Mystery Monday

Goooood afternoon! What a chilly day in Mt. Vernon, but we’re keeping you warm with some awesome music and the Mystery Box!

The mystery box was a confusing one today! I was really stumped!
It was a granola bar! Thanks to Jennie for helping me figure it out!

Our Word of the Day today was a spookily appropriate one.

sawbones

Slang. a surgeon or physician.

The etymology of sawbones is appallingly familiar to anyone who has seenphotos from the Civil War or Gone with the Wind. The word is relativelymodern, first appearing in Charles Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers (1837).

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly!

October 30, 2017 0

NZ Top 10 10/27

Celebrating fall with the NZ Top 10!
Let’s get to the countdown!

10. The Comeback – Danny Gokey
9. Home – Chris Tomlin
8. Oh My Soul – Casting Crowns
7. Word of Life – Jeremy Camp
6. Hard Love – NeedToBreathe Ft. Lauren Daigle
5. Even If – MercyMe
4. The Gospel – Ryan Stevenson
3. Broken Things – Matthew West
2. O Come to the Altar – Elevation Worship
1. Old Church Choir – Zach Williams

This week, we went Behind the Mic with Hillary Scott and the Scott Family to hear the story behind their powerful song, ‘Still‘.

Our NZ Back to Back artist this week was Mandisa!
Check out her songs ‘Bleed the Same‘ and ‘He is with You’.

Thanks for listening!
-Lilly

October 27, 2017 0

Praying Offensively

The legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant is given most of the credit for this statement: “Offense wins games, Defense wins championships.” He actually did say that, but the credit can also go to a high school basketball coach named Dave Thorson, who wrote in a coaching manual, “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships.”

So with all due respect to Coach Bryant and Coach Thorson, today we’re leaning on games and tickets. On Offense.

Because today we want to encourage you to pull out the most important tool in your tool belt, or weapon in your arsenal – PRAYER.

And encourage you to go on the OFFensive with your prayer. Now, just like I would remind my students, let’s not get this confused. I mean OFF-ensive, not uh-FEN-sive! Going on the OFFensive.

The Battle Plan for Prayer by Stephen and Alex Kendrick is a journey of learning how to pray more biblically and strategically. We’ve been sharing these strategies for the last few months. We’re reminded to fight the battles of our life with prayer first.

So…OFFensive prayer. Back to that. Sometimes we need to play defense. But not all the time. Sometimes we get caught too much in praying against. Alex and Stephen remind us that there are things we need to pray FOR, not just AGAINST. Look at the Lord’s Prayer – our model from Jesus Himself.

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.”

So what’s the OFFensive part? “Thy Kingdom Come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” Those are all things we’re asking FOR, not just things to pray against.

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Our prayers are not just about standing our ground against the enemy but taking new ground FOR the Kingdom. We can pray for open doors for the gospel; for the outpouring of humble and repentant hearts, for the Holy Spirit to fill us with wisdom, discernment and knowledge of his will and to help us raise up a generation that will honor His name.

The book encourages us to think about these questions:

What is the most loving thing I can ask for right now?
What could I pray for that would be overwhelmingly good?
What could greatly advance God’s kingdom in my situation?
What could I pray for that would really glorify God?

Scripture is rich with OFFensive prayer. Jesus encouraged this in Matthew 7:11, “if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give what is good to those who ask Him?

When we love someone, we say we want nothing but the best for them. 3^rd John says, “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.”

We know God is good. We know He is preparing good things for us. So we should be active in seeking and asking for those things. Praying that he will do more than we can ask or imagine – because His glory is the ultimate goal of all praying.

So maybe instead of praying, “Lord, please help my church members not to fight in this next board meeting,” pray “Lord, bring loving unity and humility to our gathering, providing for greater ministry opportunities.”

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Think about ways to OFFensively pray out of the Bible. Colossians 1: 9-12 says, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^[^a^] ¹⁰so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,¹²and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[^b^] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.”

Wouldn’t you want something prayed over you like that? That’s incredible! This is how we use the word of God, the model we’ve been given, to drive an OFFensive prayer.

Paul does this again in Philippians 1: 9-11. “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

So…one thought is to consider OFFensive prayer as a way to encourage your pastor, since it is Clergy Appreciation Month. Every pastor needs encouragement in his or her life and ministry.

If you are a lay-leader in your church, take the lead on these types of OFFensive prayers for your pastor. Treat them like a friend or family member, because he or she is both. Provide a listening ear and safe place for your pastor to share.

