You Can’t Rush Sanctification

Alex Bangle on April 6, 2023

As Christians, we often struggle with impatience when it comes to our growth in faith. We want to become more Christ-like, to be better people, and to overcome our weaknesses and struggles. But like a child who must grow and mature before becoming an adult, we too must wait for our spiritual growth to unfold in its own time.

Sanctification is the process by which we become more like Christ, and it is a lifelong journey. We cannot rush it or force it to happen faster than it is meant to. Instead, we must trust in God’s timing and have faith that he is working in us, even when we cannot see it.

As we grow in Christ, we will face pain, strife, and failures. But we will also experience successes and moments of great joy. Through it all, we must remember that each experience is a part of our spiritual growth and that God is using them to shape us into the people he wants us to be.

Just as a child fights over things that we know are not important, we too can become distracted by things that do not matter in the grand scheme of things. It is important to keep our focus on God and to trust in his plan for our lives. When we do, we can rest assured that he is using everything for our good and his glory.

So if you are feeling impatient in your spiritual growth, remember that sanctification cannot be rushed. Trust in God’s timing, and allow him to work in you through both the joys and struggles of life. As you do, you will continue to grow in Christ and become the person God created you to be.

The Journey Home

Alex Bangle on January 16, 2023

Life’s Journey

I was reminded of this and how we are so lacking in our understanding of life as we were driving home the other way with our baby boy Ezra in the back. A mix of emotions, talking to himself, upset and eventually sleeping. It hit me that we are often like that and our perspective so limited. For our baby boy he only knows the car seat he is in and his immediate feelings of tired, hunger or wanting to see mommy or daddy. For the adults in the front it’s a 16 minute drive home, the journey is clear. We know where we are going. We know why we are going and what the plans are for the future, when we get home. But for the child, he does not know, could he even know if he was told?

God the Driver

This makes me think about spirituality and life, what if God is the adult in the front seat and we the child buckled in to the car seat. Think about this, we experience real emotions and feelings and within what we are able to experience life’s journey. We may know we’re going somewhere, but it’s hard to tell 16 years into the future, or in God’s eyes 16 minutes. We experience many feelings and emotions, maybe we ask “where is God”, we’ll he’s driving the vehicle in the front seat ensuring a safe trip home, you’re just having trouble seeing him right now.

Dangers of Life

You can continue with this; think of all the dangers of the road and life that the mom and dad protect the child of, most of which the child has no clue. How many things around us do we take for granted, because we do not see them. Maybe we cannot even see them? How many things does God protect us from. How many other things do we miss if we do not look around, blinded by our limitations of being ‘in the car seat’. It is mind blowing when you consider how many things happen every day that we just cannot grasp.

One Day

Why do the parents protect and care for their child? Because they love them and they always will, if they are good parents. The child may not always see it that way. Throughout the life’s journey the child will rebel, not understand and even get angry. The good parent continues on in their love, knowing one day they will understand better. I believe that is the same with God, He continues to love us, knowing in the day or rather age to come, we will understand the things he did, or why he did not do.

Getting Organized

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

There is something so accomplishing and peaceful for me, and I know many others, about getting organized. This can be as simple as shredding some junk mail or the trash getting picked up. It is a feeling of accomplishment and freeing of the brain, Admiral McRaven famously put it “If you wanna change the world, start off by making your bed” (watch part of that video here). You can call this “closing some tabs”, too many open tabs and you get stuck. The simple idea of making your bed in the morning, opens a tab and then closes it. This gives you the immediate satisfaction of accomplishing a task you created.

Getting organized in the real world helps my brain function better. If things are not organized it’s as if I cannot focus because my brain is thinking of these “open tabs”. Cleaning out a room, or my desk or even something like writing out this blog with my thoughts all accomplish this feeling of getting organized.

Consistency and Priority

For Christmas this year my wife got me 32 clear plastic organizational containers for our kitchen. At the end of the day the same amount of stuff still fits, actually less in some cases. The containers take up more “air” than some of the original packaging, but feels organized, standardized and how it should be. Thinking about all those TikTok videos of people who pour stuff from a perfectly good container to another. I get it, there’s something about consistency.

Too often I find myself bogged down by things that should not. I have improved at not letting this affect me as much. Over the years many projects have not been completed due to too many things going on. I’ve grown more accustom to dealing with more tabs being open and not closed at the end of the night. At the end of each day I do not let it keep me up or away from family, it will be there tomorrow.

Do Your Best

However, as Benjamin Franklin said “do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today”. This still rings true and I find myself happier on days where I am able to accomplish what I set out to, from the simple daily task to checking off that long term project.

Get organized, a place for everything, and everything in it’s place. It feels good at the end of the day to mark some things off your to do list and close out some tabs. Strive every day to do what you can, but do not let it carry over. If something is taxing your brain then get it knocked out so you can focus on the most important things in life.

Banana Bread

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

After some testing I landed on this as my perfect banana bread, my wife will affirm. I use brown sugar to give it a deeper and richer flavor as well as plenty of flavors and spices to bring out the flavor the banana.

How to make Perfect Banana Bread

In a large bowl I start with my 2 very ripe banana’s, mix those down with a fork until smooth, then add in 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of Rhum extract (if you have it, not required) and 1/3 cup of melt butter and mix that up with a fork.

Once that is together we now need to add the rest of our dry ingredients and mix as minimal as possible. I do not use a power mixer for this but hand mix with a rubber spatula. Add in 1 1/2 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and a pinch of salt. You can also add in some nuts at this time as well, chopped walnuts work well, I use what I have typically 1/2 – 1 cup. Gently combine by folding this into the rest of the mixture until it just comes together, some lumps are ok but flour should be combined.

