Re-wire Your Taste Buds, God's Way

By Hope Egan
Faith and Fitness Magazine

CBN.com – Imagine eating a scrumptious dinner of pesto-crusted salmon, sweet potato fries, roasted vegetables and chocolate peanut butter balls for dessert. Now - give credit to God for such a yummy meal. With a little rewiring, you can learn to seek out and appreciate these kind of healthy and delicious foods.

When it comes to our physical fitness and enjoyment, we trust God’s design: The intimacy shared by a husband and wife. The adrenaline you feel after an invigorating run along the beach. The peace you have after waking up from a good night’s sleep. These simple pleasures help us experience God’s goodness.

Why are our attitudes with food different? Most people don’t trust God to provide incredibly delicious food that is also healthy. Many people especially Christians assume that God is a cosmic killjoy when it comes to food. They think eating natural God-designed foods couldn’t taste near as good as a stack of pancakes dripping in artificial maple syrup or a double cheeseburger and fries.

If this sounds like you, I have good news: for God so loved the world, He gave us sun-dried tomatoes, Honey-crisp apples and a myriad of other delectable foods that meet all of our nutritional needs.

What, exactly, are God’s foods?

“In the beginning” God gave us plant-based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and grains. Later in the Bible we see that God identified certain meats that are both healthy and flavorful.

In general, if there are only one or two ingredients on a food’s label, then you are close to God’s food plan. (For example, only “peanuts” or “peanuts and salt” are listed on your peanut butter.) Better still are foods that don’t have labels, like parsley or watermelon. Labels that list dozens of multi-syllabic words that you cannot pronounce are generally man-made, not from God.

Salivating over God’s foods does not happen overnight. Just as transforming from couch potato to spin class junkie is a process that takes desire and commitment, rewiring your taste buds is no different. It is a step-by-step daily process. Runners know that training for a race provides physical invigoration and deep satisfaction. In the same way you too can quickly discover the benefits of submitting to God’s design for eating. You will sleep better. You will have more energy during the day. You might even notice a change in your disposition and attitude.

Here are some ways that you can fall in love with God’s natural foods:

BREAD

Bread often receives a bad rap from health-conscious consumers. Yet whole-grain, minimally processed bread is a nutritious staple featured throughout the Bible. It is delicious to eat—especially when it is freshly baked and topped with a little organic butter. Recently, I started baking my own bread. I bought a bread machine and now enjoy fresh, homemade, whole-grain bread throughout the week. If you can’t make your own, find a source for more naturally produced bread. In the grocery or health food stores you can find hearty Ezekiel bread or organic and minimally processed breads. Then indulge in a turkey and avocado sandwich with lettuce, tomato, Dijon mustard and a pickle.

VEGETABLES

There is little debate about the health benefits of God-given vegetables. But do you consider them “tasty”? You might be surprised at how appetizing they can be, with the right preparation.

- Roasted or grilled vegetables, such as bell peppers, zucchini and onions, taste delicious folded into omelets, layered on sandwiches, tossed into cooked rice or served alone.

- Dress-up a salad with healthy yet flavorful toppings, such as dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, chopped dates), nuts (pecans, walnuts) or even diced fruit, like pears. Toss it with balsamic salad dressing and top it with feta cheese; you’ll think you’re at a gourmet restaurant.

- Homemade salad dressing often tastes better than mass-produced store-bought and it’s cheaper, too. Since you make it fresh, it will be free of preservatives and other unnecessary ingredients.

BEANS

One of God’s biggest gifts to mankind, beans are low in fat and calories, and they are high in protein and fiber. You may be skeptical though how beans can be tasty and satisfying. Combined with God’s other natural ingredients (for example, onions, rice, fresh herbs, and lemon juice), you can create a main-course taste sensation that rivals the best restaurants.

SWEETS

Do you have a “sweet tooth”? Here is a different way of thinking – God gave you that craving! Most of us have a body designed to enjoy sweet treats that He created. Like what?