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Bob Briner, a former tennis pro, sports agent, college athletic administrator, and author of a great book, Roaring Lambs, wrote this before his death in 1999:

Our freedom is not so much under fire as it is under-used. We have so much more freedom than we actually use. We are free to become people of prayer. We are free to delve deeply into God’s Word. We are free to visit the sick, comfort the hurting and provide for the poor. We are free to become active and productive in our churches. Most of all, we are free to live holy lives of obedience. Our concern should not be so much about freedom, but about responsibility to the debt of love we owe to the Lord Jesus.

Bob’s talking about an OFFensive strategy. So remember that while defensive prayer is important, offensive prayer can have an important place in our lives. let’s ask God to do something really, really good for HIS glory.

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CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, thank you for giving me prayer to help push back against the darkness. But thank you, too, for enabling me to use prayer as a way of inviting your blessing, enjoying your presence, and actively investing, lovingly, into other’s lives. For while your strength and power amazes me, Lord, your love amazes me even more…because I know what I’m like; I know what I deserve. Yet, you still take care of me and transform me. You keep turning my negatives into positives. You keep giving me opportunities to win, advance and conquer. And for this, I praise your name!

Our word of the day today is…
slapdash
adjective // SLAP-dash
This means done or made without careful planning : haphazard, slipshod

One of the first known uses of slapdash in English came in 1679 from the British poet and dramatist John Dryden, who used it as an adverb in his play The kind keeper; or Mr. Limberham: “Down I put the notes slap-dash.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines this sense in part as “[w]ith, or as with, a slap and a dash,” perhaps suggesting the notion of an action (such as painting) performed with quick, imprecise movements. Over 100 years later, the word acquired the adjectival sense with which we are more familiar today, describing something done in a hasty, careless, or haphazard manner.

Thanks for listening!
– Joe

October 26, 2017 1

Who Knew Wednesday!

Today Lilly and I talked about lots of healthy living tips for fall!

First, we shared with you about the superfruit: Cranberries! Click HERE for the article and some fun cranberries recipes!

Then we shared with you some fun fall food ideas and some healthy habits to fall into! (Get it?) Click HERE for that article and Halloween tips!

Struggling with headaches? Have you thought that they might have something to do with your anxiety? There are treatment options! Click HERE to find out more.

Should you go the ER? Or would urgent care be best? Click HERE to read more! (Disclaimer – if you believe that the symptoms that you are experiencing are a severe medical emergency – please call 911 first)

Today’s blog exclusive Word of the Day is – overwhelm, verb, oh-ver-WELM
Definition :

1 : upset, overthrow

2 a : to cover over completely : submerge,

b : to overcome by superior force or numbers

c : to overpower in thought or feeling

Thanks for listening! – Hannah

October 25, 2017 0

Game Time Tuesday!

Today Joe and I gave you two chances to win $5 gift cards to Troyer’s of Apple Valley!

The first chance was by playing ‘Name that Tune”!

We had a stumper from last week, but Travis from Mount Vernon got it! Our stumper from last week and our name that tune song today was ‘Even so Come” By Passion!

The second chance we gave you to win was with “Song Poetry.”

Today’s lyrics were:

There’s You and there’s a very different me
Touchdown, You had me at belief
You had me at belief, You did

Congratulations to Waren from West Lafayette for correctly guessing our Song Poetry song which was “Me Without You” by TobyMac!

Joe also shared some really awesome facts on Cranberries! Click HERE to read the article that Joe shared from the Sam’s Club Healthy Living magazine.

I also shared an uplifting devotional from Hillsong Youth UK devotional “Fear is a Lie” Click HERE to read it!

Don’t forget, you only have two more days to nominate your pastor for Clergy Appreciation Month. Head to WNZR.fm to find out more and to nominate your, pastor.

Our word of the day today was –

nuncupative, an adjective (NUN-kyoo-pay-tive), which means spoken rather than written or oral.

Thanks for listening!
– Hannah

October 24, 2017 0

A Musical Mystery Monday!

For our Mystery Monday question today, it was a music related one! It really had nothing to do with any current events or holidays. It just came about while I was doing some freelance research (yes I know I’m a nerd) and I thought it would make a good question!

So today’s question was as follows…
Which guitar tremolo system came first? The Bigsby or the Floyd Rose?
The answer is the Bigsby!
The patent for the Bigsby was filed in 1952, and the Floyd Rose was invented in 1977.

Congratulations to Rebecca from Butler!

