Mike Sansone

To Love, Live, Learn, and Lauch

Praying for Pastors

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Praying for Pastors from the Pew

A burden on my heart grows. I can feel the tears welling up – almost from within my cheeks. A burden to pray. Every day. For my pastor(s).

Every day I must pray For Pastor:

  • For protection.
  • For provision.
  • For preparation.
  • For renewed passion.
  • For health.
  • For family time.
  • For their personal pursuits.

I am blessed to count many pastors and ministry leaders as friends. Having once stood behind the desk, and now with a view from a pew, I have a sense of the trials and turmoil associated with such position.

Pastors are under continual spiritual attack, threats, and temptation. Oh, that we might pray daily for the person and practice of the pastor.

Oh, that we might.

Daily.

This burden I have is not to win over the pastors in my life. Or even to thank them (though I am grateful). The burden is a gift from God. He loves my pastor(s) more than I can ever imagine.

Yes Pastor, I love you. But … this one is for God.

It’s All ‘Free Time’

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time

“What do you do in your free time?”

It’s a question that raises my eyebrows. All of my time is free time.

Work: I love what I do and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t. I’d do something different. It’s a choice. Freedom.

Non-Work: I read. I write. I organize, tidy, unclutter, and generally tinker with how to improve life. Kind of like what I do for work, but without billable hours. It’s a choice. Freedom.

Escapes: I call it Sleep. I don’t set an alarm. If I oversleep, I’ve still got the sun beat by a couple of house. It’s a choice. Freedom.

Others: I am free to watch all the movies I want. I can watch all the ballgames I want. I can eat whatever I want. I can wear anything I want. But I don’t. Want, that is. It’s a choice. Freedom.

What do I do in my free time? Whatever I want. And to me, it’s all ‘free time’.

Photo via Pixabay

Quiet Writer for an Unquiet Mind

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hand writing

Quiet Writer for an Unquiet Mind

A Practice of Prose in the Testing of a Tool

By writing in the manner in which I first grew accustomed (Just Spill!), I will be able to get more words from out of my head and onto the page.

Flowing, without much concern to the readability or legibility of the prose – until after it is written – will free me up to be faster as a typist, more clear as a generator of ideas, and more prolific as a writer.

The goal of my writing is to clear my unquiet mind. By wringing out words currently saturating my brain, I will be able to think more clearly. However, that is simply the selfish (primary?) reason.

Believing what I have to share can be of value to others, isn’t it then my responsibility to generously share what I have? To do otherwise would be boorishly hoarding.

Thus, to find a way to rid my head of these ideas and thoughts, while still capturing them for keepsake (or discard when necessary), is of premiere priority.

Finding the Chrome extension, Quiet Writer, might help me to continuously write as spilling comes to mind.

This is my first writing with this easy-to-use tool.

Photo on Pixabay by annazuc

RECIPE: Healthy Pumpkin-Carrot Pudding

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Pumpkin Carrot PuddingWhat started out as an experiment has become a staple. As in a small helping every day in her lunch box to school.

Last fall, we found ourselves with an abundance of carrots. Angela’s birthday was coming up and I wanted to fix a dessert dish that wasn’t a carrot cake (she fixes that for my birthdays).

I’ve been asked about it often – here it is, Angela’s Healthy Pumpkin- Carrot Pudding (with Thick Topping):

Angela’s Healthy Pumpkin-Carrot Pudding

Ingredients – Pudding

Ingredients – Thickening
 4-5 Carrots (or 3 cups quartered)
 1 can Pumpkin (15 oz)
 1-2 Bananas
 1.5 cups Almond Milk
 1 Tbs Cinnamon
 .5 Tbs Nutmeg

Ingredients – Topping

 1 can Chilled Coconut Milk (separated)
 1 Banana
 1 cup Strained Greek Yogurt

  1 cup Coconut Sugar
 1 packet Gelatin
 1 cup Hot Water

Instructions – Pudding and Thickening

  1. Boil or Steam Carrots until Fork Tender. Drain. Place into a large bowl.
  2. Add 1 large banana or 2 small bananas.
  3. Add Pumpkin.
  4. Mash (by hand using fork or potato masher)
  5. Have Almond Milk ready for blending.
  6. Using a blender, add mashed mixture along with milk (or with a bullet, blend three equal portions of mash mixture along with 1/3 amount of milk).
  7. Using a hand mixture or blender, bring to a puree.
  8. Boil water for Thickening
  9. In separate bowl, combine Gelatin and Coconut sugar dry.
  10. Add cup of boiling water, whisking as you add water until sugar and gelatin dissolve.
  11. Add thickening liquid to pudding and use low mixer speed for one or two minutes until completely mixed.
  12. Pour pudding into shallow container and chill 2 hours or more.

