A Twist of Faith by John Donnelly

John Donnelly has been a reporter for more than thirty years. For ten years he was a reporter for The Boston Globe throughout Africa. During his travels he continued to meet ordinary USAmericans doing independent relief work all over Africa. A Twist of Faith is the story of one of these ordinary citizens doing good work in Africa.

John Donnelly meets David Nixon in Malawi. Nixon is a carpenter from N.C. working with Malawian communities to care for the children orphaned by AIDS as it kills parents by the hundreds each month.
Nixon had a tough childhood filled with abuse and neglect, as an adult he battled addiction and loss finally having a spiritual awakening that renews faith and hope. Nixon hears about the dire need for help in Africa and travels there. During his first trip Nixon finds a new purpose; helping the people of Malawi.

With the crisp clipped style of a newspaper reporter John Donnelly does not spend ink on sentimental manipulations or emotional literary techniques. He simple tells the story of what he sees and learns from his years in Africa and relationship with David Nixon. You will follow the joys, failure, heartbreak and successes as Nixon goes from curious Christian on a short term mission trip to crusader in building a school and feeding center to care for over 350 Malawian children orphaned by the AIDS pandemic.

Chapter One alone is worth the read as Donnelly lays out the facts, figures and history of the tens of thousands of USAmerican people of faith working all over the African Continent. The rest of the book well intrigue to follow the story of a common man from the hills of N.C. This book is one you'll want to read and pass on to others.

Grass Fed Beef

We have 1500+ lbs of 90/10 ground beef. The steers were free ranged and finished on corn. They were given NO antibiotics or added hormones and were fed NO animal byproducts. The beef was processed according to NCDA standards and packaged for resell with appropriate meat handling/processing certificates. The ground beef is packaged in 1lb vacuum packed flash frozen therma-sealed bags. The ground is sold as follows: 10lbs $5.50perlb, 25lbs $5.25perlb, 50lbs $5.00perlb. We also have stew beef, roasts & steaks available with mixed packages. Fill your freezer now!

A Challenge & My Response

A friend is struggling with his faith in Jesus the Living, Resurrected One. That is OK as I struggle and wrestle not only with scripture but with this life of, with, by, in, through Christ on a daily basis. We were involved in a conversation and he questioned and challenged me on my understanding and experience of living what I know as the "spirit-filled-life"' I have mulled over not only his question/challenge but my simple response. Both are below.

THE CHALLENGE

I challenge you: prove there is a real supernatural, resurrected Presence that gives you power in your life; something that can't be explained or experienced by any self-actualized atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, etc.

MY RESPONSE

I have considered your question and your challenge carefully. Here is my conclusion: I can't. 

I can't prove any of it to you in a way that would satisfy the need for empirical evidence. That is not my place as a seeker of spiritual truth and understanding. I very rarely use the term "I know" any longer because frankly; I just don't know. I will continue to use and live in words like, faith, hope, trust, believe.

I might actually be involved in a life long pursuit of "self brainwashing". What I sense that I call the presence of God might indeed be the opiate of religion & spirituality "needed" by those of us too weak minded to live in human reality as it is. 

What I call prayer & many times the subsequent "still small voice" might just be a way for my subconscious to access the mind full of a life time of experiences to give me the needed answer I require to plod through life.

The sense of well being and peace I have because of my faith in the resurrected life could be a natural coping mechanism due to millions of years of evolution.

If I am living a delusional life of self brainwashing & relying on spirituality as a life drug upon which to cope in life, please let it continue and increase the dosage.

Upon death all may be oblivion. If so, then there will be no one there to point a finger in my face and tell me what a fool I was in life for living a fantasy. I truly am OK with that.

Pimento Cheese

I have always loved pimento cheese. It was one of my favorite foods as a kid and both my parents make pretty good spread. Pimento cheese is big here in the south. Farm Hand Foods pairs it with a locally made polish sausage for an outstanding sandwich. Watts Grocery has it on their lunch menu and adds a bit of bourbon for a true twist on two great southern foods. Reliable Cheese Company has great pimento cheese and they serve it on thick slices of bread from Loaf Bakery.

I have been working on my own spin on this life long favorite for a long time and believe I have created a recipe worthy of any southern kitchen.

12ozs white extra sharp cheddar

5-6ozs of orange/yellow sharp cheddar

2-3ozs Parmigiano-Reggiano

2ozs Asiago

12ozs pimento with liquid

1/4c sugar

1Ts crushed black pepper

1/2ts kosher salt

3/4ts cayenne pepper

11/2ts bourbon

1c Duke's mayonaise

Been thinking about this hymn.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Refrain

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

Refrain

His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood.
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my Hope and Stay.

Refrain

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

The twisted logic of the right on Amendment One.