The main advantage of the Floyd Rose vibrato system is its double-locking design. This makes the guitar stay in tune through large pitch changes, e.g., forcing the vibrato bar all the way down to the guitar body, or pulling up on the bar to raise the tone by as much as a fifth or a seventh.
The Bigsby vibrato unit is installed on the top of the guitar and works in conjunction with a roller bridge. The arm of the Bigsby is spring-loaded and attached to a pivoting metal bar, around which the strings of the guitar are installed. The main advantage of the Floyd Rose vibrato system is its double-locking design. This makes the guitar stay in tune through large pitch changes, e.g., forcing the vibrato bar all the way down to the guitar body, or pulling up on the bar to raise the tone by as much as a fifth or a seventh.

There’s some guitar nerdery for you. Now, here’s some baseball nerdery since the first game of the World Series starts tomorrow!
The Astros have been in the World Series once before in 2005, where they lost to the Chicago
White Sox. The Sox swept that series 4-0.
The Dodgers have been in 18 world series, wining 6 and losing 12. Their last win and
appearance was in 1988 against the Oakland Athletics, winning their series in 5 games.
A.J Hinch and Dave Roberts are bringing the lefties to the mound on Tuesday.
Clayton Kershaw hitting the hill first for the Dodgers, throwing an average 93 mph fastball.
Throwing a 2.31 ERA in his 2017 season.
Ranked 3rd on his team, seeing 27 games his 2017 season, 175 innings pitched, allowing 136
hits, 23 homeruns made on Kershaw, 30 walks, and 202 strikeouts.
Dallas Keuchel pitching first for the Astros, throwing an average 88mph fastball, and he pitched
a 2.90 ERA in his 2017 season.
Ranked 5th on his team, seeing 23 games in his 2017 season, 145.2 innings pitched, allowing 116
hits, 15 home runs made on Keuchel, 47 walks and 125 strikeouts.

Thanks for listening!
– Lilly

October 23, 2017 0

NZ Top 10 10/20

Another fall week here in Mt. Vernon has come to an end, and there’s no better way to end the week than with the NZ Top 10!

To the countdown we go!

10. The Comeback – Danny Gokey
9. Word of Life – Jeremy Camp (New!)
8. Home – Chris Tomlin
7. Oh My Soul – Casting Crowns
6. Hard Love – NeedToBreathe Ft. Lauren Daigle
5. Even If – MercyMe (30th week on!)
4. The Gospel – Ryan Stevenson
3. Broken Things – Matthew West
2. O Come to the Altar – Elevation Worship
1. Old Church Choir – Zach Williams

Our Behind the Mic Feature this week featured Dove Award Winners ‘Hillsong Worship’
Check out ‘What a Beautiful Name‘ and the story behind it!

Our NZ Breakout Hit of the week was from none other than Mandisa!
Check out her timely and powerful song, ‘Bleed the Same‘.

Our NZ Back to Back artist spotlight fell on the Dove Award winners for Artist of the year, MercyMe! Check out ‘You Reign’ and ‘I Can Only Imagine’.

BRAND NEW MUSIC FROM TAUREN WELLS!
Check it out here. ‘When We Pray’.

Thanks for listening!
Go Cavs, go Jackets, and go Astros!
– Lilly

October 20, 2017 0

The Ways of the Holy Spirit

Today we explored another section of the book The Battle Plan for Prayer, from Alex and Stephen Kendrick. This week we focus on the importance of the Holy Spirit in our prayer life.

The Holy Spirit is the engine of the Christian life. The Holy Spirit guides us and empowers us to do what we cannot do on our own. The Holy Spirit, as the rushing, mighty wind we read about in John 3:8 and Acts 2:2, can and should breathe life into every segment of our prayer life!

Prayer is an admission that WE are not in control but that we are under GOD’S control (Psalm 103:19). God urges us into prayer because He has given us the Holy Spirit for guidance and direction.

The point of this study and this book is to offer Him our best work of prayer, but we still understand that we trust in the Holy Spirit to take it to the next level

John 14:12-17

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

¹⁵“If you love me, keep my commands. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be^[^a^] in you.”

Remember that the Holy Spirit is what guides our prayer – we are still inadequate without His spirit guiding us!

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Powerful prayer starts with the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds is in Ephesians 6:18 –

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

We all have the Holy Spirit within us – do you realize that? Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance…”

We must be filled with, submit to, and walk in the Spirit, instead of following our sinful flesh. Ephesians 5:18 “be filled with the Spirit,” is not a suggestion – it’s a command! It’s a daily decision to submit and live walking in the Spirit.

We can ask God every morning to fill us with His Spirit and surrender to His Lordship. When we obey and abide in Christ, which means to accept and act in accordance with something, we become more tuned in to the voice of the Spirit within us.