Instructions – Topping

  1. Refrigerate overnight, one can of Coconut Milk. This separates the milk from the water, creating a thick and creamy base for your topping.
  2. Strain 1-2 cups of Greek Yogurt, thus separating the liquid whey and creating an additional creamy base – almost like a cream cheese texture.
  3. Peel a banana.
  4. Mix on low speed until smooth
  5. Chill for two hours.

Shopping List – Brands I Use

Almond Milk (any brand) – Unsweetened Vanilla
Coconut Sugar – Madhava (Organic) Found almost anywhere, including Walmart.
Knox Gelatin Envelope (available everywhere, see baking aisle near Jello products)
Thai Kitchen Coconut Milk (not lite) – (available almost anywhere, see Oriental Foods aisle)
Oikos Greek Yogurt – Plain

Pudding Topping

 

Print out the PDF – RECIPE:_ Angela’s Healthy Pumpkin-Carrot Pudding

Perfect Makes Practice

An engaging and educating conversation with a young girl of four:

Girl: Perfect makes practice.

Me: Isn’t it, ‘Practice makes perfect’?

Girl: No. The first time I try something new, after that I know I’m going to need lots of practice to get better,

Smart thinking.

“Adults are always asking little kids what they want to be when they grow up because they’re looking for ideas.” – Paula Poundstone

Hello World! Again.

Just Keep Editing.

Paths change. With them, purpose may also pivot. Sometimes, the purpose causes the pivot. Each step is a new step never taken before. Let’s see what’s around the bend.

Here we go …

How Does the Back of Your Baseball Card Read?

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Little League

Sometimes, during introductions at a church meeting, we trade data. History, job title, family size. Stats not spirituals. Like the back of a baseball card.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit churches all across the United States. On weeknights and weekends. In church house, school house, and under tents. Different denominations, worship music, and dress codes.

One thing seems to be similar across the board. Unfortunately, it’s not Jesus Christ. It’s human beings.

I hold to a belief that every church gathering is perfect … until I arrive. At that point, I’m showing my own human frailties – and I notice ’em in other folks, too. They wouldn’t have seen mine and I would’ve never known theirs if I hadn’t gone. Perfect, until I get there.

At some level and for the sake of understanding the world and people around us, we tend to meet new folks at church and judge, compare, and label (JCL). Not so much for bad reasons, but to organize our brain.

One way we begin the JCL process is to ask secular questions such as:

  • What kind of work do you do?
  • Where are you from?
  • Family?
  • Just visiting?

It’s like an examination of the back of my baseball card. The data. The history. The stats.

Look at the front of the card, or at least deeper into one’s life. Like what is God doing with my life (a testimony), what kind of Kingdom work am I doing or looking for (a ministry), or how would I like to use my gifts (a talent).

It’s different than what we’re used to doing. It’s deeper, spiritually. How many times do you go deep? (Wait, that’s a back of the card number).

Photo on Pixabay by ruthclark

Kick ‘Em: America’s Funniest Failings and Foul-ups

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banana peel

Maybe it started in the in the early 90’s with America’s Funniest Home Videos. The hit television series has run for 26 years, and became a hit before Reality TV and crowdsourced voting became popular.

We watch others falling down, getting hurt, and making errors. Since then, our society has become quick to kick people when they fall and foul-up. Laughing out loud while they roll on the floor in pain.

I don’t get it.

We can’t blame AFV, really. They simply recognized something popular with the people and presented it for all to see. Though I don’t watch the show, I’m sure they share empathy after the laughter subsides.

In this generation of failure as a spectator sport, what would the priest, the Levite, or the Good Samaratin (Luke 10:30-37) do today?

Human failings can lead to human successes. Instead of mocking and kicking, shouldn’t we practice and speak with encouragement and edification (Eph 4:29)?