Are you smarter than God?

Have you ever been asked what major factor or event made you what you are today? Well Sunday I was asked that and I came to a very interesting conclusion. The standard answer was and should have been when I was saved or when I gave my life to Christ, but on Sunday it came to me in a different way. The event that made me who I am today was the very first time I was obedient to what God told me to do. When I did this everything changed. Now I have to ask myself why is it that I can still be disobedient even now? The greatest source of fulfillment is setting aside ones desires and accomplishing the will of God yet so few of us do it as often as we should. By chasing our own desires we think we are smarter than God. It really makes me mad that everyday there are times when I think that I am smarter than God, when I know that I am not. These are the times when I dive in head first to accomplish what I think needs done rather than stopping to think or ask what does God want done. If I would just stop and remember that the biggest event in my life was when I did obey God perhaps I would try it some more. What about you? You would never say you were smarter than God but do you live like you think you are?

Resturant Review: Monica's

Monica’s

When you walk into Monica’s your first impression is this is a very nice place, maybe even elegant. The once you sit down you notice a lack of cohesion in the décor. What first comes across as a very nice place is confused by all the TV’s. There are enough TV’s to make the place a sports bar (the place used to be Sluggers) and all the specialty pizzas are named after Hawkeye basketball players. There is nothing wrong with that in fact a former Hawkeye basketball player was working the night we were there. The space and the restaurant just does not quite know what it is yet. We were started with some fresh bread with some oil and some cinnamon butter. There was some argument at the table but it was 2 votes to 1 that this was better than Texas Road House butter. When it comes to the service this is hard to figure, what I would assume was the owner was there talking to as many people as he could I like that and our waitress was very friendly and attentive. But and there had to be a but. Some lady who I have no idea who she was possibly a manager delivered the food, not quite a personable if you know what I mean and then she was the one that brought our ticket that was just weird. If fact we said something then our regular waitress brought the ticket back. As for the food we had 3 dishes at our table the first was a new item on the menus gourmet mac and cheese. To be honest I get better mac and cheese as a side at most BBQ places. In fact more than half of it was left. We also tried a chicken and apple wood smoked bacon Panini it was very good. My dish is again a little difficult to review due to the fact that I had up until this point never been brave enough to try. It was the oven baked Ziti, which was penne pasta with chicken, shrimp, prosciutto served with a lobster cream sauce.  As far as I know this could have been the best Ziti in the world but I would have no idea. The chicken and the penne pasta were perfect. The lobster sauce I think made it rich but overall for something new I am glad I tried it.

Price range: (everyday, a night out, a special occasion only) A Night Out

Overall rankings all based 1 to 5

Atmosphere:  3

Service:         3.5

Food:            3

Value:           2

Overall          3

Monica’s

303 2nd Street Coralville, IA 52241

Mike's Iowa Resturant Guide

Time to share my master Restaurant list sorted by town and rating. Bon appetit!

The 5's get their very own picture.

John's Shamrock Barbecue	Ainsworth	2
Hickory Park	Ames	2
Gators	Burlington	3
Martinis	Burlington	2.5
Thirsty Camel	Conseville	2
Wigg N Pen	Coralville	4.5
Wildwood Smokehouse	Coralville	4
Bandana's	Coralville	3
Cosi Cucina	DesMoines	5
Jethro's	DesMoines	5
Skips	DesMoines	5
Simons	DesMoines	4.5
Tumea & Sons	DesMoines	4.5
Bambinos	DesMoines	4
Royal Mile	DesMoines	4
The Flying Mango	DesMoines	4
Miller High life Lounge	DesMoines	3.5
Monterrey	DesMoines	3
Bang Bang	DesMoines	3
Fongs	DesMoines	3
Smokey D's	DesMoines	3
Tasty Tacos	DesMoines	3
Woody's Smoke Shack	DesMoines	3
Zombie Burger & Drink Lab	DesMoines	3
Taqueria Sonora	DesMoines	3
Felix & Oscar's	DesMoines	2
Ginos	DesMoines	2
The Q	DesMoines	1
Torinos	Fairfield	3
Top of the Rock	Fairfield	2.5
Black Stone	Iowa City	5
Jimmy Jacks	Iowa City	5
Shorts Burger and Shine	Iowa City	4.5
Linn Street Café	Iowa City	4
Brown Bottle	Iowa City	3
Hamburg Inn	Iowa City	2.5
Deano's Place	Lockridge	3
Mount Hamil Tap	Mount Hamil	3.5
Little Mexico	Mount Pleasant	4
Costos	Mount Pleasant	3
Keos	Mount Pleasant	3
Papa Georges	Mount Pleasant	3
Press Box	Mount Pleasant	3
Mi Pueblo Real	Mount Pleasant	2.5
Jerry's	Mount Pleasant	2
Butch's River Rock Café	Oakland Mills	2.5
Goldie's	Prairie City	3.5
Throttle  Down	Tiffin	2
Casa Tequila	Tiffin	2.5
Johnnie B's	Wapello	3.5
Café Dodici	Washington	3
Denos	Washington	3
Rubes Steak House	Waukee	3.5
Tinders	Wayland	2
Uncle Ronnie's	West Burlington	3