NC's political and religious right,of which I count myself as one, is defying the very definition of what it means to be conservative and faithful. I am struggling as I put my thoughts to pen regarding my opposition to NC Amendment One. Luckily for me a friend jotted down a great thought on the matter. Silvanus Slaughter is a poet, artist and musician born and raised in Oxford. NC.

"One of the key components of Fascism is to pick a vulnerable target to terrorize and diminish. While it SEEMS to offer the rest some form of Specialness and Protection, what it actually, deftly, silently, accomplishes is to tell the rest to "fall in line" ...and comply with more demands to come... or YOU could be next. I don't believe most Republicans champion Fascism any more than I am deluded that all Democrats champion the workingman's good. But a dangerous extremism is at work, cynically wrapped in a flag whose meaning it shreds, and deforming Christianity for its own dreams of power and domination. Vote AGAINST Amendment One in North Carolina." ~Silvanus Slaughter~

30 hour push for Cocoa Cinnamon

I like being part of a team!

Yesterday morning I had to drive to Albermarle, NC on honey bees business. It was a quickly planned trip so I left Oxford heading south and had not eaten breakfast. Along the road I checked my Twitter feed and realized The Durham Farmers' Market was going to be open by the time I drove through Durham. I also noticed Pie Pushers was making breakfast biscuits. Then I decided that with just a few extra moments to my day I could have a great biscuit and support a small business.

Becky was at the Pie Pushers trailer ready to take my order and get my biscuit ready. She and Mike are one of the reasons Durham is the BEST food city in the state. After grabbing my biscuits (yes, two, it was a long road trip) I walked over to CocoaCinnamon and their awesome coffee bike. Areli was there BUSY making coffee, tea, and chocolate for all thirsty folks. She made me a very good cup of lavender tea I met Areli & Leon a few weeks ago at a coffee, tea, and chocolate tasting at Milton & Ginger's house.

Areli and Leon are small business people with a dream for a community coffee, tea, and chocolate shop on Geer St in Durham. They are raising money for this shop on Kickstarter. I am a backer of the project and wanted to help again for the last few hours. Go check out their project and become a backer also, even $1 can make a difference.

With a few hours left, become part of the team.


FollowUpPost:
CocoaCinnamon had an outstanding fundraising effort using Kickstarter. With the help of 609 backers not only did they raise the $20k desired for the shop but exceeded that amount by another $12,350.00. I am looking forward to being there opening day!

Larry is just awesome sometimes.

My dearest friend Larry McGarr wrote something very profound over on my FB page. It was so well written and thought provoking I wanted all of you to enjoy. So, today, Thnx for the guest post Larry!

Apparently scripture isn't much help when it comes to how we are to share the truth. We approach the Gospel like we're throwing mud on the wall just to see what sticks. We call it 'sowing seeds', but effectively we're throwing stones at people who can't tell the difference between us and anyone else.

We claim that we are preaching the truth to justify our 'witness', but our best efforts are usually a waste of time. Our church signs read "Jesus Saves" - and that's true; but an unbeliver will ask, "From what?"

When an unbeliver looks at Christians does He see Jesus saving His followers from divorce, from disease, from additions? Hardly. For all they know by the way we act, Jesus might have saved us a bundle on our car insurance. Jesus Saves is the truth - but it's a worthless truth in a world filled with chaos, hopelessness, division, anger, and hatred. When someone has to beg for food and sleep under bridges at night, they have little hope for more than surviving another day. They don't want an eternity of more of the same.

What did Jesus preach to the lost? He didn't go around preaching rebirth, religion, or prosperity or the Ten Commandments. Jesus preached "Blessed are the meek." We've been beat down by a fallen world and imprisoned by religion into believing we're slugs undeserving of grace and mercy. "Blessed are the lonely." Deep inside, we know that there has to be more to our existence than a life of trials and failures. That's the witness we should be preaching. We should treat others as God treats us - gently and with compassion, not condemnation.

Zesty Chicken Frittata

1/2 onion chopped
3-4ozs fresh spinach
2 large Roma tomatoes sliced
4-6ozs roasted chicken cubed
2-3ozs Feta cheese cubed
2-4 Ts Cackalacky sauce
2 ts Agave Nectar
4Ts olive oil
kosher salt
fresh black pepper
8-10 eggs beaten
1 well seasoned cast iron skillet

Preheat oven to 350º  Add Cackalacky & Agave Nectar to chicken and marinate. More spicy, more Cackalacky: less spicy, less Cackalacky. In skillet saute onions in 2T olive oil until soft, add the spinach and saute until wilted and tender add salt to taste. Remove from skillet and cool 2 minutes. Add onions & spinach to eggs and stir well.  Place 2T olive oil to skillet and swirl around to coat well. Saute the chicken for 1-2 minutes. Add egg mixture to skillet and set eggs for a moment or two over med heat. Place tomatoes on top of eggs, sprinkle on black pepper to taste and place skillet in oven. Bake for 10 minutes and spread feta cheese over the top. Bake until center of eggs are set. Remove from oven and rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve from skillet.