Let’s share what the Kendrick brothers write about three things that happen when we allow the Spirit into our prayer life:

#1 – He reveals God and His word to us. John 14:17 – “The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

John 16:13 – “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”

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#2 – He prays for us. Wait. The Holy Spirit prays for us? Romans 8:26 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”

It’s awesome to think that we have two perfect prayer partners – Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 7:24-25 says, ²⁴but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.²⁵Therefore he is able to save completely^[a] those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

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#3 – He guides our praying. The Spirit inwardly reminds and leads believers to cry out to our father in prayer. Sometimes we may say that God speaks to us; but it’s less of an audible sound and more of an internal knowing. This drives us to do something specific for the glory of God.

It’s the Spirit saying, “this is the way, walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)

Does God communicate with us personally? The testimonies from scripture indicate YES!

Acts 9:10-19: God directs Ananias to seek out Paul.

Acts 8:29-30: The Spirit directs Philip to seek out the Ethiopian reading Isaiah.

Our prayers are not bound by our limitations because the Spirit has no limits and he is living inside of us!

CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me; and fill me with your wisdom and insight. Just as you’ve sent Him here to testify to Christ through your people on the earth, I pray that my heart will desire him for that very reason – that my life will bear living witness to Jesus. Fill me with your Spirit. Teach me to walk in your Spirit and pray in the Spirit. Everywhere I go, with everyone I encounter. In every place, be glorified in me.

Thanks for listening!

-Joe, Lilly and Hannah

October 19, 2017 0

A Cupcake Who-Knew!

Cupcakes are an amazing dessert food. How do we know? Well, they have a national day dedicated to them, so we’re celebrating Cupcake day here on the Afternoon Drive!

(Also, also, also, the 48th Dove Awards happened last night! If you missed it and would like to see who won, check it out here)!

Click here to see the cutest little infographic ever about cupcakes. (Seriously).

The earliest description of what is now often called a cupcake was in 1796, when a recipe for “a light cake to bake in small cups” was written in American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. The earliest documentation of the term cupcake itself was in “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and *Sweetmeats” in 1828 in Eliza Leslie’s Receipts cookbook.

*Sweet·meat

ˈswētˌmēt/

noun – archaic

plural noun: sweetmeats

an item of confectionery or sweet food.

In the early 19th century, there were two different uses for the term cup cake or cupcake. In previous centuries, before muffin tins were widely available, the cakes were often baked in individual pottery cups, ramekins, or molds and took their name from the cups they were baked in.

Variants of the Cupcake…

A cake in a mug
The technique uses a mug as its cooking vessel and can be done in a microwave.
A cake in a jar
The baker uses a glass jar instead of muffin tins or cupcake liners.
A butterfly cake (also called fairy cake for its fairy-like “wings”).
The top of the cake is cut off or carved out with a spoon, and cut in half. Then, a sweet filling is spread into the hole. Finally, the two cut halves are stuck into the butter cream to resemble butterfly wings.
(Here’s a picture so you can see how it looks).
A cake ball
An individual portion of cake, round like a chocolate truffle, that is coated in chocolate.
A gourmet cupcake
A somewhat recent variant of cupcake. Gourmet cupcakes are large and filled cupcakes, based around a variety of flavor themes.

Now, it wouldn’t be the Afternoon Drive if we talked about a food and didn’t share a lot of recipes for it now would it? So here you go!

Whip out the torch for this one!
This one is Lilly’s favorite.
Starbucks, but in cupcake form.
These cupcakes take you back elementary school.
Disney, but in cupcake form.
Christmas in a cupcake.
These cupcakes are perfect for fall! (Or for whenever).
Here’s literally 30 more recipes from our friends at Food Network.

Also, it wouldn’t be the Afternoon Drive if we didn’t share some fun facts…

Cupcakes were actually originally called “Number Cakes” or “1234 Cakes” because it was an easy way to remember portions…One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs, one cup of milk, and one spoonful of soda.
The first “cupcake only” bakery is Sprinkles Cupcakes, opened in 2005. They make over 25,000 cupcakes a day from 11 locations.
The world’s largest cupcake weighed over 1,200 lbs and had over 2 million calories.
13% of brides decide to serve cupcakes at their wedding as opposed to the traditional wedding cake.

Our word of the Day is…..

malign

verb muh-LYNE

Definition- to utter injuriously misleading or false reports about: speak evil of
Examples- The tech guru recalls how as a high schooler he was often maligned or simply ignored by the popular kids in his school.