Vegetarian Chicken

As you may know we have been getting braver and braver when it comes to trying new foods and we have found some new favorites. Today after church we stopped at Wal-Mart and needed a quick meal, so we tried our very first rotisserie chicken. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, today we lost. We couldn’t eat it, ended up being vegetarian today. We had salad & cantaloupe.

Resturant Review: Johnnie B's

Johnnie B’s

One of the best things about the place is the view, an amazing view of the Iowa River. The inside of the place was a little confusing one wall looked like a Cracker Barrel the other wall was more like an Italian restaurant. It didn’t work well with the view of the river. The service was not good at all our waitress had a scowl on her face most of the night. However I did enjoy the girls they had who bused the tables. Parking was a bit of a problem not the amount but the fact that you had to park behind the place and unless you work really hard at keeping up the place, the back side of a restaurant is usually not good. This was no exception; I’ll leave it at that. However the food was very good. The salad bar was mostly just lettuce but anytime I sit down to a lettuce salad and think to myself that was good that’s saying something. I really enjoyed the Thousand Island dressing. Teresa got the French Dip it was good but too salty. I got the walleye and hash browns. The hash browns lacked any flavor at all but the walleye was exceptional, it was by far the most popular dish of the night see what was coming out of the kitchen. This was breaded and I am slowly moving away from breaded and deep fried fish, as far as breaded fish goes some of the best I’ve had.  Very happy with the portions, I ate it all but should have brought some home. We were in a group of 6 and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience and said they would return.  

Price range: (everyday, a night out, a special occasion only) everyday

Overall rankings all based 1 to 5

Atmosphere:  3.5

Service:         2

Food:            4

Value:           4

Overall          3.5

Johnnie B's

210 Van Buren Street
Wapello, IA 52653
P. (319) 523-5024

Who wears the pants?

Who wears the pants in your family? I have heard this saying all my life and always thought of it as a contest between the husband and the wife of who got their way, who got to do what they wanted more than the other. In short who dictates what goes.  At some point in my life another player has been added to the mix and this may offend some of you. But in many families today it’s the kids who wear the pants in the family. The kids dictate where the parents go, what the parents eat, the list goes on and on. Like with a lot of things I think at first it starts with good intentions but gets elevated to the point that it is dangerous. If a person is not careful a parent can actually worship their children as idols and place more importance on them than God himself. Anyone who has kids knows it changes your life forever but don’t let it change who you are and your relationship with the LORD. Who wears the pants in my family? Teresa of course, no not really for the last little more than 10 years Jesus wears the pants in this family and if He didn’t I shudder to think where we would be now.

Simply Smart

I have been through a stage in my life where I read everything I could find by all the top theologians from the 1800’s on. I was filling up knowledge to get smarter which is not really a bad thing. But was I becoming more effective that is the question? Yes I have learned things that I need to know but can I use them in a simple way? The best theologian in the history of the world was none other than Jesus and as I was reading in Matthew today I was struck by 13:3

³ He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds.

The Son of God says a farmer went out to plant some seeds to tell a great truth about the Bible. Simple yet effective if only we could be so simply smart.

Jesus goes on to explain simply smart in verses 10-13

¹⁰ His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?” ¹¹ He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets^[a] of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. ¹² To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. ¹³ That is why I use these parables, For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.

We all would be best if we just would keep it simple.

Sometimes intelligence is not very smart

When it comes to sharing our faith we tend to keep quite for fear of sounding dumb, however the so called smart people are the ones who make the Gospel message boring, uninteresting and dry. Just simply tell others the changes Christ has made in your life. They say there is no such thing as a dumb question that some may argue. But I am convinced there is no such thing as a dumb testimony. Don’t be afraid or ashamed of yours. Common sense will go much farther than any degree or the number of big Biblical words you know. Like the guys in the picture just becasue you can use those big words donesn't mean you should.

Gone fish'n latley?

I think too many of us forget that at the beginning of his ministry Jesus did not say come follow me and I will make you Theologians, monks, religious, or Bible scholars He said I will show you how to fish for people. When it comes to people do you want them to be impressed with you, your church, your theology or with your Jesus? Have you gone fish'n latley?

Matthew 4:

¹⁸ One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. ¹⁹ Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” ²⁰ And they left their nets at once and followed him.