Chocolate-Salted-Caramel-Cream-Cheese Brownie Frosting

Okay guys.  The greatest thing just happened.  This thing is Chocolate-Salted-Caramel-Cream-Cheese Brownie Frosting, and shall henceforth be dubbed the "All You Could Ever Want in a Frosting."  So shall it be.

Who's coming over to die of happiness with me?

Problem #1

After a particularly incredible football-watching afternoon, in an attempt to continue the merriment, naturally, I thought, "Chocolate!"  Problem #1: The only chocolate in this house is in the form of unroasted cocoa beans or unsweetened cocoa powder.  Solution: Brownies.  The recipe I used wasn't to die for, and I certainly won't be saving it, but it served its purpose.  Measure, stir, pour, and bake those puppies. 

Problem #2
The recipe called for a frosting, and considering they looked like they'd come out on the cakey side (I happen to believe that a brownie cannot claim to be unless it is fudgy and chewy).  Frosting is a subject on which I excel.  A great frosting can amplify any confection it is placed on, and the possibilities are unending.  This particular recipe looked a bit lackluster.  Solution: Let the creative flow.

Problem #3
I had a tiny bit of left over salted caramel that had been in my refrigerator since the July 4 cupcakes filled with salted caramel and I wanted my container back (one does not simply dispose of homemade caramel). Solution:

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All You Could Ever Want in a [Brownie] Frosting
  2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  1/4 tsp vanilla
  2 tsp cocoa powder
  <1 tsp water or milk, if needed for consistency
  1 1/2 Tbsp salted caramel sauce (or other comparable recipe)
  4 heaping Tbsp confectioners sugar
  2 oz cream cheese, softened

Using paddle attachment in mixer, beat butter and vanilla until smooth; add cocoa powder.  Once mixed through, add half confectioners sugar.  While mixer is on, drizzle caramel in until mixed thoroughly.  Add remaining sugar to reach desired sweetness, and then beat in cream cheese.  Spread on warm brownies.  Cool slightly, and then enjoy your sugar coma.*

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*Note: If you try this and make adjustments, I'd love to know how it turned out!

In Which I Am Grateful for Wrath (and Wayne Grudem)

"I could never believe in a God who would send people to Hell."  "If God is so good, why is there so much suffering in the world?"  "I like what Jesus stood for a lot more than the angry-faced God of the Old Testament."  21st Century Western culture is obsessed with a grandfather-God full of love and acceptance.  On the surface, who wouldn't want a supreme being with the universe at his fingertips bestowing abundant, unending blessings on us?  Any hint at a God who possesses characteristics that seem to clash with this idea causes most to balk at either the idea or the deity in question.

If we assume that there is a God, it isn't a far step to take to also assume him to be perfect.  God always acts in accordance with what is right asserts theologian Wayne Grudem*.  Let that simmer for a moment.  If God is perfect and always does what is right, which would need to be true for a God to be worthy of trust.  (Could you really place faith in a deity who was occasionally a liar or manipulator or lover of evil?)  Beyond perfection, however, if God always acts in accordance with what is right, that would speak clearly of His justice.  Without justice, we as a society have little hope.  Justice keeps society filled with evil and wrongdoing safe.  Our society loves the idea of justice.  Public wrongs that go unpunished or held unaccountable become cultural dartboards.  At the core of our being, we know that evil must be dealt with. 

If God loves all that is right and good and all that conforms to his moral character, it should not be surprising that he would hate everything that is opposed to his moral character*.  So if God is perfect and always does what is right, it would stand to reason that He would oppose what is wrong/evil/unjust.  This is good news!  To have a god who loved those things would be truly terrifying.  To have a god who was lukewarm toward evil would leave mankind in a similarly destitute place.  But when we are powerless to stop or fight evil, having a god who is perfect and able to thwart and punish evil should be a comfort to us.

The focus of God's wrath has always been and always will be on evil.  Because it is in God's nature to do and love what is right, He could never damn good people to Hell.  Since God does what is right, hates evil, and requires justice, the evil in the world demands punishment (specifically, from Him, since he is the only perfect being).  When Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins, it showed that God was truly righteous (just), because he did give appropriate punishment for sin, even though he did forgive his people their sins. 

I am grateful that, in His perfection, God loves what is good and hates what is evil.  This gives me hope in a world chock-full of pain and suffering and wrongdoing, because God is the ultimate definition of justice.  Yet, I am also grateful for His mercy in taking that punishment that I deserve (for all of the evil and wrongdoing I have done) upon himself, in the form of Christ.


*quotes from Bible Doctrine by Wayne Grudem (1999), pages 93 & 94

Concerning Cardiac Calorie Counting

Do not let your adorning be external- the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothing-- but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.  -1 Peter 3:3-4 (ESV)

America is obsessed with health.  Amazon.com sells hundreds of thousands of books on how we feed our bodies, how we trim and tone our bodies, and how we care for our bodies.  The Apple store has 250 popular health and fitness apps (not to mention the limitless less popular apps) designed to get you on track for the best six pack, shedding baby weight, 5k training, and so on.  Walmart sells over 2000 different kinds of protein powder.  As a resident of Baltimore County, I can borrow over 3000 health books from our library system or find a CrossFit workout in 23 different locations.  What I guess I really mean to say is that America is obsessed with physical health.

I, too, put considerable effort in to tracking how much I put into my body, what kind of things I put into my body, how much I exercise my body, etc.  And there is nothing wrong with this!  God has given me a strong body that I need to steward well if I am to fulfill His purposes for my life and serve others effectively.  Yet, we know that age sets in eventually.  Healthy lifestyles can only take you so far.

