It’s basic, and most influential, ingredient is the hot Italian sausage made from venison and pork. The venison and pork used in the recipe for the sausage included in this casserole happens to be what my husband acquired (not from a store) and ground up.

(Click on the foods for enlarged views.)

The sausage’s ingredients:

25 lbs ground venison
15 lbs ground pork
7 tablespoons rubbed sage
7 tablespoons garlic powder
7 tablespoons coarse salt
5 tablespoons black pepper
4 tablespoons crushed red chili peppers
2 tablespoons allspice
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons dried crushed habenaro pepper

Directions for the sausage:

Course grind the venison and pork together.
Re-grind the meats with the spices included.
Wrap in plastic & paper for freezer.

The casserole’s ingredients:

2 lbs of hot Italian sausage
cooked corn cut off one cob
16 oz of creamed corn
3 large raw tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup of lightly sautéed onions, diced
4 cups of steamed broccoli, diced
1/4 cup of fresh dried basil leaves, crushed
25.5 oz of pasta sauce (I used Muir Glen’s organic garlic roasted garlic)
1 lb mozzarella cheese, shredded
12 oz whole wheat whole grain elbow macaroni (I used Hodgson Mill‘s)

Directions for the casserole:

Preheat oven to 350º F
Fry the sausage; the remove it from pan.
In that same pan, lightly sauté onions.
Steam the broccoli, then chop it up.
Boil the macaroni for 7 minutes, then drain.
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
Fill the mixture into a 4 quart baking dish (15x10x2).
Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, then let cool for 5-10 minutes.

While it’s cooling, fix yourself a drink.
Wouldn’t a refreshing tequila sunrise look pretty next to a plate of a spicy sausage casserole? →
If you’re interested, Agavales Gold is an inexpensive, but yet tasty premium tequila.

Oh, yes . . .
I almost forgot about dessert!
What else but a homemade peach pie made from peaches off peach trees that grew in the garden by accident?
Someone must have thrown peach pits into the garden one year — causing two peach trees to grow along the inside of the garden fence.
How sweet the taste when you don’t waste!

I’m now thinking about Thanksgiving . . .
Who shall I invite for dinner?
Those who eat daily in my yard maybe?
Here’s a few from that rafter I think will be delicious to go after.

↓

“Hey! You don’t mean us, do ya?”

It’s wonderful to know that there is nothing the world can do to ruin the joy that comes from salvation!

And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation. — Psalm 35:9

Grace is truly amazing! No one deserves God’s mercy and love, but yet He chooses to love those whom he does even though we’re all born in sin!

I have basically shared much of the same Christian beliefs the Amish hold. The longer I study the bible, the more my faith becomes similar to theirs. What perplexes me though is why the Amish no longer seem to follow Matthew 28:19-20. Those verses, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen,” sum up the Great Commission.

The Amish are Anabaptists. The Anabaptists were originally intensely evangelistic. Mennonites are also Anabaptists. They still do evangelize, but the Amish have stopped doing so. Even though outsiders occasionally do become accepted into the Amish church, it is rare. I completely understand why different Amish districts have their own Ordnung, but what doesn’t make sense to me is why those who marry a Christian outside of their community are judged as being rebellious against God’s will and then end up being excommunicated and shunned. I sort of comprehend why, but not completely.

I might completely understand this rejection if it wasn’t for reading an Amishman’s response to the question, “Can an outsider join the Amish church/community?” His remark was,

You do not need to move here to adopt a lifestyle of simplicity and discipleship. You can begin wherever you are.

Maybe if I could figure out just exactly what that remark means, it might help get rid of what seems inconsistent.

If a lifestyle of simplicity and discipleship means living in the will of God, then I don’t get why a marriage between someone who grew up Amish with a non-Amish Christian would be viewed as sinful rebellion. I read an analogy made between the Ordnung and team members of a sport — meaning that rules are required for fair game play. If those rules create that kind of division among Christians which end up forbidding the sharing of meals together, then how is hurt avoided? It doesn’t seem like the same kind of hurt someone experiences from being proud.

