Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Cooking or Baking (01/04/07)
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TITLE: God Is Cooking Up Something Good | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Apple
01/08/07 -
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My wife decided to buy a watermelon, as long as it met one important criterion: “Is it seedless?” The man’s lips moved, and made a sound like, “Yes.”
We fell for the illusion, which only wore off hours later as we stared at a watermelon with more seeds than there are fans at a Marlins game. The children hung their heads in disappointment and went back to beating each other with sticks.
I, however, was suddenly coping with a suppressed memory. As I stared at the melon it came to me. “Yes? Yes! I think we had watermelons like this when I was kid. Watermelons with…seeds!”
My wife will try to tell you that my mother must have picked all the seeds out for me as a child. No, but one thing my mom did do was invent chicken strips. That was long before they sold them at stores or restaurants. Mom was the first one I ever heard of doing such a thing, taking the bones out of the white meat and making delicious little breaded strips of chicken.
I guess that was my favorite meal growing up. It was so much better than chicken with bones in it, and I still feel that way.
I mean, take eating wings, for example. Have you ever tried to satisfy your hunger eating wings? You’re actually burning more calories working at it than you’re taking in. Eating chicken wings has a negative calorie ratio.
Give me the boneless chicken any day, just like Mom used to make it.
I want to honor my Mother right now for all the meals she made for us back when we were ungrateful brats who complained about eating anything but candy. She could have thrown the whole chicken on the table and screamed, “I hope you choke on the bones!” But instead she lovingly slaved away in the kitchen, preparing thousands of meals so we could grow up, move away and send her a card every May with no money in it.
Yesterday in church this thought popped into my head, “God is cooking up something good.” And I thought of the whole process of cooking. It requires planning, getting all the ingredients, having all the right tools, mixing everything together just right, and on and on. One thing for sure, cooking up something good takes a lot of time.
I confess I am part of the impatient generation. You know what I’ve started doing? When I warm up my coffee in the microwave, instead of the pushing the 3 then the 0, I will push the 3 twice so I don’t have to take the time to move my finger down to the zero. Then before it’s done I’ll get tired of waiting and just pull it out with 2 seconds left.
Our impatience sometimes leads us to believe that God is doing nothing, so we must do it for ourselves. But let me tell you, I believe that God is cooking up something good for each one of us, if we will just be patient.
Think of Abraham and Sara. God told them they would have a son, even though Sara was too old. They believed God - at first. But then it didn’t happen quick enough, so they took matters into their own hands. Through a surrogate mother they gave birth to Ishmael, who was a thorn in their side from then on.
Meanwhile, God was still cooking up something good, and in His perfect timing, Sara gave birth to Isaac. And through Isaac came Moses and David and Solomon and even Jesus.
It may be an over-used statement, but it’s still true. God has a wonderful plan for your life. He is cooking up something good. Yes, it will take time, and there a lot of ingredients he has to pull together to do it.
But once it’s done, and you’re dining at the Master’s table, you’ll realize it was well worth the wait.
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“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.” --First Corinthians 2:9
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