Beyond the usual womanly application concerning the vanity of ever-changing fashion, Peter pointed my heart further.  I may obsess over every calorie that fuels my body, but I take little account as to what I fuel my mind and heart with on a regular basis.  I expend much effort into adorning myself physically with much less regard on how I adorn my spirit.  Women long for imperishable physical beauty (which fades with time), but SO much more worthy of our time and attention is imperishable inner beauty (which grows with time).

So I leave us (myself included) with this today: Are you concerned with the things you are feeding your soul?  Do you keep close watch that you aren't feeding your heart and mind with discouraging, life-sapping "trans fats?"  Are you training your spirit for endurance and joy?  Are you watching the "caloric" minutes here and there spent on social media, radio, or entertainment that continue to fuel your heart in small doses that, with time, amass and influence how you think and feel?  How's your cardiac calorie counting?

Your Excellency

Technology is a delightful tool.  Globalization is an incredible gift.  The capability to share thoughts and information all across our planet and even into space is positively mind-boggling.  Ease of expressing our opinions to a large audience has, I believe, desensitized us to take this gift for granted.  What we choose to share, "like," open, read, and comment on matters.  Social media's commonplace has become a graveyard for countless hours of my life and we can easily fool ourselves into thinking that its use is harmless, worthwhile, even necessary.  Unfiltered political platforms, cultural issue commentaries, opinion polls, sensationalist stories, trending health fads, and tutorials for things that really don't need a tutorial inundate my newsfeed daily.  95% of these I'm completely uninterested in, but will sometimes get sucked into without mindfulness of the time and mental investment I'm making with each click further.

Our culture's food obsession scrutinizes what we feed our bodies (antioxidants- good! yellow dye #87- bad! paleo- great! atkins- dig your grave now!) and how we care for them (crossfit! high intensity! 5k! fitbit!).  But what about our minds?  What fuel do we fill our minds with?  Many will insist that meditation and intentional clearing of the mind of negativity is a necessary practice, but if how we fed and guided our thoughts each day was healthy, perhaps this wouldn't even be a "thing."

What if we actually took seriously Paul's encouragement in Philippians 4:8, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things?"  If we focused our thoughts on truth, honor, justice, purity, beauty, true goodness, and excellence, how would that renew our minds and transform our lives (Romans 12:2)?  Would that allow us to "be sober-minded" and "prepare our minds for action" (1 Peter 1:13) in such a way that we could "put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander" (1 Peter 2:1)?  Could we, then, live to "proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" as God's people who have received a serious amount of mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10)? 

When we set our minds on unchanging, life-giving, mind-sharpening truth (specifically, truth about who God is, what He has done, and who we are in light of who He is and what He has done) instead of whatever fleeting nonsense flits in and out of social media, we are more enabled to live well, without hypocrisy, and to use words to love excellently. 

So is what you devote your thoughts to (whether two hours or two minutes at a time) worthy of the limited time you're given on Earth?  Is it lovely?  Do the things that you choose to share or tweet "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24)?  Are we commenting in ways that prompt our hearts to "increase and abound in love for one another" (1 Thessalonians 3:12)?  Are you thinking excellently?

The Non-Feminist Feminist Rant

Full disclosure: I am not a feminist.  I am, however, a boldly-speaking, deep-thinking, sometimes-a-little-too-strongly-willed, sport-watching female.  I also happen to play soccer.  In the past twenty-five years, I've spent more time chasing a ball around than most other activities.  Although I found significant playing time at the sweeper position for a few years in high school, most of my experience extends to the other side of the field as sweeper or an outside midfield position.  I am an offensively-minded player at heart.  The thrill of lobbing the perfect cross for the diving header or nailing a long shot from outside the 18 into the corner of the posts is positively euphoric.  All of the advance training, communication and team work, sweat and effort, play-by-play success, and mini individual triumphs culminate in celebration once that ball crosses the goal line.

... Which is why I found myself extremely irritated when I heard one of the announcers during a Women's World Cup game exclaim, after the first goal of the match, "Wow!  That's something she'll be able to tell her kids about one day!"

Okay.

I take zero issue with celebrating a memorable moment with an athlete.  As a female also looking forward to raising children in the future, the idea of sharing past experiences with future offspring doesn't offend me.  I also greatly enjoy the myriad of differences between men and women.

However.

As an athlete, hearing a commentator (and a female one, shockingly) jump from, "She scores!" to "She'll be able to tell her kids about that one day" is offensive and ridiculous.  It glosses over the countless hours of hard work, athleticism, precision, and world class talent to relegate the player's worth to "her future offspring will have a mommy who did something neat once."  A football announcer would never celebrate a touchdown from a punt return by exclaiming, "That guy will be able to show his son that run some day!"

The women playing in the FIFA World Cup are among the best players in the world now and in history.  Countries that have never been on this world-wide stage are finally getting the opportunity to.  Unlike many professional male athletes, most of these women work full-time because making a living as a soccer player just isn't realistic.  These countries' representation culminates from millennia of women's rights and are worth celebrating!  The progress made through their histories are beyond notable.  The ability to bear and sustain human life ought to be marveled at.  These women have incredible stories and lives that are should be told.  And yes, they will have lives to return to once the games in Canada wrap up.

But when these women are playing soccer, their work as athletes is worth watching, following, and cheering for.  Get excited about the skill.  Comment on the triumphs and learn from the mistakes.  Admire their precise footwork, their technique, their strength, and their strategy.  Admire these women for the incredible athletes that they are.