Banchero’s Restaurant Hayward, California

Courtesy Local news

When we lived in the East Bay Area, many a Sunday after church, we took our children to Banchero’s Italian Restaurant in Hayward, California. 

 

It was a family place owned and operated by Father and Son, with 33 employees.  The son, John began working in the restaurant when he was 13 and learned all aspects of the business.

Many customers enjoyed the take out menu with half a chicken, soup, spaghetti, or ravioli’s.  I know we did on many an occasion.

The restaurant served the bay area delicious Italian food at a reasonable price.  Your meal arrived in courses; Orderves, homemade soup, salad, and your choice of entree, with warm luscious garlic bread.  To complete your meal there was a choice of Jell-O, pudding or spumoni ice cream.  I always selected the spumoni ice cream.  Yum.

The original building was a Quonset hut purchased from the military, and the front was given a face lift for a nice entry.  Many a family gathering enjoyed sitting at their tables. 

Sad to say, the restaurant closed mid 2012.  The owner when interviewed said he desired to retire and spend more time with his family, but there was a real reason for the closure and the loss of 33 jobs for local families.   

The owner would not bend to Government pressure.  He ran a clean and healthy establishment so say all that worked there and the many customers who dined there.

One day armed with an agenda, in came the Health Department, making unreasonable demands,

The Department of Health required new equipment to be installed, and the expensive upgrades they insisted on had to be implemented immediately with NO grace period.   

Owner John was too classy of a man to mention publicly about the attack on his business but thanks to the local Bureaucrats, 33 families lost their income and a fine restaurant was forced to close. 

Small business needs to be encouraged and not plagued down with irrational regulations that force them out of business.

You are probably thinking – What would Jesus do?   Jesus probably would have done the same thing that owner John did - - because we all know - - “You can’t fight City Hall.”

This post is linked with Ann Kroeker’s  Food on Fridays   

This post is shared at: Tell Me a True Story  http://letmetelluastory.blogspot.com/   

 

LOVE IS

God's Love is Unconditional
courtesy photobucket.com

LOVE IS - - -  I Corinthians 13:1-13

As Pastor Jerry read from the scriptures, I took notes and gleaned from his sermon.

It is a fact that there were times when the followers of Jesus did not get along.  Sad to say, there were quarrels, selfishness and a lack of consideration for others. 

Of course things like that do not occur in our church, only in the Bible. 

Paul wrote a letter to those in Corinth, and the chapters that precede the love chapter warned the brethren about their loose sexual and moral values, marital problems, brothers taking other brothers to court, and quarrels about the Lord’s Supper.  He challenged them to SHOW love by their deeds.

Paul confronted the Christians to pursue "Love in Action" and not just in words.  True love is challenging and a giving of one’s self.  Showing respect for one another and not always insisting on having our own way.  True love gives us ethics, character and a way of life..

There are five Greek words that reveal shaded meanings for the word LOVE. 

Mania – Manic love is almost not a love at all. The word “lust” is probably not strong enough – “obsession” is closer to the word. This is the love of possession.

Eros – Eros is obviously the root word for “erotic,” but it does not describe sexual love only, it actually describes all emotional love; the feeling of love is that insatiable desire to be near the target of this love.

Philos – Philos love, or brotherly/friendship love.  Philos describes the love between two people who have common interests and experiences, or a fondness for something

Storgy – Storgy is the love one has for a dependent. It is commonly called “motherly love.”

Agapeo – Agape love is the final of the five loves we look at here. Agape love is entirely about the lover, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the one loved.  Agape love, in its purest form, requires no payment or favor in response.

We show love by our deeds as we spring into action when there are disasters, we give and send and some go.

We sponsor a child to Christian camp, and sponsor missionaries.  We give and send.

We are to love, not just once, but a continuing love. 

We are told to love when no one else is watching and especially when no one is looking.

This post is shared with Charlotte’s Spiritual Sundays

And with Michelle’s Hear it on Sunday use it on Monday

 

Any Fruit Coffee Cake

Any Fruit Coffee Cake with Blue Berries
Courtesy photobucket.com

 

Retirement suits me fine; "It is like vacation every day," I tell the person who asked.  But every now and then, when I happen upon one of my former co-workers, they reminisce about the nut bread that I brought to work each Monday. 

Some of the workers would ask, “Why do you do this?” and I would reply, “I am showing you love, God's love.”

There were times when I would try something different other than nut bread, and we would need a paper plate and a fork instead of the usual paper napkin.