Pain from separation, as in the above example, seems to wound the spirit of love. I agree with shunning as being a form of loving discipline when someone’s eternal soul is at stake.¹ But since the bible does not clearly state that it is a sin for an Amish Christian to marry a non-Amish Christian, I don’t see how someone’s eternal soul is at risk.

I understand the Amish view of having a divine responsibility to judge those who break their baptismal vows and to preserve the purity of their church. However, it appears that when vows like that are being made (along with the severe consequences of breaking them), their church has become a higher authority than the bible.

¹Shunning is not harboring vengeance or malice. It is being unable to pardon an offense that someone refuses to acknowledge and repent of. Forgiving, pardoning, and reconciling a relationship, are three different things.

Without a reason to trust (especially after trust has become severely broken), there is no relationship to reconcile. Christians have the authority (and responsibility) to either pardon their brother/sister-in-Christ who commited the trespass or not, but if the offender isn’t a professing Christian, then it is up to the world to judge and choose whether or not to pardon the offense commited.

When the laws of human government are broken, then sometimes both the church and the state may be obligated to judge. When it’s only God’s law stated clearly in the bible that has been broken, then it’s the believers who must deal with it.

Trust can be earned back, but not without evidence of repentance. Repentance is the only hope for possibly regaining the motivation needed to work at trusting again.

God does not demand more from us than what we’re capable of. Yes, we need to know the truth. But we also need to know that the truth is simple. How more simple can it be said than how it is in John 14:6? —

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

It’s also important to comprehend the flip side about knowledge. Jeff Miller deflates the popular verse about knowledge puffing up by emphasizing the importance of love and charity. Jesus is love and charity incarnate. Knowledge must be coupled with love for us to build each other up. No one can teach a know-it-all.

I think the analogy of a flash flood might describe my thoughts well. Floods are powerful. They create new pathways for water to flow. As they’re doing so, they sweep things in their path to rearrange life from what it once was. It takes time for the sediment to settle and the water to clear. Right now, for me, life is murky.

As Forrest Gump has said, “And that’s all I have to say about that.”

Since my husband is the one who goes down to the garden, he is the one who saw something strange behind our smokehouse. It was a dead fawn on the ground. It’s back end was partially eaten. The odd thing is that its body had been lying there for two or three days. Either a bear or a coywolf killed it. What’s very creepy is that whatever captured it left it there. It’s not normal for a wild animal to not completely eat its prey (at least around here it’s not).

I heard this poor fawn cry for its life as it was being killed during the night it happened, but I didn’t expect to see any remains. The scream woke me up. I was too tired to know for sure what it was. It’s not unusual to hear an animal being killed periodically during some nights. What’s really awful is to hear it scream for a while, then stop, only to start again. One night I heard this horrible sound repeatedly for about two hours. I think it was a rabbit getting attacked. It’s just not what you’d expect after watching so many wildlife shows on television. Maybe for television they keep slow killings off the air?

I almost mentioned in my Middle of the Night Snack? post another awful story. I’m going to bring it up now because it too is creepy. I had a cat I raised from the time it was five days old. When she was three years old, I knew something was very wrong when she disappeared one night. The next morning I saw her, as I looked out my window, coming to my front door. I will never forget the look in her eyes. (I’m feeling very sick as I share this.) Something had eaten parts of her back end. She barely made it to the house. There was no way to save her life. She had already suffered too much for too long. All I could do was cry to my husband and plead to him to please stop her from suffering any longer.

The real world is cruel and harsh. How does a person get used to sleeping through such things, especially when being a light sleeper? I have to leave my windows open quite often. I can’t seem to turn off the pain I feel whenever an animal suffers. I could never be a veterinarian. I don’t have the stomach for hearing cries of pain.

Still in all, I’d rather live in the country than a city. People who scare me are those who think legal American citizens no longer have the right to bear arms.

Never before has there been as many days of constant high humidity as this year is bringing. When you’re going through the season of life having to endure hot flashes (and men are the ones excused for bad behavior during a mid-life crisis?!?!),¹ sticky weather can make one cling to the air conditioner and keep going outdoors to a minimum. But, too much of anything is… well, too much!

