Fried Wild Rice With Mushrooms

Have you ever in the first five seconds of temptation, demanded of your mind that it look steadfastly at the crucified form of Jesus Christ? Picture this. You have just seen a peek-a-boo blouse inviting further fantasy. You have five seconds. "No! Get out of my mind! God help me!" Now, immediately, demand of your mind - you can do this by the Spirit (Romans 8:13). Demand of your mind to fix its gaze on Christ on the cross. Use all your fantasizing power to see his lacerated back. Thirty-nine lashes left little flesh intact. He heaves with his breath up and down against the rough vertical beam of the cross. Each breath puts splinters into the lacerations. The Lord gasps. From time to time he screams out with intolerable pain. He tries to pull away from the wood and the massive spokes through his wrist rip into the nerve endings and he screams again with agony and pushes up with his feet to give some relief to his wrists. But the bones and nerves in his pierced feet crush against each other with anguish and he screams again. There is no relief. His throat is raw from screaming and thirst. He loses his breath and thinks he is suffocating, and suddenly his body involuntarily gasps for air and all the injuries unite in pain. In torment, he forgets about the crown of two-inch thorns and throws his head back in desperation, only to hit one of the thorns perpendicular against the cross beam and drive it half an inch into his skull. His voice reaches a soprano pitch of pain and sobs break over his pain-wracked body as every cry brings more and more pain. Now, I am not thinking about the blouse any more. I am at Calvary. These two images are not compatible.

John Piper

CATEGORY	CUISINE	TAG	YIELD
Meats, Eggs	Chinese	Chinese, Rice	4	Servings

INGREDIENTS

2	T	Cooking oil
1	t	Minced ginger
2	t	Minced garlic
2		Green onions, chopped
1/2	c	Chopped onion
1/2	c	Diced celery
1/2	c	Frozen peas and carrots
		Thawed
1/2	c	Small cooked shrimp
1/4	c	Diced cooked ham
4	c	Cooked wild rice
2	T	Oyster sauce
2	t	Sesame oil
	pn	White pepper
1/4	c	Chicken broth
1		Egg
2	t	Cooking oil

INSTRUCTIONS

GOLDEN EGG THREADS:  To make golden egg threads, heat a small nonstick
frying pan over  medium heat until hot.  Add 2 teaspoons cooking oil
and 1 lightly  beaten egg; tip the pan to spread the egg thinly over
the bottom of  the pan Cook the egg until barely set; turn once and
cook the other  side about 30 seconds. Remove and let cool. Cut into
thin shreds.  Heat a wok over medium high heat until hot.  Add the
cooking oil,  ginger, and garlic and stir fry for 10 seconds. Add the
green onions,  onion, celery, peas and carrots, shrimp, and ham and
stir fry for 2  minutes Reduce the heat to medium low.  Add the wild
rice, egg  shreds, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper
ant the  chicken broth; Toss to mix well.  Source:  The Well Seasoned
Wok Typed by Dale/Gail Shipp  From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster
collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

A Message from our Provider:

“The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.”

We often call the gift of tongues a “sign gift.” That is a good description. We know signs are welcomed because they point us to a destination. Yet when we arrive at the desired destination, there longer remains any need for the sign. Unlike the first century, we now know the Bible is complete, Israel is judged (Jer. 5:15; Isa. 28:11; 33:19) and the church is composed of Jew and Gentile. Therefore, the sign (for those purposes) has taken us to our destination and is no longer necessary – tongues have ceased (1 Cor. 13:8). So, any use of tongues spoken of in the Bible (and there are only two beyond Acts – an obscure passage in Mark 16 and the rebuke to the immature Corinthian church), must be interpreted in light of the Acts passages that clearly reveal a known language. Can God still enable a person to speak a previously unknown foreign language? Perhaps, but it is not “tongues” in the biblical sense.

Randy Smith