- The most obvious is fresh fruits. Fresh summer fruits like strawberries, raspberries and blueberries are pleasing to the eye, and bursting with flavor and cancer-fighting anti-oxidants. Eat them alone, in a smoothie or on top of a yogurt parfait.

- Sweeter still are dried fruits. Grapes become raisins. Figs, apricots and plums all become super-sweet versions of their fresh counter-parts.

- Of course, God also made the cocoa bean, from which we get cocoa and chocolate, and He made a myriad of sweeteners, like honey, maple syrup, and sugar canes. Wholesome desserts made with these ingredients can satisfy your sweet tooth and your tummy, so you won’t crave more an hour later.

NUTS

Nuts are God’s ultimate hunger filler. They include peanuts, walnuts, pecans, cashews and almonds. Roasted or raw, they are easy to grab when you’re in a hurry. They taste delicious alone or mixed with dried fruit in a trail mix or protein bar. Nut butters are available for many of these—spread them on whole grain bread with all-fruit jam for a delicious lunch sandwich.

“God’s design for eating” and “incredibly delicious” are two phrases you won’t often hear together. Yet with a little effort, patience and creativity, your perspective on food can be “born again” and more in-line with how God intended you to eat. Here are a few tips:

PATIENCE: Shifting your taste buds from a regimen of fat-filled, sugar-laden, grab-and-go food to healthier, more natural foods will probably not happen overnight. But in my experience, everyone who sets out with this as a goal will achieve it. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

CREATIVITY: If you’re used to just ordering off a menu or pulling prepared meals off the deli’s shelf or grocer’s freezer, your brain cells will need to stop being couch potatoes. Get in the habit of perusing cookbooks, websites and other healthy eating resources for satisfying recipes, tips and inspiration.

EFFORT: God gives you natural unprocessed foods. He also gives you the wisdom to transform those foods into amazing meals. If you want to start eating more of God’s foods, and less of man’s highly-processed foods then you are going to need to “process” some of that food yourself. Get ready to put some effort into preparing the food you eat.

By shifting your thinking from “God’s food is boring” to “God gave us delicious foods that look good, smell good and taste delicious,” you will look forward to enjoying God’s food—and staying healthy because of it.

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Hope Egan is the author of the What the Bible Says about Healthy Living Cookbook: Simple and Tasty Recipes Featuring God’s Ingredients (Heart of Wisdom, 2009). She lives in Chicago with her husband Brian and their son, Daniel. For more information about biblical eating, visit her website.

From Faith & Fitness Magazine Dec/January 2010. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © 2010 Faith & Fitness Magazine and Lifestyle Media Group.

Faith & Fitness Magazine is a lifestyle resource to build physical and spiritual strength. It helps readers make connections between the Christian faith and the fitness lifestyle. To contact the publisher of Faith & Fitness Magazine, Brad Bloom, for reprint permission, e-mail brad@faithandfitness.net.

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"Where in the justice of inflicting the severists of evils on those who have done us no wrong?"-John Wesley

Connecting with Your Grandkids

By Hannah Goodwyn
CBN.com Producer

CBN.com – There's no place like home, except Grandma's. ~Author Unknown

Most of us fondly remember time spent with our grandparents. The stories granddad would tell, and the warm cookies grandma would bake. Those precious moments are memories we can cherish even after they are gone.

Like parenting, there is no manual on how to be the best grandparent. Acknowledging the lack of Christian resources, author Cheri Fuller wrote Connect with Your Grandkids to encourage her peers as they develop relationships with their grandchildren.

Take Tons of Pictures

As a grandmother, Fuller has learned that it’s vital to be involved in her grandkids’ lives.

“One of the things I do is I snap pictures. I’m the roving grandma photographer,” Fuller says. "I snap pictures of what we’re doing, pictures together with their cousins. I don’t do fancy creative memories albums; I do little albums... but they’re for them to have in their rooms. I make it of that trip, that time together. I might have 25 pictures, sometimes even more.”