On one occasion I tried this recipe for a Fruit Coffee Cake and it was well received.  I used Apples, but as you can see from the recipe, almost any fruit will be good.  Yum!

Any Fruit Coffee Cake

4 cups chopped apples (or apricots, fresh blueberries, peaches)

1 cup water    Cook the fruit and water in a kettle for 5 minutes

Mix and add to the fruit you have cooked for five minutes.

2 T lemon juice

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

Cook above mixture in the same kettle with the fruit until thick.  Set aside.

Sift together

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp favorite spice such as ginger, mace or gloves

Cut into the dry mixture

1 cup butter

2 beaten eggs

then Add   1 cup milk and 1 tsp vanilla and mix well.

Pour 1/2  of the batter into a 9x13 bake pan.

Carefully spread the fruit mixture over the batter.

Spoon the rest of the cake batter over the fruit.

TOP with mixed well: 1/2 cup sugar,   1/2 cup flour,   1/4 cube butter and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.  Bake 350 degrees 50 minutes or until done.

Show a little love - - God's love.  Bake something nice for your family.

This post is linked with Ann Kroeker’s  Food on Fridays   

Also Linked with Laura’s Faith Filled Friday

 

 

Midnight Deliverance Guest Post by Rod Parsley

Midnight
courtesy photobucket.com

 

 

Midnight Deliverance

And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. —Exodus 12:29

At midnight, Ruth was introduced to Boaz. At midnight, Paul and Silas sang, and heaven couldn't help but hear their song.

Too often in the middle of the night, in the midst of our darkest crisis, at the depths of our darkest valley, we allow ourselves to become upset, distraught, concerned, and anxious.

God sits on His throne saying, "When you have worn yourself out through your own ability, I will be here to help you and lift you up. When you have exhausted all your natural resources, when it seems the darkest and loneliest, and fear runs rampant, you have reached your midnight hour."

When you reach midnight, how do you respond?

Do you stand firm or flee?

Do you complain or confess Christ?

Do you seek man or God? Do you try your own solutions or trust God?

We serve a God who is so much greater than we allow Him to be. Rely on Him alone. Turn to Him. In the midnight hours of your life, God will bring your deliverance.

"At midnight I will arise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments" (Psalm 119:62).

 

Lord, when I cry out to You at midnight, hear my
cry and answer my need. Teach me to seek You
and not to despair when I face my
midnight crises. Amen.

 

 

Secrets for Self Publishing Your Own Book.

Love my Dolly

If you want to gather your memoirs or stories for your, friends, family and loved ones, you may want to consider “Self Publishing.” 

Decide how many you will sell and give away. 

For my book “Rescue the Stories Book One,” I used Instant Publisher who also does cook books, club or company books fairly reasonable.  Check out their site:  http://www.instantpublisher.com/

Getting a book ready for printing is a long and tedious process. In simple steps here it is:

Collect all the stories from your blog or elsewhere that you want in your book. Save them to a folder. Then edit to make sure all the words are correct.  Change sentences you don’t like. The printing company provides a form to down load to transfer your stories to the book size you select.  Do more editing to be sure it all fits on the page.

Finally the Printer wants it set up on PDF. (So it is time to learn how to do that.) Do a Google search asking a “how to question.”

Lastly a cover for the book can be difficult.  I tried to figure out how to use a photo program that didn’t want to cooperate.

Eventually I gave up and contacted the printer company who will do the cover for a reasonable price, just send them a couple photos and words you want on the cover.  They will e-mail you a PDF photo of the cover for you to approve or change.  Change or just approve the cover and give the go ahead. Wait for about 10 days.

For a small fee, Pay Pal will supply you with a “Buy Now” button so your customers can order from your internet site.

You will need to purchase envelopes large enough for mailing.  Media Mail is about $3.00 so include that in your shipping cost information.

The more copies of your book that you order will bring the cost down. 

Instead of copies ran off at Kinko’s, your book will be professionally done and you will be pleased with the results.

That is me at three years old on the cover of my book!  I still have some available, but order soon.

This post has been shared at Friendship Friday with Joy

 

Reading the Bible Through

Reading the Bible
courtesy photobucket.com

It was the year 1976, my husband and I stood in a long line waiting to receive an arm full of books that would be required reading during our nine months at Rhema Bible College

Our first session in the auditorium as new students, the director gave us further instruction of requirements.

One very important task was to read the entire Bible through from cover to cover during the school term. 

