Archive for May, 2007

The Africa Mercy arrives in Liberia:
http://www.mercyships.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=agLOI4OFKrF&b=1364771&ct=3895951

Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf welcomes Mercy Ships:
http://www.mercyships.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=agLOI4OFKrF&b=1364771&ct=3912041

tyronebcookin

For those of you looking for my Mercy Ship videos of the AFM & ANA they can be viewed on the right hand side column, just scroll down and double click on the one you would like to see.

Or view any of my public ones here: http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=tyronebcookin
And also there are web albums posted here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tyronebcookin

So in case you missed my postings on AfricaMercy.blogspot.com I have moved most of them to this site.

thank you for visiting,

tyronebcookin

**Used by Permission from Roger’s Reflections ~ I encourage you to view his site**

Friday, May 25, 2007
A sower went out to sow

“Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:” – Mark 4v3

I recently read a book entitled Finding Common Ground by Tim Downs. The subtitle is “How to communicate with those outside the Christian community while we still can.” This book challenged my thinking and today’s reading reminded me of some of the points he made.

Jesus was teaching in parables. He used the picture of seeds to talk about the word of God and how it is to be distributed. Because we all enjoy the fun of harvesting there is an aspect of the work that we often forget about. We need to remember that in order for there to be a harvest we need to be willing to sow. Sowing is never easy, and it is not going to bear fruit immediately. Sowing means that we need to till the soil and pick out the stones to get it prepared for the seeds. In some circles we have looked so much to the harvest that we forget there must be sowing.

Jesus did say that the fields are white unto harvest, but perhaps at that time the fields were ripe because the seeds had been sown, cultivated, and watered. We live in a day when society had been secularised to the point when the soil in many places is hard and stony. Part of that is our fault for dividing the secular and the sacred. We can we see our church activities as sacred and the rest of the week as secular.

In fact, all work is sacred. Every time we go out the door we are going out into the fields. Most of those fields are not white unto harvest, for the seed has never been sown. Every one of us every day are like that sower going out to sow. We carry the most marvellous seeds in our pockets, but too often we either try to throw out the seeds and harvest them immediately, or we just keep the seeds hidden away for our sacred work. Both are equally wrong.

We all know the soil we face everyday. We know when it is hard and stony. We know when it is ready for sowing, ready for watering and cultivation, and when the crop is ready for harvesting. We need to ask ourselves if we are willing to spend the difficult, laborious hours of sowing so that one day some one, maybe not even us, will see the harvest.

Some plant, some water, and some see the increase. All are equally important. Don’t neglect the opportunity to harvest if the crop is ready, but don’t forget to sow the seed wherever God has placed you. It is time to forget about sacred and secular. All work is God’s work.

“A sower went out to sow.” Are we willing to be that sower today?

Roger’s Reflections

News For Curious Cooks: Curious Cook in the New York Times: The five-second rule

Last night we had an Appreciation Dinner for our crew. I must say that I didn’t actually make it to the ceremonies/meal (I was on the phone with my wife, you understand?).

We did a pretty good meal for just using available things on board (and for those of you who are on board, I thought our meals were ’special’ every night?).

We made~
Braided loaves of bread filled with complimenting herbs served with a garlic butter.
Peas with sliced onion and garlic, a hint of sesame. (hey, what can I say? We need to creatively use up leftovers)
Lemongrass-White Wine Risotto
Sweet Soy Salmon Fillet
Lemon-Thyme Chicken Breast

For Dessert~
We had all kinds of toppings available to us, and brownies were made so…make your own Sundae Bar

Pretty good menu line-up for a missions ship don’t you think?

I wanted to make some side notes on the food just from general speculation:

• As I was smelling the aroma from the risotto I realized that even though it was savory(the rice dish), the lemongrass puts off an aroma that reminds me of a pudding, or sweet lemon tea…what do I mean by pudding? If I was to do a dessert with a rice pudding I would think that the aroma of lemongrass would be very complimentary for a sweet dish. For those of you who don’t use lemongrass, we have it here on board in big bags of dried bundles. I use it by steeping the lemongrass in hot water, then using the liquid in dishes, like ladling it in the risotto.
• For the chicken breast we used a basic brine but then added a small bit of Lemon Essence to it. A sauce was also made, very light (liquid speaking) and strong in taste. The chicken came out of the oven very juicy and on the ‘medium’ level for toughness. But as the ‘holding’ time progressed I think the chicken breasts got tougher. You may say that happens when slow heat is pushing the liquid out, but I say that we just need a better quality chicken. Although I must remind you that we are on a budget so sometimes a little extra cutting and manipulating of the chicken is better than spending more money. But not always.
• The salmon was good but it probably could have been moister (is that a word?…maybe more moist?). It was baked and I did not have enough pans or room to have a single layer of fish cooking in each pan so in order to get it all cooked some pieces ‘dry out’ and/or cook quicker than other AND the recipe was adapted from a ‘flat-top’ or ‘BBQ’ grill recipe…so we do what we can, right?

This is not a restaurant, or even a cafeteria/camp kitchen…so if we have anything by the way of being ‘posh’ or ‘lush’ in essence rest assured it was a gift, blessing, donation, and/or bargain price in nature. We are also not on the ‘cheap’ level altogether. We supply the standard protein, starch, and veggies with a few extras thrown in here and there (and if we can’t buy adequate bread we bake our own, hard to buy bread while sailing!)…and sometimes there are donations or monies set aside just to produce a ’special’ meal or occasion.

There are however Captain’s Lunches, Media Functions, Pastor Conferences and/or Breakfast, and Dignitaries that come on board for which there is allotted monies for making these functions nice or fancy, so to speak.

When local government officials (lets say for instance the Lady President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf) come to visit the ship, and remember now, they have most likely given you free port space, free water, and other great amenities…wouldn’t it be good to be a gracious host?

Yes, of course we are supplying free services estimated in the thousands of dollars and life changing operations and relationships that far outweigh the cost of any port ‘fees’. But I think it would be nice and respectful of us to show our hospitality to someone and/or government that doesn’t have to acknowledge you at all if they choose not too. Its kind of like confirming or acquiring a ‘right of passage’ to the things you need entry or permission to, the ‘meeting’ of the ‘handshake’ to get started, are you understanding my explanation?

Its kinda hard doing mission/humanitarian work if you can’t even get in the country. Wouldn’t you say?

So yes, I believe its good to have monies/funds/budgets set aside for these things. This hospitality is expected in most realms of ‘politics’ and salutations on this level.

I will pursue the ‘thoughts’ on this area further at a later posting…this will probably be enough to think about for now.

Agree? Disagree? Post a comment.