In these picture book, she adds captions to each photo. Her grandkids who are pre-readers “try to figure out what they say,” Fuller says. “They have their parents read it to them and share it with them.”

Become Web Savvy

Fuller, like so many grandparents, doesn’t live near to her grandkids. To close the physical gap, she gets online to talk with them.

“Another wonderful resource for grandparents today -- that we didn’t have 10 years ago -- is the webcam,” Fuller says. “And there’s a chapter in Connect with your Grandkids that gives you so many creative ideas to connect with your grandkids via the Internet. Because if your grandkids are anywhere between the ages now of five (it used to be about eight) and 18 or older, they’re probably on the Internet. So go join them.”

Talking online with your grandchildren helps you stay in touch throughout the year. You can share in their triumphs as they win a soccer game and their trials as they share difficulties they are having at school. An avid reader, Fuller enjoys using her webcam time to read to her grandkids.

“The great thing is, when you get together with them, it doesn’t take them three or four days to warm up to you because they’ve been seeing you...,” Fuller says. “They feel very comfortable. You have much better chats when you do get together.”

Whatever way you decide to connect with your grandchild make sure that you follow through – whether it’s online, by phone, or letter.

“The important thing is grandchildren tend to love their grandparents anyway,” Fuller says. “They kind of pick up that we really love them, and we’re really delighted to be a grandparent. And so the old saying is very true, ‘love is spelled T-I-M-E to a child.’”

Praying for Your Grandchildren

Besides spending time together in person or via email, Fuller says it is crucial for grandparents to pray for their grandchildren.

“The greatest connector of all is praying for them because prayer connects us heart to heart with our grandchild and with God. And what a gift it is to have a praying grandma or granddaddy,” she says. “That’s the most powerful influence we can have on their life is to pray for them, strategically, biblically, pray for them to know Christ and the power of His Spirit and His love, that God would open the eyes of their understanding.”

By praying for your grandkids, you are impacting their eternity.

“Our prayers are set before God, and His heart is set upon those prayers. Revelation 5:8 says that the prayers of the saints are in golden bowls right by the throne of grace. God’s heart is set on them. His eyes are upon them,” Fuller says. “At the right time, He’s going to pour out the answer; He’s going to pour out the blessing. And so our prayers can impact the next generation and the next generation and the next. I mean, what an exciting thing that is. That’s loving, loving influence.”

Fuller uses a prayer calendar to remember to pray regularly and individually for her grandchildren. She says it's especially helpful for those granddads and grandmas who have 10 or more grandkids.

“Each week you put a different grandchild’s name on that day, and that’s a special day of prayer,” Fuller explains. “You might let them pick the day. It might be based on their birthday. Instead of saying ‘Bless Charlie,’ you say something specific. You say to your grandchild, ‘Wednesday is your special day of prayer. What would you like me to pray this month on your special day? It’s on my calendar.’ And you have the calendar out when they come, and they can see, ‘That’s my special day of prayer. Grandma’s praying for me. Granddad’s praying for me.’”

Make connecting with your grandkids a priority and they will respond to that love and attention. Both grandparent and grandchild will be blessed.

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Hannah Goodwyn serves as the Family and Entertainment producer for CBN.com. For more articles and information, visit Hannah's bio page.

E-mail me!

Special Prayer Request for Haiti

January 13, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Wesleyan Church
Department of Communications
Ronald D. Kelly
317.774.7907
communications@wesleyan.org

HAITIAN WESLEYANS IN EARTHQUAKE AFTERMATH

Communications from Haiti have been complicated by the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck 10 miles from the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on January 12. Aftershocks, some as powerful as 5.9-magnitude, continue to bring physical and emotional devastation to the country.

Global Partners Director of Operations, Peter Moore, said, “Of the106 Wesleyan churches in Haiti, the epicenter of this earthquake has directly impacted five congregations in the greater Port-au-Prince area. One of these, the largest Wesleyan church in Haiti, is located in the area that seems to have been hardest hit. We have not yet been able to establish communication with the pastor of that church or anyone associated with it at the time of this posting.”