You’ll bake this at 350 degrees in a bread loaf pan for 60 minutes.

Banana Bread Ingredients

  • 2 Very Ripe Banana’s (should be mostly brown)
  • 3/4 Cups Brown Sugar
  • 1/3 Cup Melt Unsalted Butter
  • 1 Egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 TBSP Rhum Extract
  • 1 1/2 Cups Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • Pinch of Salt
  • 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
  • Nuts to Taste. Walnuts work great.
  • Bake at 350 for 90 minutes

Oatmeal Cookies

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

I started making these for my wife after she gave birth to our first born son. The oatmeal is supposed to be very good for the producing of milk and they are also just very tasty, not too sweet and a great oatmeal taste. I actually make my less sweet than other recipes, I don’t think these need to be too sweet as they have plenty of flavor without a ton of sugar.

How to Make Awesome Oatmeal Cookies

Get your oven preheated to 350 degrees. Whip the butter in a larger bowl. Start by getting 1/2 cup of unsalted butter softened, I always forget to set it out enough to soften so I will typically set it on my stove while pre-heating. To that add in your 1/2 cup of light brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar, you could probably even remove the white sugar if you want to remove even more sugar but I have not tried that, this is about 50% less sugar than I saw in other recipes. With a power mixer, whisk up the butter and sugar until very smooth and butter is well integrated.

Add 2 eggs and 1 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, blend until combined. Now add in our dry ingredients of 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder,1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. You should probably add the flour 1/2 cup at a time, or yolo and add it all at once. This mixture will get very thick, mix until just combined.

You’ll need to do the rest by hand with a strong mixing spoon, I use a wooden one so it doesn’t bend on me. Mix in your 3 cups of oats (do not use instant oats), 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1 cup of chopped walnuts or try other nuts. The chocolate chips and nuts are of course optional but I find they really add to flavor and texture and is why I use less sugar. Once all mixed together scoop out small balls, about an inch, they will not expand much so they can be closer to each other than you would with regular cookies but give it some space about an inch. It will be sticky so I find spraying my hands with cooking spray helps handle the batter. Bake these for 14 minutes in your 350 degree preheated oven, if they seem too soft try another 1-2 minutes, this may be needed if they are too thick. But they will thicken up as they cool.

Oatmeal Cookie Ingredients

  • Dry Ingredients
    • 1 1/2 Cups Flour
    • 1 tsp Cinnamon
    • 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
    • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
    • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • Wet Ingredients
    • 1/2 Cup Softened Unsalted Butter
    • 1/2 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
    • 1/2 Cup White Sugar
    • 2 Large Eggs
    • 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • Oats and Other Ingredients
    • 3 Cups Oats
    • 1 Cup Chocolate Chips or other sweet chip
    • 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts or other nuts
  • Bake at 350 for 14 minutes

Fruit Salad (The Drink)

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

I came across this mix while trying to find a Christmas holiday drink but what I found is the flavor reminded me of a fruit salad mix, you know the classic with melons, pineapple and other fruits. Thoughts were mixed on this drink as the melon flavor is strong, which I like. So if you like melon such as honey dew, you should love this.

Make Melon Fruit Salad Drink

Add ice to your shaker, add to this 1.5 oz of Midori Liqueur, 1 oz of Vodka or a White Rum (using white rum will add a bit more flavor but try it either way) add in 1 oz of pineapple juice and then shake. Pour into a glass over ice, which have a nice light green color due to the melon liqueur and pineapple juice. Top with tonic water or you can use sparkling wine for more fruity flavors, works fine either way. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and enjoy.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 oz Midori Liqueur
  • 1 oz Vodka or White Rum
  • 1 oz Pineapple Juice
  • 1 oz Tonic Water or Sparkling Wine
  • Maraschino Cherry on Top

Butterscotch

Alex Bangle on December 28, 2022

I forget what brought me to making this my first time, I think it may of been trying to create a butter beer but what I found was a delicious home made butter scotch. We’ve all probably had it before in some kind of candy or desert but wow making it home made and enjoying it hot right from the pan was an experience.

How to Make Butterscotch

Melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a pan, I used a stainless steel and didn’t have issues but non-stick may be easier to deal with, especially if you burn it first time around. After that melts mix in 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. Boil this for about 4 to 5 minutes until it thickens and comes together. Remove it from the heat and add in 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (no cheap stuff). You can also add if desired 1 to 2 tablespoons of preferred whiskey at the end. Enjoy! If you refrigerate this it will harden and need warmed up again to use as a syrup.

Butterscotch Ingredients

  • 4 TBSP Unsalted Butter
  • 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1-2 TBSP Whiskey (optional)

Be Still and Know That I am God [Video]

Alex Bangle on August 14, 2021

Exploring Thoughts on God, Faith and Life in Psalms 46. Something I’ve been wanting to do for a while is just make some short videos on personal reflections about God, Faith and Life. Sitting down this morning and thing through the verse “be still and know that I am God”, looking this up it’s from Psalms 46 and the CSB translates it a bit differently, so I was thinking through that and why this was on my mind.

God’s Sovereignty, Goodness and Grace [Video]

Alex Bangle on June 27, 2019

We will spend our lives and then eternity climbing the mountains of knowing God, seeking and seeing new peaks of beauty of Him, to get to the tops to only discover there is yet another peak, more majestic and beautiful than the previous.

Christ Our Solid Foundation [Video]

Alex Bangle on May 14, 2019

Teaching on Colossians 1:15-23. Why should we trust in God, why do we put him first in our life? Because He is constant and does not change. He redeemed us from the curse of the law, He is the image of the invisible God the best Gift of the Gospel. Christ Is Your Foundation in this life.