 

At the end of nine months we would be asked the question, “Did you read the Bible through? And they expected an honest answer.

Reading the Bible through was not going to be a simple chore along with our regular studies and home work. 

For me, I needed a plan.  I counted the number of chapters in the Bible, then I counted the days up until the early part of May. 

Doing the math, I came up with 9 or 10 chapters a day.

My normal reading of the Bible was to daily read two chapters, so reading nine chapters each day would be a challenge.

To help me with a rhythm, each afternoon, I brought out my Living Bible on tape, and would play the tape while I read the King James Version to myself.  It worked for me and I was able to truthfully say I completed what was set before me.

When the assignment was done, I was spiritually and physically weary of running all that distance.  I happily returned to my two chapters a day.

It had been many years since that time, and I had never again read the Bible through from start to finish. 

Two years ago I decided as a New Years resolution to again read the three or four chapters in order to accomplish this achievement.  Yea, I did it and again the second year. 

Then I became tired.

A decision was made to take my time and read my Bible for content, and not for a set number of chapters in order to finish in one year.  I usually stay in the New Testament but I do love the Proverbs and the Psalms.

Yes, I daily read a portion of the Bible, regularly, at least two chapters, but there is not the pressure to read more in order to reach a set goal.

This post has been shared with Tracy at Winsome Wednesday
 

The Most Popular Sermon

Sending God's Word - World Wide
courtesy photobucket.com

It has been my custom for almost three years to take notes on Sunday’s Sermon and post a condensed message on my Internet Blog: “A Joyful Noise.”  Some find me by doing a Google search “Hazel Moon Blog spot.”

The sermon is available late Sunday evening and most of Monday.

Apparently many in Europe are doing either a Bing or a Google search because each week there are many viewers “world wide” who are reading my Pastor’s sermons.

A few will make a comment, saying they are blessed.  It is amazing how God’s Word will not return void.

Almost two years ago, our Pastor, preached a sermon entitled, “Little is Much When God is In It.”    This sermon has been the all time most popular post with a total of over 3100 views todate. 

Almost daily I receive two or three anonymous comments from many of the European countries about this sermon.  Viewers from Ukraine, Turkey, Russia, Poland, Japan, and United Kingdom often visit this sermon. 

Some European viewers are being referred by their friends and others are doing a search, and how they come to this particular sermon, I honestly can’t say.   I can only pray that they are reading it in its entirety, because if they are they will be viewing all about Jesus. 

Usually I do not publish anonymous comments, but for this two year old sermon, I often make an exception. 

The viewer’s certainly are hoping I will view their site and make a purchase, so I must not rule out their original motive.  Perhaps they are true seekers of God!  Because for some reason they are attracted to the Title: “Little is Much When God is In It.” 

Don’t we all want viewers for our site and if we are selling something – we also hope someone will buy. 

I pray these viewers will try Jesus, he is free.

This post is shared at: Tell Me a Story

http://letmetelluastory.blogspot.com/  

 Also Linked with Michelle’s Hear it on Sunday use it on Monday!

 And with Laura at The Wellspring

 

 

  

The Shortest Sermon Ever Preached

Jesus Reading from the Scroll
courtesy free clip art

Gleaning from Pastor Jerry’s sermon as he was reading from Luke 4:14-21, I share the following:  The setting was Jesus had began his ministry and news of the miracles was being broadcast through out the region.  He was gaining a following and as was his custom he taught in the Synagogues. 

Now he was returning to his home town and as his habit was he went to the Synagogue to worship.  The service began with the Words, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.”  Singing followed - -

Because Jesus was a know teacher, he was handed the scroll from Isaiah 61 and began to read the familiar scriptures.  Yet it seemed as if they were hearing it for the first time.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me, to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Then Jesus closed the book and sat down as was the custom of the teachers, and all eyes were fixed upon him for the people were expecting to hear a sermon. 

His words were loud and clear: “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

These words shocked and angered the crowd, for they understood - - he was saying that he was the Messiah, and they did not like it one bit.  They expected Messiah to come, but on a white horse and to liberate them from the Roman Rulers that held them in bondage.

The audience was confused and filled with rage and they began to drag Jesus out of the temple and pull him toward the cliff intending to cast him over the side. 

How things can change so quickly.  One minute everyone was happy and now they wanted to kill Jesus.  An amazing thing happened; somehow Jesus passed from their midst; either they were blind and could not see him, or perhaps he simply disappeared, but he was no where to be found.

