Cooking with my Beloved

We just finished the Marriage Course at the Vineyard and the last lesson was on the Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  I knew the languages of my wife were Quality Time and Thoughtful Acts.  We had to make a list of twelve things to do with our spouses.  One of the things I thought of was making brownies together and a pot of coffee.  She wondered about this until I said, "We will have something to eat and drink when we sit down for couple time."  Someone I spoke to of this said, "You hit a homerun with that one!"

Brownies and coffee.  She said she had wanted to cook together before this so it was easy to come up with this item.  I went to culinary school before ministry and so working in a kitchen is second nature to me.  However, working with someone in a confined space is very difficult.  It requires a coordination of effort not to step on the others toes.  With the presence of sharp instruments, it could be risky. 

Marriage is like this situation.  Working together in close spaces to complete the task of marriage requires training and the ability to put aside my "dish" or her "dish" to complete the meal on task and on time.  There are many sharps in marriage which could harm the other person.  These are "sharp words" and "sharp demands" which injure your partner.

Something else about working in a professional kitchen.  You don't TOUCH another cooks knives.  You know not to ask and you also know these tools of the trade identify your professionalism.  If you buy cheap knives it says you are not taking your job seriously.  I own a chef's knife which twenty years ago cost $70.  You show your "marriage professionalism" by what you are willing to invest in your future.  Marriage is not something taken for granted unless you plan no future. 

Brownies and coffee.  The cost of the date will be very small but the effort will produce a large return. 

How To Make God Laugh

They say if you want to make God laugh--just make plans.  As I was doing the slalom on the highway coming to work at 70 MPH (legal in WV) I was making plans for spring.  Thinking about flowers in boxes and in the flower beds, I was wondering about the colorful display of God's imagination in flowers.  I had put on a short-sleeved shirt and no jacket to a fifty degree morning.  Then I heard it--six inches of snow in the forecast for tomorrow.

In 1983 I started college to earn a degree in the hotel industry.  After graduation I would earn a certificate as a hotel administration.  Life was good.  New house! New car! Aaaahhh!  But God had other plans and soon I was questioning the call to ministry.  Three years of questions lead to seminary.  Twenty years later I am not in the hotel business or anything I had planned. 

We sing the hymn, "I Surrender All" in church.  Do we really mean "all"?  Maybe we have exemptions for God like, "I will go anywhere but _________________ Lord!"  Maybe, "God, I need you to send me this amount of money to make me happy!"  Surrender means give up or cede your rights to anythng and everything.

I hope I have given God alot to laugh about recently.  I had already taken out my spring clothes.  Oh well.  Back to jackets and gloves.

Praying Like the McDonald's Drive Thru

My mom would make oatmeal for us on those cold Orlando, FL mornings.  Brown sugar and milk and oatmeal and toast would see me through the first part of the day.  Today, on the run, I pick up oatmeal at McDonalds.  Oatmeal and fruit with a touch of brown sugar warms me up for cold mornings in Pennsylvania.  I make my order and drive around to one window to give them money and then to the next window to get my food and on my way.

Our prayer life can be the same way.  We think of God as a great celestial order taker with our prayer requests.  We give a little money to the church or do some kind of service and expect the answer of our wants fulfilled and then on our way. 

God deserves more respect and appreciation than a clown.  He is not a blank voice behind a screen asking what we want.  He already knows our needs.  No, God is the Creator of heaven and earth and we need to accept his plans for us.  They may not be what we want, but it is for our best. 

Oatmeal may be good for the body but prayer is good for not only the body, but also the mind and spirit.  He is not the order taker.  Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication--none of these belong to the clown.

How to Stand Up In the Face of Opponents Matthew 5:10

Every football player has an opponent.   Each player knows he must deal with the opponent so the team can succeed.  Whether the player charges straight ahead or pulls to one side or the other to find his target it is practiced over and over with teammates so the team will win.  Jesus told us we would face opposition. 

One way we will face opposition is in the way of character.  Character which is seen in Jesus is the ideal for the believer.  When you practice this character opposition is the result and this opposition comes in the form of rejection by others, including family, friends and co-workers.  Since rejection is the first stage of opposition, these character qualities are needed to face the eventual opposition.  If I hunger and thirst for righteousness I should not find satisfaction in a righteousness of the world.  I have often asked people in counseling if they want to be right or righteous.  Sometimes these two are not the same thing.  I may need to be merciful while the world says I should get even.  The righteous standards of God are different from the world.  Finally I am told to be a peacemaker.  This is not the point of burying my head in the sand over wrong-doers but to go to them in love and try to bring resolution.  Confrontation in love is God’s way and requires His agenda and not my vindication.   “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.  But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.  I Peter 4:12-13

Another way you can face opposition is in the way of conviction.  A conviction is a standard of life which does not waver.  Someone without a biblical conviction could be seen as a sense of passion.  A disciple who has the conviction that Jesus is the only one, will grow and take the message to the world.  Jesus tells of being taken to religious courts and secular courts because of this conviction.  His warning to be wise is to use the practical wisdom he gives to handle the situation to achieve his results.  A disciple who finds he reacting to the opposition in similar fashion loses the opportunity to do the remainder of what he tells his disciples.  As a pastor I have had to retain my conviction when “going along to get along” would be the easiest and safest.    We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.  2 Thessalonians 2:2

John and Betty Stam was a young couple working in a small town called Jingde near the eastern coast of China. In 1934, the magistrate of the town warned them that the communists were coming for them. John decided to check to see if this was true, which it was, so they prepared to leave.  After the day of his arrest, John wrote a letter to mission authorities, but it was never delivered – it was found later bundled up in some of Helen’s clothes. The letter stated that they were being held by the communists with a ransom of $20,000. He also told them of how they had been captured, then wrote Philippians 1:20: "May Christ be glorified whether by life or death.  The next morning, they were forced to march 12 miles to the town of Miaosheo. They stopped for a night, and Betty was allowed to tend to Helen, but in fact hid her in the room inside a sleeping bag. The very next morning, John and Betty were being marched down the streets of Miaosheo to meet their death. Crowds lined both sides of the street. A Chinese shopkeeper stepped out of the crowd and talked to the communists, trying to persuade them not to kill the Stams. They ordered the man back into the crowd, but he wouldn't step back. The soldiers then invaded his house where they found a Bible and hymnbook. He was then led alongside the Stams to be killed as well for being a Christian. After marching for a short while longer, John was ordered to kneel, and he was beheaded. Betty and the shopkeeper were killed moments later.