Fiddling with the Chemex

I’ve been leveraging the Chemex for most of my morning brewing lately.  However, I’d lost the wonder of the brew: that fantastic flavor that comes from the almost magical brew.  But then, I recalled a video I’d watched sometime earlier, on how to brew the perfect cup of coffee in the Chemex by Intelligentsia Coffee.

What happened?  We’ll, yesterday’s cup had all the wonder, the great flavor I’d been missing.  The difference?  Well, previously, I’d been pre-wetting the filter with tap water, disposing of it and then filling with ground coffee and brewing.  But yesterday, I used just off-boil water to bring in a bit of preheating to the vessel.  I was slowly suspecting, as I drank my morning brew, that thermal loss was the culprit.  And that seems to be the case.  I now could use a way to more thoroughly heat the brewer.  And also make sure it doesn’t sit long after brewing.  A prompt decanting into the preheated and waiting Thermos mug makes sure it stays nice and toasty.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Church Changes

My wife and I recently made a difficult decision, but the time had come.  After long ponderings, talks, and waiting, we made the call to change churches.  There’s nothing set in stone yet for our new home.  This past Sunday, we visited Spring Run Presbyterian.  There, we heard a great sermon on Rest and Worship.  You can see links to the sermon here.  Spring Run is not in our hometown, something that is not ideal.  However, our stated goal is to aid in the planting of a PCA church in our hometown.  Wikipedia has a pretty good rundown on what the PCA is.

I still have a sermon to preach for FBF and I’m still helping with their site.  But our fellowship with that body will only be on occasion now.  We love the folks there and treasure their blessings to us, and their continued friendship.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Exercising Wisdom — Ecclesiastes 9:11-18

Below is the reminder of the first sermon from today, August 23, 2009 – a cross post from the church site.

For this section, verses 11 and 12 serve as a bridge – connecting this section to the previous ones, as well as offering a prelude into what the Preacher is to write.l  These two verses offer a slightly different summary of the over-arching observation that the world, from our perspective, seems random, and at its heart, unjust.  The fastest should win the race, just as the strongest should win the fight.  However, life is not as precise as mathematical formulas.

The randomness extends to the more critical as well: life and death.  Just as random as a bird flying into a trap or a fish being caught, we are no different.  The time of unexpected death is described as “evil”, not because of a moral quality that you can attribute to time, but that it’s fundamentally wrong.  The perceived healthy ones are suddenly gone.  In a world with limited medical knowledge, the randomness must have been quite acute.

Even if the world is full of randomness, for the Preacher, there remains the necessity to exercise wisdom.  Verses 13-16 (Ecc 9:13-16) recount a story.  A city was laid siege to by a great king.  Now a siege was an absolute cut off from those inside the city.  Usually, it’s only a matter of time before the barbarians overrun the gates.  But in the face of on of the most effective military tactic of the time, a poor wise man was able to deliver the city.  By his wisdom, he saw a way to save his town.  But was he remembered?  No.  Wisdom is better than military prowess, but no one remembered the savior of the city.

For us, it’s hard to conceive of wisdom being better than our modern military technologies.  Ours provides total annihilation – how is wisdom better?  Can wisdom be exercised on the battlefield?  Surely.  Just as its profitable in the market, in the garden, at work.  But of what use is a sword, spear or M16 in the same places?  Of greatly limited use.  As a wisdom is good in many places, the Preacher notes that it’s better in quiet for wisdom to be heard rather than the shouting of a ruler among fools.  A ruler has the appearance of wisdom, but of what value is it to fools?  Little, for certain.

Finally, what do we do with one sinner that destroys much good?  On one had, it’s the counterpoint to the one wise man in the city providing deliverance for the city.  A singular sinner could just as easily destroy the same city.  More randomness that the Preacher observed.

Remember: as we are going about our day, in our various activities, we carry with us a wisdom far greater than any that the Preacher knew.  1 Corinthians 1:18-31 relates how we have, as believers, the wisdom of Christ.  To the world, it’s folly; but to believers, it’s life.  Even greater good can come from believers bringing the wisdom of Christ to bear on every facet of our lives.

Solo Deo Gloria,
jason

 

Preaching

Life’s been full lately.  Busy with work, homestead, children.  Next sermon is basically done.  A bit of information here.  And changes may be afoot, but I only leave this for now.  As more transpires, I’ll relate more here.

 

Animal Gallery

Well, it’s not all of them, but here’s a photographic run down of some of our critters.

Solo Deo Gloria,
jason

Shaylee and Lilac

Four Eating

Moredcai

Esther

The Kittens

 

Time Management

I’ve written before about managing life.  It’s something I really have to try and stay on top of with the life I lead.  You see, if you haven’t been around these parts too long, I’m a full-time IT guy at work, a father of 5 and husband of one wonderful wife, a fill-in-the-gap preacher/teacher, a home-roaster, home-gardener, home-chicken-raiser, and home-goat-milker.  So, yes, life is full, but very, very good.  And you can see why one would need to stay on top of things with such a life.