The Kingdom of God is like...

the people in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahv_1IS7SiE

Wild Goose 2012

Come fly with us as God's family flocks together for a few days. Unless you join the conversation your voice will not be heard.


The 2012 Wildgoose Festival from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

N.C. BBQ Sauce via Haiti

I LOVE N.C. BBQ! I love bbq in general, but N.C. being my home state I am partial to the home pig. I love all the sauce variations, but grew up eating the vinegar based simple sauce of eastern N.C. I also love the Durham food scene and fell in love with the food of the Old Havana Sandwich Shop on Main St.

Though Cuban food culture does not have a hot sauce, the Haitian influence of one owner is clearly enjoyed with the Papa Bull's Hot Sauce. It is very simple: lime juice, vinegar, salt and habanero peppers. It is great on their roasted pork.

One day I was thinking about bbq and the Old Havana Hot Sauce coming together in a simple N.C./Haitian marriage for a bbq sauce. I then decided to see if I could use Cackalacky Spice Sauce as the heat base. After a bit of thought and a few tests here  is a simple N.C./Haitian/Cackalacky EASTERN style bbq sauce.


RECIPE

2 cups fresh squeezed lime juice

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 5oz bottle Cacakalacky Spice Sauce

3 tsp sea salt

2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup spicy brown mustard

Throw it all in a 1 quart mason jar with a plastic lid and shake, shake, shake. Apply liberally to smoked pork or whatever meat to are taking off the  grill.


If you would like a bit more heat, float two whole habanero peppers in the jar. After a few days...the sauce will indeed be a bit more spicy.

Where's the Beef??

Several steers have been harvested and processed for immediate delivery. We have 1000+ lbs of 90/10 ground beef. The steers were free ranged and finished on corn. They were given NO antibiotics or added hormones and were fed NO animal byproducts. The beef was processed according to NCDA standards and packaged for resell with appropriate meat handling/processing certificates. The ground beef is packaged in 1lb vacuum packed flash frozen therma-sealed bags. The ground is sold as follows: 10lbs $5.50perlb, 25lbs $5.25perlb, 50lbs $5.00perlb. We also have stew beef, roasts & steaks available with mixed packages. Fill your freezer now!

I WILL NOT BE STANDING WITH THE NC GOP ON THIS ISSUE.

N.C. GOP leaders push to have marriage defined.

I consider myself a political conservative & have voted Republican 96% since I registered to vote in 1982. I have voted for a democrat when I considered that person to be the best qualified. I am also a Christian, a follower of Jesus and my faith is dear to me and the defining guide of my daily life. I am also a citizen of The U.S. and the great state of N.C.

Sometimes I find my faith and citizenship to be in conflict. I am a citizen of this nation and a follower of a Jewish Rabbi from the 1st century. When this conflict happens I must always look to love and care for my fellow secular citizens and neighbors just as much as those inside my faith. With that in mind I have chosen a more secular view on the gay/lesbian marriage debate.

I believe in LIBERTY, FREEDOM, PERSONAL RESPONSIBLITY, the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS and that the Declaration of Independence & The U.S. Constitution are the sacred documents of our nation. If your life or lifestyle does not cause me, my family or my neighbors harm I believe you should be left alone by the law and any moral code someone else has chosen. I will not use my rights or moral code to restrict your freedom if you will give me the same courtesy. If a married lesbian or gay couple becomes my neighbor they would in no way harm me or my moral code. They would also not harm my marriage or your marriage for that matter. As a matter of fact and biblical teaching, I truly beleive I should invite them over for dinner and love/protect them like any other neighbor. On this issue I beleive my NC GOP leaders are violating the very code of liberty and freedom they say they hold so dear. LIFE, LIBERY & THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS should also include my gay and lesbian neighbors.

Come chase the Wild Goose with me this June.

Lenten Thoughts

I grew up in the South. I also grew up in the evangelical church of the South. We did not celebrate Lent. Thinking back, I am not sure I had a any real understanding of the Lenten season until I was in HS. In my thirties like many I began to ask simple questions about my faith, my world view and my future. In this time of searching I read authors I had never heard of, built friendships with people from different Christian traditions & more than once asked myself, "Why did we do/believe that?".