Last night, I was entertained by a film production on television of Broadway’s fun-jammed all-black music show Cabin in the Sky. It got me thinking about how often people, once upon a time, used to sing happy songs. I woke up wanting to listen to hymns (I can’t sing, but I can dance). What happened instead — thanks to messing around with loading pictures onto my computer and digging through my file folders — I stumbled across George Bowser and Ricky Blue‘s rendition of Working Where The Sun Don’t Shine: The Colorectal Surgeon’s Song.

We praise the colorectal surgeon
Misunderstood and much maligned
Slaving away in the heart of darkness
Working where the sun don’t shine

Respect the colorectal surgeon
It’s a calling few would crave
Lift up your hands and join us
Let’s all do the finger wave

When it comes to spreading joy
There are many techniques
Some spread joy to the world
And others just spread cheeks

Some may think the cardiologist
Is their best friend
But the colorectal surgeon knows…
He’ll get you in the end!

Why be a colorectal surgeon?
It’s one of those mysterious things.
Is it because in that profession
There are always openings?

When I first met a colorectal surgeon
He did not quite understand;
I said, “Hey, it’s nice to meet you
But do you mind? If we don’t shake hands.”

He sailed right through medical school
Because he was a whiz
But he never thought of psychology
When he read passages.

A doctor he wanted to be
For golf he loved to play,
But this is not quite what he meant…
By eighteen holes a day!

Respect the colorectal surgeon
Here and now we’ll raise a glass
For the rectal surgeon like the rectum
Can’t tell a liquid from a gas

We praise the colorectal surgeon
Misunderstood and much maligned
Slaving away in the heart of darkness
Working where the sun don’t shine!

¹My husband didn’t understand what this meant, so since I had to explain it to him, I’ll repeat myself in case there are other guys who don’t comprehend it either. Women whose moods are affected by menopause are talked about negatively, but men who act like teenagers during a mid-life crisis are not. I don’t get it. What’s the big deal about being cranky (especially when you’re also tired) compared to such things as leaving your family for a younger woman and/or buying a new corvette convertible?

. . . it’s no wonder I hesitate to use emailing again.

I said hesitate. That doesn’t mean there is no chance I might give it another try.

I prefer being wiser by finally putting the lesser matters into perspective. To not do so, hinders the more important things in life from getting accomplished.

As of today, I began to realize how much I’ve been impugning the beliefs of others. After this awareness started, I found the sermon Should Christians Proselytize? and read all of it. Now Luke 18:13 weighs heavily on my mind.

Adherence to the golden rule and the two greatest commandments wouldn’t nurture strife, but rather encourage gentleness and meekness.

It’s not my place (or anyone else’s either) to insist on how certain bible verses should be perceived, but it is my duty to share God’s message of salvation while His mercy and grace for mankind still exist. I trust that He will speak to each individual through His written word (that can be visibly read or audibly heard). I do not have a gift for teaching God’s word, nor do I have one for preaching sermons expounding on verses from scripture. What I do have is the habit of doing those two things, because of being responsible for the spiritual well-being of my children.

There are many proclaiming to follow Jesus who not only hate others that differ from them in lesser theological matters (yet these ‘enemies’ have led countless people to Christ), but also these same people harbor hatred towards those who dare to publically refuse to share that same malicious spirit. The bottom line is, “Does the believer abide in the doctrine of Christ?”

[The next paragraph deals with cult members. Christians should have unbelieving friends, but stay away from ungodly practices and worldviews.]

To not abide in the doctrine of Christ means bringing in some error concerning the person or office of the Lord Jesus. Opposers of the Lord Christ’s name and His dignity undermine God’s glory and His kingdom. Any who do not profess and preach the doctrine of Christ, respecting him as the Son of God, and salvation by him from guilt and sin, are not to be noticed and countenanced.¹ Yet in obeying 2 John 1:9-10, we must show kindness and a good spirit to those who differ from us in lesser matters, but hold firmly the all-important doctrines of Christ’s person, atonement, and holy salvation.

