God has already forgiven all our sins one-and-for-all through the death of Jesus Christ. Why then do we need to keep on asking for His forgiveness? The answer, of course, is that we are not perfect, and never will be in this life. We keep on sinning. We break God’s commandments every day, in thought, word, and deed. And although all our sins have been forgiven – past, present, and future – sin still has a way of disturbing our fellowship with God. It interferes with our intimacy with Him, estranging us from His holiness. When we sin, therefore, our personal relationship with God needs to be restored. The Puritans called this “renewing our repentance.” It means asking God to take the forgiveness He has already granted through Christ’s death on the cross and to apply it freshly and directly to our sins.

Philip Graham Ryken

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Vegetables	California	Side dishes, Snacks	8	Servings

INGREDIENTS

2	c	Flour
2	c	Flat beer
2	ts	Salt — plus salt to taste
2	lb	Sweet red onion — inch-thick slice
2	lb	Baking potatoes — peeled
		Vegetable oil — for
		Deep-frying

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Whisk together flour, beer, and 2 teaspoons of the salt and let stand,
covered, 3 hours. Soak onion slices in ice water while beer batter rests.
2. Using a mandoline, a sharp knife, or a shoestring-potato cutter, cut
potatoes into thin strips about 5 inches long and 1/8 inch thick. Transfer
strips to ice water as they are cut and soak 30 minutes.
3. In a deep kettle heat at least 3 inches of vegetable oil to 375 degrees.
Drain potato strips well and pat thoroughly dry. Fry until golden brown
(about 2 to 3 minutes). Use a large wire-mesh spoon to transfer potatoes to
paper towels to drain. Salt lightly.
4. Drain onions well and pat thoroughly dry. Dip in batter, letting excess
drip off. Fry until golden on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper
towels and salt lightly.
Recipe By     : The California Culinary Academy
File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/mmdja006.zip

A Message from our Provider:

“The good Lord didn’t create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes and sand gnats come close.”

The counter-intuitive truth that the depressed person needs to hear isn’t “you’re really a wonderful person,” but rather, “you’re more sinful and flawed than you ever dared believe.” When he bemoans that he’s “such a failure,” we should agree with him, at least on one level. We should all agree that we’re all failures to the point that the perfect Son of God had to die before we would be able to have fellowship with Him… In a nutshell, we have to intentionally consider Jesus, especially during those dark hours we’re tempted to think only of ourselves. And although every one of us needs a daily dose of Gospel-recapitulation, those of us who feels the blows of Giant Despair need it even more.

Elyse Fitzpatrick