To say 2020 has been interesting is probably the biggest understatement of the century, but it did have its good moments. One of the biggest things that I am happy about was deciding to return my focus to reading the Bible with in depth studies.
I had a light bulb moment a few months ago. I asked myself "What does it mean to be like Christ?" I believe that's an important question to ask especially during this troubled year. One of my answers to these questions was "I need to know who Christ is before I can imitate what he did."
Those who know me know that I have a particular love for Ancient History. So when it comes to the Bible, I'm an odd ball in that I know more about the Old Testament than I do about the New Testament. So when I said "I need to know who Christ is before I can imitate what he did," my biggest issue was knowing what the New Testament, beyond the Gospels actually said. I've read the Gospels countless times, but never really have I truly looked at the Letters of Paul and other Apostles. So during Quarantine, that's what I did. I started in Romans and now I'm in 1 Thessalonians. It's been a slow process, but life filling. There are so many things I never thought about, and I absolutely love the words of Paul. He is on fire when he speaks.
To keep this brief and to get on with the recipe, I just want to share this piece that I wrote down about what I've found so far about who Christ is -- this was what I wrote after reading Colossians 1:
The God of the Universe created everything by his power and has absolute authority over it. And despite the corruption and wickedness of the world, He chose to rescue us from the darkness, purchasing us at the expense of his own blood to forgive us of our sins and give us hope for what God has reserved for us in Heaven. We were once his enemies, deserving of his wrath, but hw chose us. Humanity. He reconciled us by the shed blood of Jesus Christ when he died on that tree. And with the resurrection of Christ, He now calls us Holy and blameless. This is the Truth - the Good News -- the Hidden Message for centuries now revealed. That the God of the Universe is so madly in love with humanity and willing to share and gift us with his wonderful Grace. As we grow in our knowledge and understanding of who God is by drawing closer to him, we will know that He live s within by the very transformation of who we are into something we never believed was possible.
And this conclusion just gives me pure joy because I know how much I have changed the more I have spent time reading God's Word and Praying to him. Its like all relationships that value. It has to have active participants on both sides. God is always active. The question is, will we be?
May God bless and keep you and give you joy and hope as we enter this holiday season.
And may the Chocolate Cake bring you great happiness 😄
Triple Chocolate Cake Recipe
Here is an amazing thing for those Chocolate Cake lovers out there. A teacher mentor I had while I was Student Teaching in College gave this one to me. I made it recently for my School's Parent/Teacher Conferences. It's fairly easy to make and really good.
Here's what you're gonna need:
Ingredients:
1 Box of Chocolate Cake Mix (the recipe calls for Devil's Food Cake, but I've used other boxes)
1 Box of Chocolate Pudding Mix
4 Eggs
1/2 Cup of Canola or Vegi Oil
8 oz Sour Cream
1 Cup Water
About 6 oz (small bag) of Chocolate Chips
A Bundt Pan
Instructions:
Start Preheating your Oven to 350°F
2. Put all your dry ingredients in a mixing bowl
3. Add all your liquid ingredients to the bowl
4. Mix all of this together -- Once these ingredients are done, add the chocolate chips and mix them as well
5. Spray your Bundt Pan --- Pour the mix into the Bundt Pan
6. Bake for 55 Minutes in the oven
7. When it is done, take out -- poke it to make sure it is done. If done, proceed to flip content of Bundt Pan into a cake holder or any other pan you have to place the cake on.
Mine came out a little funky when I flipped it. Parts of it did stick to the bundt pan. Which is why above I remind you to spray your Bundt Pan before pouring the mix in lol 😄 Otherwise your Bundt Pan ends up looking like this and takes forever to clean 😄 😄
In order to cover this catastrophe 😉 I added some chocolate icing over the top.
And there it is. This serves about 11 people based on how I cut this. Remember to always let anything you bake cool before you cut it --- otherwise you're gonna end up with a lovely mess and horrible cuts. 😄
Have a great day!
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