After that day, Jesus could no longer walk and minister in Palestine.

The announcement in the Scripture is familiar to us as we congregate here in our church as is our custom.  Yet it is fresh, new, vibrant and alive to us.  These words move to center stage and admonish us to understand and to push worries and fears aside and to lift up Jesus.

Let the world rush by with its terror, fear, evil and bad news, and may we be encouraged to trust in the one who is the healer of broken hearts, the one who brings liberty to those who seek him.

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

  

This post is shared with Charlotte’s Spiritual Sundays

 

Afraid - You Becha

image courtesy photobucket

Afraid, yes, many of the Old Testament Prophets were afraid to step out and proclaim the messages God had giving them to announce.

Gideon was terrified to accept the challenge of God’s call, and his feeble excuse was that he was the least in his father’s household.

Samuel when seeking to anoint a new king, passed over all the handsome young sons of Jessie, before finally asking, is there anyone else? The youngest and least of all was David only a shepherd boy, but he was the one chosen by God to be the king.

David did not consider himself small or weak, because he knew he could depend on God for his strength.

King David took control of his thought life. If he thought he was weak, he would say to himself, “Let the weak say I am strong.”

Our thoughts may at times tell us that we are not talented, not smart enough, or creative enough. The strange thing is - - that God calls those who are not able in their own strength to do his work.

God expects us to lean on him and follow what he tells us to do. We each have a part in God’s big plan and as we step up to do our part, we are so busy we cannot dwell on those negative thoughts that once plagued us. :-)

We often are guilty of putting ourselves down with “Poor me, not good enough thinking,” and we forget how special we are to God.

Perhaps it is time for us to change our thinking, to change our words, and change our life. I have been told that we cannot think on two different things both at the same time. (And it is true)

So when I am in a funky mood, I am learning to sing, to praise, and change the channel (of my thoughts).

This helps me, and hope it helps others too.

Some experiences in life are not to be shared, and God will show us what those incidents are. When I have something so secret that I really prefer no one else to know - - I share it with Jesus and He never condemns or laughs at me.

He may smile, but that is alright too!

After all he is proud of me regardless of my faults, because I am His child.


 

Chili’s for Lunch

Lunch Plate
courtesy photobucket.com

 

It rained last night, but today was crisp, cool and a beautiful day. 

Our morning called for a trip to a near by city to do an oil change for one of my Mystery Shop companies.  My company had offered me a bonus of $10 plus reimbursement for the oil change so who could pass up an offer like that?

My husband mentioned that he though the auto place had “made me” as a mystery shopper because they offered us a free tire rotation while our vehicle was on the rack, and enjoy the coffee while you wait.  I told Robert, “No they treat everyone nice like that!”

Ever thought of becoming a Mystery Shopper?  Intelli-shop Company is a good place to begin. Check it out --- http://www.intelli-shop.com/   If asked, tell them Hazel Moon referred you.

Since we were in the big city, our plans included a trip to Sam’s Club, to stock up on dog food and other items with prices too good to pass up. 

After all that work, now we were hungry. 

The night before I had searched through my wallet for a gift card for Chili’s that our daughter Nancy had given us several months prior.  We had already used the card for one lunch on another occasion, and knew that we would enjoy a lovely lunch today.

Chili's Logo

Yes, Chili’s was still offering their lunch special for $20 which included a choice of an appetizer and two lunch plates with a variety of choices.  There were several chicken dishes offered, but I knew Robert had his heart set on steak, so that is what we ordered.

The chips were fresh and crunchy, and the salsa was tangy with a bit of a bite.  Soon our server brought us each a plate with a delicious 6 oz steak, a large scoop of mashed red potatoes topped with cheese, crumbled bacon and chives, a slice of cheese bread, and a large serving of green - really green and fresh broccoli! 

Robert was able to finish his plate, but I requested a take home carton, because I knew this would be enough for me later that evening. 

When we arrived home, there was a report to do, and receipts and paper-work to scan for my Mystery Shop company.  After all this was my job and “work,” needing to be done to pay for our oil change. 

I gave the auto shop a thumbs up report as we were very pleased with the service and the way we were treated.

To end our day, our dogs suggested they sample some of the canned dog food we purchased today, which made them very happy.

Then I took our three dogs for a walk around our mobile.  As I arrived at the back fence, I could hear the most beautiful song as frogs joined in to worship God.   The rain must have brought them out to play, sing and praise the Lord!

 

This post is linked with Ann Kroeker’s  Food on Fridays