I have been a regular subscriber of several different cooking magazines for many years.  When we moved I let a couple of subscriptions go and I have had a lot of fun going through the older issues to discover recipes I never even tried because there were simply too many to get to in a month’s time.  One of those recipes was for Two Fat Biscuits. As you might suspect, the biscuits use two different shortenings—both butter and lard.  Finding the lard eventually required an Amazon order, but finally I was able to give this recipe a whirl. 

 I looked through the ingredients a little more carefully and immediately had misgivings.  What was said to make 9 biscuits required 4 1/2 cups of flour!  I have made biscuits for well over 50 years now and my usual recipe that produces about 8 biscuits, uses only 2 cups of flour!  What was up with these biscuits?  Must be something about the two fats, I thought, or something in the procedure that changes things somehow, so I kept on going.

 First, you chop both the butter and lard into half inch cubes and freeze them.  Well, that’s a nuisance, but I worked on the rest of the meal while the cubes sat in the freezer for the requisite 30 minutes.  Then you put them in the food processor with the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar (I never put sugar in my biscuits, but I was being very careful with this recipe).  When I turned on the food processor, it only took a couple of spins for the cubes to get caught under the blade and stop the whole thing!  I unplugged it, fixed the problem and tried again—only to have the same problem.  After a good dozen tries, I gave up and dumped it all into a large bowl and went at it with a pastry blender.  Nope, the cubes were too frozen.  Usually a recipe like this will tell you to keep cutting the flour into the fat(s) until it “looks like peas.”  Well, mine looked like overripe lima beans, but it was the best I could do.

 Next came the buttermilk and I experienced another “are you kidding me?” moment.  One and a quarter cups, the recipe said, for four cups of flour?  I ended up just as I thought I would—with a pile of dry crumbs.  By this point I was going on instinct.  I kept adding buttermilk—at least another half cup—until the crumbs became a dough I could pat out and cut.

 But wait!  We have another problem.  The picture showed the nine biscuits on an 11 x 7 sheet pan.  I looked at the mound of dough and thought, “unh, unh—cannot possibly fit.”  Yet I got out my pan, cut the dough exactly as told to and put the resulting biscuit behemoths on it.  25 minutes the recipe said, but I no longer questioned my intuition—I knew it would be longer. I also thought the biscuits would grow completely together.  That was the only thing I was wrong about, though they did get within an eighth inch of each other.  At the 32 minute mark, they were done enough, but I did worry about the one in the middle. 

 What I learned from that experience was to “trust my gut.”  After nearly 60 years of cooking and baking I have a pretty good idea of what will and won’t work.  Knowledge and experience will do that for you.

 May I suggest that the same is true of the Bible?  Read it.  Over and over, again and again, every day of your life.  When you know something that well, false doctrine will not be so likely to fool you, in fact; it will jump right out at you.  Something inside you will say, “This isn’t right.  This isn’t the God I have learned through His Word.  Let’s check this out before believing it and certainly before sharing it.”  God told His people that if a prophet told them something other than His Word, or lived a life contrary to His Word, that he was a false prophet and they should not listen to him (Deut 13 and 18).  That means the obligation is upon us to know His Word and through it to know Him.  Falling for false doctrine is simply inexcusable.

 Those biscuits tasted pretty good once I fixed all the problems with the recipe, but I will never follow that recipe again without considerable adjustment, adjustment that experience has taught me.  Now is the time to get that experience with God and His Word before someone hands you a recipe that will lead you to disaster.

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness Eph 4:17-24

Dene Ward

 Many American home cooks have a copy of Fannie Farmer’s cookbook. Her publishers insisted that she pay for the first printing of 3000 copies because they were so certain they would lose money on it.  The joke was on them, however, because the cookbook is still being revised, revamped, and reprinted over a hundred years later.

 Fannie was both a student and teacher at the Boston Cooking School, but went on to found her own school on this day in 1902.  The New York Times credits her with inventing the modern recipe, and being the first cook to insist on precise measurements.  No more of this “pinch,” “heaping spoonful” or “enough salt to float an egg.”  A teaspoon was a certain size, the same size every time, and it took three of them to make a tablespoon and 16 of those tablespoons to make a cup—and so on.  What would we have done without Fannie?  I recall a cooking magazine I used to get where, on the last page in the bottom corner, was printed, “In last month’s recipe for (whatever), 2 teaspoons should have been 2 tablespoons.”  That might not sound like much to noncooks, but one is three times more than the other!  If it were salt, you had better believe it would make a difference.

