I have always enjoyed outdoor cooking. Barbecue, Dutch oven, and now a smoker. These new self fed pellet grills make it easy. Set the temperature, make sure it doesn’t run out of pellets and all you need is a good cut of meat and a decent recipe and you will be eating well before you know it.

We have also been using our pellet grill to cook our steaks. They have been good. Juicy, flavorful and tender. But they were missing something. The pellet grill just doesn’t get hot enough for a good sear. The slightly crispy edges of fat and the charbroiled flavor was missed.

I’ wanted the best of both worlds. So today I purchased a new gas infrared grill. The infrared grill panels get hotter than a conventional grill and prevent flame up. I felt it would be the perfect tool to sear my steaks.

I’ve always grilled a pretty good steak, if I can say so myself. Like with all my cooking, I’ve found that simple is best. One of my life’s rules is if you are going to grill a steak, buy the best cut of meat you can afford and be sure to season it That’s how I started today.

I got some ribeyes from Costco. Most people know this, but the few of you who don’t should know that Costco’s meat is very good.

For seasoning, I like to keep things simple. You don’t want to hide the flavor of your meat. When I have a good cut, I usually just use fresh ground pepper and garlic salt. I love garlic and tend to use it a lot. If you are not a big garlic fan, you can substitute seasoning salt.

I like to put a generous coating of butter or bacon grease on the steak before I season it. It keeps the seasoning on the meat and adds flavor. There’s nothing quite as flavorful as garlic and butter.

Let your meat get close to room temperature before cooking it. I usually take it out of the fridge and season it about an hour before I need to cook it, cover it and leave it out to warm up.

Before today, when using the smoker to grill steaks, I would turn up the smoker as high as possible as I would on a normal gas grill. But today t tried something different.

I set the temperature to 185 degrees. I put a temperature probe in one of the steaks so the end was right in the center middle and smoked them until the internal temperature was 105 degrees. The time will depend on the thickness of the steak and the starting eternal temperature.

When the temperature reached 105 degrees, I transfer them to my grill preheated to 650 degrees. I seared them on each side for about 90 seconds with the lid closed. The result was two perfect medium rare steaks.

They were evenly cooked throughout. The very thin sear was just enough to add that crispy charbroiled flavor.

There was a very slight smoke ring that was full of the garlic, pepper, smoke and butter flavor. It just exploded in our mouths.

They were so moist and tender you could literally cut it with a fork. It was hands down the beat steak I have ever had.

I’m not saying that bad things that are not our fault don’t happen.  All of us have been victims in some way or another. Many have had suffered terrible  injustices.  But for the most part, life is what we make of it.  The choices we make lead to consequences, good or bad.

When bad things happen in our lives, as a result of our choices or caused by something out of our control, how we choose to act is a measure of our character. When I first wrote the previous sentence, I used the word “react.”  I realized that wasn’t right. Choosing how to act  is the exact opposite of reacting.

Taking responsibility for our own circumstances, no matter how crappy a hand life has dealt us or how deep a hole we have dug ourselves into, is the very first and most important principle of success. If life is to be lived well, we must be moving forward. Dwelling on where we have been does us little good.

One of my rules in life is never let the things you can’t do or didn’t do stop you from doing the things that you can. Although regret can be a good teacher and motivator when used as an instrument for positive change, it can destroy the soul of those who dwell upon it. We must learn from our mistakes, make the necessary adjustments and move forward.

Letting go of bitterness and anger is a must. God has asked us to forgive everyone.  Is it because he thinks they deserve a pass?  Perhaps in some instances they do. Often we judge far to harshly, taking offense at things of little consequence or for things we all do at some time or another. To do so is just silly.

But what about the big things.   Should we forgive the thief, the rapist, the child molester or the murderer?  The unrepentant?  God has asked us to, no matter the offense. If you believe in such things, which I do, you have to ask yourself why and even how. The how is difficult and I will touch on later, but the why is easy.

The answer is tha a God loves us and wants us to be happy and there is absolutely no benefit to ourselves in holding on to hate and bitterness. It will not make a single thing better in your life.  I have never met a person motivated by anger or the need for revenge who as happy.

I want to make it clear that forgiveness does not equate to letting the criminal go unpunished or allow ourselves to be victims. To assure our safety and security and to establish an orderly society, actions that harm must be deterred. And we cannot continue to trust those who are not trustworthy.

Just as a good parent must sometimes correct a child with punitive discipline, we must also act to correct malfeasance in our society. But just as a loving parent holds no animosity towards the child’s, so must we move forward with goodwill and even love towards the offender.

Letting go is often easier said than done. The how is the hard part.  However, if you accept the premise that it is critical to your happiness, you are a third of the way there.

Step two is fostering an attitude of profound gratitude. Every single one of us, if we are honest with ourselves, have things to be grateful for.     But often we choose to ignore our blessings because complaining about our lot in life and comparing it to others who have more or have had it better than us is easier than accepting where we are and what we need to do to make things better.

Be a glass half full type.  There are many success stories about people who suffered beyond what most of us couldn’t even fathom but refused to complain or blame but very few who did the opposite and thrived.

In my experience even those who never achieve much or any relief from their unfortunate circumstances, if they choose to have gratitude, are happy.  Conversely, I have met many people who are healthy and wealthy who lack gratitude and live miserable lives.

Being grateful is an anathema to hate.  You cannot be thankful and bitter at the same time.

The third and final step is a gift given freely to those who want it.   But it does require us to seek it. I didn’t intend to get too religious when I started on this topic, but it is the natural conclusion of this discussion. Being able to truly let go of hate and anger can only come as we see the offender and ourselves through God’s eyes. To understand our worth and the value of every living soul is a gift that God gives freely to anyone who seeks it.

You may not have experienced communing with your maker. You may have no faith in God at all.  But I can promise you if you can muster even a desire to believe in a loving and kind God, seeking Him will reveal to you your nature as His son or daughter.

Continuing to move forward every day, refusing to be a victim, refusing to blame and hate, and seeking God with a grateful heart will give us the courage we need to own our lives and circumstances.  Life isn’t t-ball.  The only trophies we get that will mean anything, we earn. But that doesn’t mean that we all cannot be winners.

The world has an abundance.  Everyone can partake of it’s gifts.  So start where you are now and move forward, one step at a time.  You may stumble at first. But before you know it, you will be running like the wind .