Thankfully, all Wesleyan missionaries are safe and accounted for. Caribe Atlantic Area Director, Dan Irvine reports, “We are finding the information posted on the major news sources to be accurate and coinciding with the reports that we are receiving locally. The major cell phone provider for the country is not functioning and the only news we are receiving out of Port-au-Prince is internet and radio news.” Our Caribe Atlantic Area Director, Dan Irvine reports, “We are finding the information posted on the major news sources to be accurate and coinciding with the reports that we are receiving locally. The major cell phone provider for the country is not functioning and the only news we are receiving out of Port-au-Prince is internet and radio news.”

There is significant damage in the town of Anse-a-Galets where the Wesleyan hospital is located but at this point we are not aware of any loss of life. Upon initial examination the hospital appears not to have sustained any major damage but as a precaution, the patients slept in the tin roof clinic last night instead of the concrete roof hospital building. Our missionaries on the island of La Gonave have however been hearing the traditional death wail signifying that another family in our community has received devastating news regarding a loved one in the capital city.

The leaders of our National Church and our Global Partners missionaries are grateful for the corporate prayers and support of our global Wesleyan family during this difficult time. Wesleyans helping Wesleyans in their time of need is the rally cry of the hour for our brothers and sisters in this disadvantaged country.

Please make your check payable to “The Wesleyan Church” as you mail your timely donations to the “Wesleyan Emergency Relief Fund”, 13300 Olio Road, Fishers, Indiana, 46037.

For Canadian donors: Relief cheques are to be made payable to "The Wesleyan Church of Canada" and mailed to 1830 Mountain Road, Moncton, NB E1G 1A9.

To make a credit card donation click here or call 800.707.7715. Use fund number “WM07-0005” with the description “Haiti Relief."

You may also direct your donations through World Hope International, the primary partner in ministries of compassion for The Wesleyan Church.

With 9 million residents, Haiti has been called the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. A report by one news company said that 75% of the population lives on less than $2 a day. Its resources for rescue and relief efforts are almost non-existent. But Haiti has long been on the hearts of Wesleyans. Over the years, scores of volunteers from Wesleyan churches and organizations have been involved in ministries of compassion, both on Haiti’s mainland and on the island of La Gonave.

Australia, Abortion... and Ota Benga-A Commentary

Australia, Abortion... and Ota Benga-A Commentary

I originally wrote this article last year and posted in "The Circuit Rider." Since "Right to Life Sunday" comes in a couple of weeks, I thought I would post this updated article...

I was reading the Evansville Courier today and found this article on Willie Morse, who served as a "Buffalo Soldier" during WWII. Willie, who you see pictured on the right, is 81 years old now. His mother, who lived to be 101, came to America on a slave ship from Africa. The fact that we gave names like "Buffalo Soldier" to those who fought with us for our freedom is anathema to me.

This past November marked the first time in our history as a nation that we elected an African-American to the highest office in the land. This event shows we have come a long way since the days of slavery, the first time a human being was thought of as property at his owner's disposal in this nation. No, I don't agree with most of the President's social and economic policies. Our teleprompter in chief doesn't quite seem to "get it' when it comes to moral reform. But, we as Americans can be proud we have made some progress.

Darwinism and the "theory" of evolution have fueled many of the racist movements over the past couple of centuries. Just look at Hitler and others and all the evil associated with their ideas. I agree with Ken Ham,of Answers in Genesis Ministries. Race is actually a word favored mostly by evolutionists. I like his choice "people groups" far better. After all, unless we are from another planet, we all belong to the human race.

One of the most extreme examples of Darwinist racism is the story of Ota Benga. Ota Benga was a Congolese pygmie caught in the Congo and placed in a New York Zoo in 1906. He was placed in a cage for everyone's amusement. The movies "Quigley Down Under" and the recent "Australia" give an excellent portrayel how the Congolese and Aborigine people have been treated over the years.

