and how I've acted, it's not too late for God to move in my life.

Thanks be to God!

One post at a time

I know you'll find this hard to believe, but there was a time in my life when I actually ran on a regular basis. Early in my marriage, I had a 5-mile base, and on select days would go as far as 10. In the early 2000's, I even trained for, and ran, two marathons. Crazy, huh!

It's been 2-3 years since I had a regular running schedule, due mostly to the 5 or 6 major commitments in my life that squeeze out other things, but over this summer I've been able to hit the road on a semi regular basis. And guess what! No way a marathon is happening anytime soon; right now I'm looking at 3 miles as the next mark, but it's getting easier!

One thing that has become apparent to me is that I need to set small goals even within the larger goal of going my distance. The first mile or so I do pretty well, especially when I pace myself. But past that first mile, and especially as I turn around to head home, it's necessary to begin taking smaller bites, setting shorter distances. To do that, I look to the top of that hill, then I run to the hanger mailbox, then after I turn the corner I start running from utility pole to utility pole.

Don't be fooled - they are not as close together as they appear, especially after two and a half miles of jogging! But it's getting easier to get from pole to pole, and today I actually felt like my legs, rather than sluggishly plumping along, were into the effort, reaching forward and propelling my still-oversized body toward the front porch and a tall bottle of cool water.

I find that principle to be true in a lot of things that I do, and as I consider the OK Chorale's need and effort to reprogram our default, I'm struck with the importance of setting small goals for singing in the way we need to, with proper placement, vowels, alignment etc. There's a lot to think about, and for us to go the whole song at this point with all that intact is a daunting task. 

If we think, however, in terms of creating the ideal sound one phrase at a time, linking the phrases together over the course of a few weeks, then eventually we will be able to run the entire song with great sound, placement and all the other factors that make barbershop singing so great. 

And we can ring those chords!

Glory!

Plum good Grilled Chicken

I probably should start by saying that, generally speaking, my recipes are inspired by others that I've read or seen, and I typically run the concept by my wife to get her opinion. In this case, we had marinated some chicken a couple weeks ago using excess sand plum jelly she had made, which inspired this variation. 

We usually buy a large package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts from a national wholesale vendor, slice the breasts in half and grill the whole batch at once. This way we have a delicious hot meal, can freeze some for a later meal, and stick a few in the fridge for consumption within a week. Therefore, quantities for my marinades are sort of arbitrary; on this one I will probably add more, but the fact that I ran out of tamari limited the use of other ingredients. Approximately, though, for about 10 breasts:

          2 T. Tamari (or soy) sauce

          2-3 T. Plum Butter (or substitute other jams, I've done sand plum jam)

          1 T. Sambal Oeleak

           Juice from half a lime

Toss it all together in a big Baggie with the chicken breasts and let it set for 30 minutes or so, then grill over medium heat (and I'm not going to tell you how to grill, but please be sure it's cooked all through).