The past several weeks, I’ve been realizing something all the more.  If I don’t have my calendar on my desk at work, I don’t get done at home what I need to get done.  My planning goes down the tubes, and I am at the mercy of the moment.  Even though my planner at work, on the desk, is my personal one, it’s still true.  You see, at work, MS Outlook, love it or hate it, is my planner.  But at home, I spend most of my time away from the computer (only now am I here since the only other soul in the house is asleep, the goats have been milked, eggs collected and garden watered) and an Outlook style app (be it Thunderbird + Sunbird or GMail + GCal) doesn’t make much sense.  I don’t carry a smart phone (I do however, at times, utilize SMS for calendar alerts to my simple phone).  Paper, for me, is still king.

That’s not to say certain apps don’t catch my fancy.  For instance, this blog post was noted in Evernote, a rockin app that runs virtually anywhere.  If you haven’t seen it, its goal is to be your electronic brain.  You can tweet your notes into Evernote.  You can add them on the web, from a blackberry/iPhone, or from an app that runs on Window,s Mac, Linux and from a USB drive.  It’s ubiquitous.  And for me, all but necessary.  I store a good deal of things in my electronic brain: notes for sermons, illustrations, recopies culled from the web, etc.  It’s all there.  Planning items are merging there, creating a GTD-esque setup.

But still, with Evernote, for personal work, Outlook for work, I still rely on my trusty dead-tree planner.  And open, it must be.  With all I do, lunch is frequently a time when I get something done.  Many times, it’s on my calendar in my planner.  If it’s not out, I all too frequently forget it altogether.  It servers as a reminder that other things are required of me, that lunch isn’t always free time for hulu.  When I’m preparing a sermon, it’s a bit more than necessary (although, the most recent one was built heavily withing the ESV Study Bible online).  But my writing happens in my planner-accompanied notebook as well.  Kinetic recording suits me best, especially when I have to reproduce the product of my writing orally.  It keeps me honest to my non-work duties, when work can be the equivalent of a digital fireman.

So, hat’s off to you, you dead-tree planner.  If I don’t place you handily on my desk, my life slouches towards anarchy.  Only the visual cue of seeing you lying there goads me on to keep on track, to stay the course.  Whether it’s running out to pick up goat feed, or sermon writing/research, you keep me honest.  The presence of the the even-closed planner reminds me of duties lying ahead; open, and the particular tasks are ever before me, ready for fulfillment.  Amazing how the smallest thing changes the way life works.  Now I just need to prioritize the update to my planner for 2010.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Preaching

This morning, I stood in for our Pastor, who’s enjoying a bit of rest and fellowship with grandchildren.  Today, it was the next chapter in Ecclesiastes, chapter 8.  If you’re so inclined, clilck over and read the notes and have a listen.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Celebrating the 4th

In a house full of children, getting out for the convential celebrations can be challenging, especially when one is still an infant.  Couple that with the small town phenomenon, and we skipped the fireworks.  We did have a nice, albeit unorthodox 4th of July.  After men’s prayer at the church house, we headed out to a quasi-nearby peach orchard and picked over 45 pounds of peaches.  Likely, it’s about 60#.  Never fear, we’ll take good care of all those fuzzy delicious orbs.

On the java front, I roasted a bit last night while milking the goats.  Took a bathc of Indonesia Flores Organix Manggani to full city, start of 2nd crack.  It’s this morning’s cup brewed with an AP.  Sweet and smooth, with a hint of spice.  Wonderful!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Listening and Coffee

As I mentioned before, I’ve been listening to some good audio recently.  One of the NPR gems is the Splendid Table.  Our NPR affiliate doesn’t carry it, so the podcast is the perfect fill in for the void.  The past two episodes have held valuable little tidbits regarding making iced tea and a coffee concentrate.  The cold brew iced tea uses the following recipe:

Place 8-10 rounded teaspoons of tea in a gallon jug, either loose or in two #4 T-Sacs. Fill the jug with cold water. Let steep overnight (at least 8 hours). Strain or remove the T-Sac. Serve over ice. This method requires less tea and produces a smooth, light, and refreshing iced tea. When using a Beehouse pitcher, place 4-6 rounded teaspoons of tea in the infuser basket.

Down in the south, sometimes you need something cool.  What I’ll have to figure out is how to do a cold brewed sweet tea.  The coffee concentrate sounds good too.  You can see it here.

On coffee.  I’ve recently re-acquired one of my favorites: Uganda Organic Bugisu.  It’s an excellent coffee with just the right mix each day of funk and spice.  Beautiful bean!

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason

 

Listening

Life of late is a bit too harried and crazy to pause and write here.  I’m in a continuous cycle of sermon preparation, it seems.  Two in May, more coming.  Don’t get me wrong: I love proclaiming the word.  For me, preparation takes serious time.  So, I’ve been less concerned about writing here.  But I have been listening.

Last week, I downloaded the audio from the Next 2009 conference (HT Joy).  So far, I’ve heard D.A. Carson on the Incarnation; Sinclair Ferguson on the Resurrection and Return of Christ.  I’ve heard Kevin DeYoung on Christ’s life.  All were incredibly edifying and convicting.  Now, just today, I grabbed the Advance09 conference audio.  I’m greatly looking forward to listening and being encouraged.

I’m also a small time podcast junkie.  I’ve mentioned Metamediocrity before.  Issue Four is out and it’s good.  Need more!  I also grab the Splendid Table and Car Talk from NPR.  And finally, White Horse Inn.  Good stuff.  Entertaining.  Enlightening.  Convicting.

Solo Deo Gloria,

jason