As Wesleyans we can be proud that we were among the first to admit women and African-Americans to our colleges and universities. Wesley summed it up best in his qoute you find under his picture on this blogspot,"Where is the justice in inflicting the severist evils on those that have done us no wrong?"

Yes, we have made some progress and should keep striving for that ideal of equality among everyone. In the process, let us not forget those living among us in their mother's womb. The Bible makes it quite clear how God feels about all human life, born and unborn. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you..."Jeremiah 1:5. Science and medicine leave no question about the matter either. It is interesting that the same political party who resisted equal rights for African-Americans until 1964, (don't believe me, Click here)do not want to extend equal rights to the unborn. We hear the usual sad argument about choice and the mother's right to her own body. Sadly the unborn child, brought into this world through no choice of his/ her own, have no say in the matter. If this argument made any sense, then why not increase the age until two years old?Sound crazy? Is partial-birth Abortion any less brutal? Upcoming "healthcare" being shoved down our throats by politicians would probably even pay for these "procedures." History will tell you that in any civilization where life is not sacred for some, it is then not sacred for anyone. We only need to look back to Nazi Germany to refresh our memories.
As Wesleyans, we historically have not been strangers to political activism. Our pulpits were not silent during the slavery issue. While some pulpits tried to justify slavery, our's relentlessly preached that all were created equal in God's eyes. We can not be silent any longer. The blood of millions of children are crying out to us from the ground... As George Santayana wrote in Reason and Common Sense,"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."...God bless, keith 1 Cor 13

Floyd Coates to Speak on Creation This Sunday

We are privileged to have Mr. Floyd Coates as a speaker in Sunday School Hour and our Morning Worship service this Sunday morning. He speaks on various topics and will be sharing a presentation on Creation this Sunday.You will want to be here at 9:30AM and 10:30AM. For more information, click here: www.floydcoates.com Here is a brief biography of Mr. Coates:

Born 1944

Became a Christian at age 16.

Attended Virginia Military Institute and Hanover College, receiving a Bachelor’s degree in physics.

President and owner of American Plastic Molding Corp. (A custom injection molder of plastics with 130 employees) and Southern Mold and Tool Corp.

Member of Society of Plastics Engineers, Association of Union Bible College, board of International Institute for Christian Studies, and Chairman of the Taxpayers’ Watchdog committee.

Coates is a former nominee for State Representative and U.S. Congress.

He is an instrument rated pilot, musician, and speaker on free enterprise, political and religious issues. He recently authored a book on customer service with 40,000 in print.

Coates is married to Anne and they live near Scottsburg, Indiana. They have four children and twelve grandchildren!

Floyd Coates

998 N. 900 W.

Lexington, IN 47138

floyd@apmc.com

812-866-4900 voice

floyd@apmc.com

www.floydcoates.com

2010 Missions Prayer Calendar

One of these things is not like the other...

Pro-Abortion Advocates Praise Abortionist, Blast Pro-Life Efforts
Monday, January 04, 2010
By Penny Starr, Senior Staff Writer
www.cnsnews.com

Baby at 5 months gestation.

(CNSNews.com) -- The pro-abortion group NARAL Pro-Choice America is asking visitors to its Web site to cast votes for the person who has done the most for their movement. Nominees include abortionist LeRoy Carhart, who is one of the few to perform late-term abortions in his Nebraska clinic.

The group also nominated MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to its annual "Hall of Fame" for her "thoughtful coverage" of the murder of another late-term abortionist, George Tiller, who was shot by a man known to have mental problems in May.

Others nominated for the “Hall of Fame” include Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, for sponsoring a bill recently signed into law that requires non-profit pregnancy resource centers to post signs outside their facilities stating abortions and contraceptives are not provided or referred; and lawmakers Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.), Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Washington D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who "blocked Washington, D.C.'s elected leaders from using locally raised funds to pay for abortion services for low-income women."

The pro-life activist group Operation Rescue issued a statement on its Web site after the late-December posting of the nominations, calling NARAL an "aging feminist group" and recounting the successful efforts of Operation Rescue and three other pro-life organizations to have Carhart's abortion clinics investigated by the Nebraska attorney general's office and the State Department of Health.

