Date Night In


We put the kids to bed and got take out. We've done that our whole marriage. 

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My French Press Recipe for 16 oz of Coffee

This is my recipe for making one large cup of coffee in French press. I use an insulated press and prefer it because I've broken two glass presses. My French press has two screens, but a cleaner cup comes from pressing the plunger very slowly. I learned that trick from James Hoffman. Grind coffee coarsely. Boil Water Preheat French press and then pour out the water. Weigh 27 grams of coffee into press. Keep it on scale but tare the scale. Wet the coffee to let it bloom. Start the timer for 4 minutes. At 3:30, stir the grounds. Then finish pouring water in to reach 405 grams. Preheat the cup. Put the lid on and wait. When the timer goes off, press the plunger down very slowly (30 seconds or so). If I'm being honest, the measurements have a little wiggle room. If you are really a coffee person, then you might hate this. Percolating coffee is pretty forgiving, so I don't worry if I overpour by a few grams. The coffee still turns out well. The 405 grams of water comes out to ha...
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I Prepare Sermons 4 Weeks in Advance: Why I started, How I do it, and What I think about it.

Last year, I started preparing sermons four weeks in advance. Now that I've done it for a while, I thought I would write on why I started, how I began, and what I think about it. I decided to try it while reading Paul David Tripp's book Dangerous Calling . He writes in one section about the seriousness of the pastor's calling to preach and warned against preaching without meditation and personal application. He strongly advised preparing further out.  I never did the Saturday night rush sermon. I thought I was doing well since I prepared on Monday (all day) and Tuesday (morning). That felt as far out as I could do. I decided to try it anyway and see what the results were. I always use a checklist for sermon prep. I have it broken down into 10 or so steps. I decided that I could do the first half of my checklist four weeks out and then the second half the week I will give the sermon. The first half of my sermon prep involves translating, outlining, rereading, studying notes,...
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Brewing 16 oz of Coffee in an Aeropress--My Coffee Recipe

I have a recipe for every type of brewer that I have (It's at least 5 off the top of my head). I wanted to share a recipe that I really like with my Aeropress because it was hard to find a good recipe for brewing a large cup of coffee in the Aeropress. I had to wade through comments on a messageboard to find something that sounded right. This is the second Aeropress that I have received as a gift. I wore the first one out several years ago. I've been experimenting with brewing a really good 16 oz cup of coffee for my favorite mug. It actually is best at only 14 oz. Here is what I've arrived at: Use the Aeropress the standard way over a cup, not inverted. Weigh 20 grams of whole bean coffee Grind it in between espresso and regular drip. That makes it fine, but not too fine. Boil the water. Let it sit for 30 seconds to cool down. Add the grounds to the Aeropress. Pour hot water over the grounds and stir for 30 seconds. You want some of the water to drip through into the cup s...
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Every Bret Lott Book Ranked and Described

I've been a Bret Lott fan since college. That means I've been reading his books for 20 years. With the release of his new book, I thought it would be the time to make an annotated list of his books. There are four that I haven't read. I plan to fix that this year, and I will update this post when I do.  Lott writes in lots of different categories. I'm going to list them according to categories and then rank them and give notes. One of my favorite things about Lott's writing is that he takes chances and doesn't just repeat the same things over and over. You can see that when you put the books into categories. I am listing them by how I rank them.  Novels A Song I Knew by Heart . This is my favorite of his novels. It doesn't do it justice to describe it as a modern retelling of the story Ruth. It is a lovely, slow story of brokenness, redemption, and healing where the places that the two women live become a part of the story.  Dead Low Tide . This is actually ...
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If you are looking for a study bible, here are my thoughts on the ones that I have and use. I ranked them in order of preference. NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible (formerly the NIV Zondervan Study Bible) This is the best study bible that I have. It is so big, though, that you wouldn't want to carry it. The design is really good and the notes are excellent. It focuses on the themes of the bible and the articles are supposed to be a big feature. I haven't read any of them, though. ESV Gospel Transformation Study Bible This is a different kind of study bible. I heard it described on the Room for Nuance podcast interview with Jonathan Carswell as the Jesus Storybook Bible for adults. That fits. It has just a few notes per chapter, but it shows how every passage in the Bible points to Jesus. This is great for teachers and for those who struggle to understand the full storyline of the Bible. CSB Study Bible This was my favorite study bible before I bought the NIV Biblical Theology S...
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