Jesus said, “For he that is not against us is on our part.” It is vital to hold fast to the basics of what Christian faith is, so that we don’t give the devil a foothold to divide the family of God.

For decades, I was an Arminian. Afterward, I became a Calvinist. In my post Devotion to Caution, I said Calvinism and Arminianism are basically opposite. There isn’t much wrong with saying a statement like that, at least from what I can tell. However, I’m beginning to think that my going beyond it may have been an example of what God warns His people against doing. Christians are to edify and strengthen the body of Christ. A healthy body is wholesome.

When it comes to the body of Christ, I like how Charles Spurgeon (a believer of election) wisely replied to the question of how he reconciled predestination and man’s free responsibility. He said, “I do not try to reconcile friends.” Quoting Warren W. Wiersbe’s words from his book What to Wear to the War: Studies from Ephesians 6, “In order to be balanced and able to walk as Christians, we need a thorough understanding of all the Bible’s doctrines, teachings and commands.”

For something to be whole, it has to be complete. No component elements or parts can be missing. God will see to it that all of His children will finally be together again someday. It’s just sad that more of us can’t be together while we’re still here in this world.

Also for decades, I was a church goer. I attended a spectrum of denominations — starting with the charismatic speaking-in-tongues flavor, grazing on the reformed range, and retiring my organized fellowship era inside an easy-going (non-speaking-in-tongues) evangelical pasture. Afterward, “going to church” passed away from my life. I’m now reborn into a world undefined by man’s walls. I sort of feel like how you’d imagine a ghost that’s been left behind, waiting to be reunited with its immortal body. I meet other ‘ghosts’ of this same faith on rare occasions, but I don’t get to ‘hang out’ with them in person (What ghost can without having a ‘validated’ body? Is that why ‘I’ have become ‘invisible’ to others inside any ‘visible’ church?). That’s okay, because all spirit-filled believers abide in the Holy Ghost and can fellowship wherever God’s Spirit is.²

Another decades-long belief I held was that no consideration should be made as to when the end of time will be. Afterward, I independently began to see an opposing view. I won’t say more than that any longer. Hopefully no one will make any assumptions about what position I now hold on that issue.

It takes concentration to change the direction of the way you perceive the silhouette of the spinning dancer turning. It also takes concentration to ‘see’ the opposite side of what you believe, especially if you get mesmerized by the one you’re holding for a long time.

One dancer can’t spin in two opposite directions simultaneously. No one can believe two opposite beliefs at the same time either. However, two opposite beliefs can complement one another if you try to understand the other perspective. Perhaps this is why God has designed the bible to be able to function like an illusion, while simultaneously being the source of all truth and reality. How else would Christian faith be put to the test? It isn’t up to Christians to sort out the wheat from the tares or to get bent out of shape whenever someone else isn’t agreeing with us.

If I never wondered how there could be so many different Christian denominations all worshipping the same bible,³ I never would have become as enlightened in understanding how so many people can be as different as they are, while still being basically alike as human beings.

¹This also applies to Christians who have trespassed against you and refuse to confess the wrong they have done. Either the wrongdoer will confess or deny sinning against you. Denial is usually evident by the lack of pleading for forgiveness. Words like “I’m sorry” might be said, but if they are, most likely there won’t be any reference to what the person is sorry about specifically. Words without actions, in this case, are no different from coming to Christ for salvation without evidence of repentance.

Here’s how Oswald Chambers puts it in his book, He Shall Glorify Me,

“I cannot forgive my enemies and remain just unless they cease to be my enemies and give proof of their sorrow, which must be expressed in repentance. I have to remain steadfastly true to God’s justice. There are times when it would be easier to say ‘Oh well, it does not matter, I forgive you,’ but Jesus insists that the uttermost farthing must be paid. The love of God is based on justice and holiness, and I must forgive on the same basis.”

²The bible says much about how spirit-filled believers are to abide in the Holy Ghost, especially during end times. Regardless of what century or millennium it is, being faithful to God requires being obedient to His will.

³Non-denominational churches are a myth. Every church has its own set of common denominators unique to their congregation, but not all have well-defined labels.