“It is hard to believe that even radical abortion proponents would do anything but slink away in shame from Carhart and his disreputable and shoddy abortion business,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman in the statement. “It is shameful that NARAL would endanger women by misleading them about Carhart to advance their political agenda.”

"If they truly cared about women, they should be warning women away from him," Newman said.

NARAL also is collecting votes for its "Hall of Shame," which it says picks the person or organization that has most harmed the pro-abortion movement.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) (AP photo)

This year's nominees include Rep. Bart Stupak (R-Mich.) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who NARAL said "led the charge to use health reform to attack choice”; Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer, who is charged with reversing then-Governor Janet Napolitano's pro-abortion efforts; all lawmakers in Oklahoma that are backing efforts to have anonymous information about women who have abortions posted on the Internet (to provide a database about abortion decision, those lawmakers say); and Personhood USA, which NARAL says "exists solely to establish legal rights for fertilized eggs and trigger legal battles over abortion that could go all the way to the Supreme Court."

But the grassroots organization that is pushing for legislation recognizing a human being's rights from the moment of conception forward is not disputing its nomination.

"We at Personhood USA are honored to be considered one of the top four threats to abortion in America," Keith Mason, co-founder of the group that he helped launch one year ago," said in a statement. "Preborn babies are human beings with a God-given right to live.”

He added that NARAL had correctly described his group as "working to outlaw abortion, recognizing Personhood (sic) rights of every child in America."

Pro-life activist, author and nurse Jill Stanek noted on her Web site that NARAL failed to name the four measures Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law, so Stanek did: 1) partial-birth abortion ban; 2) ban against non-physicians performing abortions; 3) conscience protection of pro-life health care workers not to participate in abortion; and 4) informed consent that includes a 24-hour waiting period and explanation of the risks of abortion.

In its “Hall of Fame” posting, NARAL also mourned the loss of late-term abortionist George Tiller, who was murdered, and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), who are described as men who “lived by the credo, ‘Trust Women.’” (Should be hall of shame.)

Getting the Word Out!

The Bible is the most printed, most read book in history. Yet printing is only one step in placing God’s Word into people’s hands. The labor of translation is also strategic.

Here are some highlights of how the good news has spread into other languages since the Reformation:

1530s—William Tyndale’s English translation prepared the way for other English versions of the Bible, including the King James Version (KJV).

1534—Martin Luther finished translating the entire Bible into German.

1629—The book of Matthew was translated into the Southeast Asian language Malay.

1663—John Elliot translated the Bible into the Natick Algonquin language of North America.

1793-1834—William Carey and his associates translated the Scriptures into over 40 Asian languages.

1809 & 1816—The International Bible Society (IBS) and American Bible Society (ABS) were founded in New York City. ABS provided the first pocket Bibles for Civil War soldiers and supplied Bibles to hotels and Pony Express riders.

1823—Robert Morrison translated the entire Bible into Chinese.

1887—John Ross translated the first Korean New Testament.

2006—United Bible Societies distribute 393 million Scriptures in one year.

Today—Much translation work is left to be done. According to Wycliffe Bible Translators, of the nearly 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, more than 2,200 languages lack access to even one verse of Scripture. Only 429 language communities have access to the entire Bible in their native language.

Excerpted from an article at: www.answeringenesis.org

Source: Wycliffe Bible Translators, American Bible Society, International Bible Society, and United Bible Society.

Reading Through the Bible

Have you wanted to read through the entire Bible? There are many plans out there. If you are like me , it is easy to get distracted. Reading the Bible through is one of my New Year's "Resolutions" this year. I have set up an easy way to to just that. Just go to Our Daily Bread link in the left hand column of this blog. You can click on a link at the bottom of each day's devotion. This link will take you directly to the reading for each day. One is from the Old Testament, the other from the New Testament. Check it out. You can even click a link and have it read to you....May God bless in this endeavor, keith 1 Cor 13