Along the way I discovered many of my Catholic brothers & sisters of the faith had just that...faith. Faith in the same God, the same scriptures and the same Christ. Their faith and worship was rich with images not only for the eyes, ears, but also the palate of taste. I had not only discovered new members of my spiritual family, I had also re-discovered my faith in a new and vital way.

Advent & Lent are now a part of my annual worship experience and each year The Spirit teaches me something new and beautiful about following this Jesus the Christ.

I am excited about what I shall discover over the next 46 days.

PS Just so you will know, here is what I am fasting from the next 46 days.

1. I will be eating vegetarian

2. I will be consuming no desserts, sweets, candy and will avoid white sugar.

3. I will limit myself to 3 pints of local brew per week.

4. My Facebook statuses will be limited to the things I HEAR from God's presence as I practice LISTENING.

Surprise, surprise, surprise, the honey bees even shock me.

A nuc is a small five frame hive of honey bees. It is a place to start new hives and a place to store queens in the spring and summer in case you need an emergency queen for a colony.

Every year I keep 5-10 nucs around. I sometimes build them into full size colonies or divide the space and keep two queens in each nuc box. At the end of October 2010 I had two nucs left over from the season and not enough time or honey resources to, grow them into sustainable colonies. I feed them the honey I could spare and hoped they would survive.

As most of you know we have experienced a very cold winter. I never thought these two nucs could survive the year. Yesterday I popped one open just to see if they were dead and was SHOCKED to find beautiful bees. Needless to say, these queens have proven they are VERY good stock and are deserving of care and a chance to grow and thrive into the spring. Ok, so now I have decided to reach into my honey stores and keep these girls well fed until the spring. I just hope they will grow fast and strong and replace the honey i am feeding them.

Winter buzzing of the bees

Honey bees are insects. They do not hibernate in the winter but, they do go dormant in the cold weather. When our temps begin to lower the bees' internal metabolism slows down. When the temps go lower than 45'F their flight muscles move so slowly they cannot fly. The bees spend all their time and energy staying warm. They form a small ball about the size of a melon and use their kinetic energy to keep the center of the ball at or about 93'F. The outer layer of bees will expend their heat and move toward the center while those toward the center work their way to the outside.

During this time they must eat very small amounts of honey to stay alive and produce heat. Honey bees are VERY fastidious, for this reason they do not defecate inside their hive. During the cold days they will hold their waste and wait for a warmer sunny day to fly away from the colony and clean their gullets. In Northern climes beekeepers are concerned with the possibility of their colonies contracting dysentery due to the long periods of time with below freezing temps.

Our weather here in North Carolina brings us periodic relief to cold temperatures during the winter months. Christmas weekend we had 6'+ inches of snow fall here in Granville County but, today the temps at 53'F+ and the forecast is for temps above 65'F for tomorrow.

The video was taken this morning as the temp was reading 51'F. The bees are flying away from the hive, clearing their gullets, exercising their muscles and removing any trash from the hive. In January, they might even venture out and find a wee-bit of the black pollen from the red oak.

My homeless friend is a poet.

I have a homeless friend, he is a poet. The first time you meet him you would never know such a thing. He has broad shoulders, muscles on his arms the size of tree trunks & a "I dare you to look at me wrong" look in his eye. He is always shaved and wearing clean clothing. He has a deep raspy voice and is easy with a joke; once he knows you.

The first conversation I had with him he told me about his bad habit. His bad habit? He has a habit of getting thrown in jail. Not for anything "serious", just placing his fist in the face of people who run off at the mouth.

We have become friends. We text each other every day or so and bump into each other around Durham once or twice a week. He even has a face book page. Probably one or two of your face book friends are homeless if you knew their whole story.

He spent the last two years in a tent in a secluded patch of woods in East Durham. He is a "professional" urban outdoorsmen and can teach you how to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer using a 12 volt car battery.

Two weeks ago he asked me for a pen and a piece of paper. He sat down and penned this poem. He told me he had had it in his brains for a few days. His penmanship was legible and spelling correct. More than a few homeless have talents and skills that are amazing.

Whether you are Christian or not I hope you will enjoy the beauty of the words he penned. This is like and Christmas to him. I hope and pray 2011 brings him much joy and an extra bucket of coal for the fire ;)

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Twas the night before Christmas

And all along the streets

No warmth for the homeless

Nor anything to eat

I with my sleeping bag

And an old homeless cat

Went behind the bush for a cold winter’s nap.

Then all of a sudden

I heard a wonderful sound

I jumped from the bush

In one single bound

And what did my wondering eyes did see,

A soft spoken stranger looking at me.

He spoke very softly, passing out blankets as he went

I knew in my hear he was heaven sent.

I asked the stranger, where are you from my dear friend?

He said even though I’m not there any more

I’m from Bethlehem.

May you experience a blessed, merry & warm Christmas!