 God has standards too.  What else is that list of commandments we so often have our children memorize but the standard of moral behavior God expects of His people? If there is no standard, why did God say three times in Exodus that Moses needed to follow the pattern he had been shown (Ex 25:40; 26:30; 27:8) for building the tabernacle?  And why, oh why, does Paul talk about teaching the same things in every church? 

  That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.1Cor4:17

  Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.1Cor7:17 

 God has a standard, a pattern, whether in the church or in our lives, and He expects us to live by it and teach exactly the same standard everywhere to everyone. 

 When I was a child, in times when most people cared to know what God did and did not want, a brother held a debate with a famous denominational preacher.  The brother talked about living according to the law of Christ.  The opposing preacher could hardly wait his turn and was on his feet objecting.  “We live under a system of grace. There is no such thing as the law of Christ!”  Our brother calmly turned to Gal 6:2 and read aloud, “Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” 

 Just as that gentleman did not want there to be any sort of work we needed to do (especially one in particular), many today do not want to face any accountability to a church and its elders, or any responsibility to their brothers and sisters.  Worse than that, they expect God to allow them to worship and serve Him the way they want to rather than the way He wants them to.  Yet, again and again, God has shown us that there is a standard; there is a law we must follow, and making changes to suit ourselves instead of Him, will ruin the results for us in a far worse way than mis-measuring the ingredients in a recipe.

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son  2John1:9

Dene Ward

I just made a chocolate mousse cake.  This is one of THOSE recipes—you know, one of those trendy kinds you find in upscale restaurants, the kind that come with a chocolate or raspberry swirl on the white china plate, a piped dollop of whipped cream on the side and maybe even a shard of caramel “glass” sticking up out of it.  This recipe is bound to get me oohs and aahs at the table from excited guests who suddenly think I must be a gourmet cook.  And that’s when I start feeling guilty.  Why?  Because this conglomeration of bittersweet chocolate, butter, eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla took me exactly 15 minutes to put together and throw in the oven.  The only thing hard about it is waiting 8 hours for it to chill so it won’t fall completely apart when you try to cut it.

I don’t deserve any oohs and aahs and it certainly wasn’t hard to do.  I will grant you that it tastes amazing—but look at that ingredient list above and tell me how it could not.  I have absolutely nothing to do with how it tastes unless I buy cheap ingredients—like Hershey bars and margarine.  Taking a bow for producing this cake is like claiming a cordon bleu culinary education when all you’ve had is watching your mother and grandmother and reading a few cookbooks.

Have you ever had a friend ask you how you do it?  How you go through some of the trials you have been through, yet live a happy and contented life, in fact, a life of joy and faith? What do you instantly say?  Do you claim huge inner strength and unimpeachable character?  Do you talk about your spiritual integrity?  Of course not.  You tell them that you had nothing to do with it except having the sense, or maybe the desperation, to take your Heavenly Father’s offer and let Him handle things.

And it was just that simple, wasn’t it?  No, not really.  A lot of time passed before it really “took,” before you really could face your demons with assurance instead of doubt, before you could race toward that “way of escape” instead of stumbling through it, before you could sit back and let God be in control and accept His will instead of trying to figure things out so you could understand them.  And sometimes you still don't quite manage.

It takes a long time to say those words Abraham said on that mountaintop 4000 years ago—God is able; God will provide.  But once you have reached that point, it’s just that simple.  Every time life hands you the inexplicable, you don’t try to understand, you just count on God to handle it.  How can anyone take the credit for that?

Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name, 1Chr 29:12-13

Dene Ward

 We have always tried to be mindful of the widows and those whose husbands abandoned them every place we have lived.  That often meant extra visits and calls to make sure they were not in need in any way at all.  Usually it also meant having them over for a meal, sometimes separately, sometimes as a group.  In one place Keith made the rounds one morning, picking up all these lonely women and bringing the carful to our home for lunch, since none of that particular group could drive any longer due to vision and other health issues.  You would have thought we were taking them to visit the President they were so excited.

 At another place we had only two widows and we invited them over for Sunday dinner.  These two white haired lovelies stood with me in the kitchen while I finished up the last minute prep.  I reached into the pantry only to find an empty canister. “Well, I am out of rice and hadn’t noticed,” I told them.  “I guess potatoes will have to do.”  You see, pork chops were on the menu and, even though Keith much prefers mashed potatoes to rice, with pork chops and thick, brown pork chop gravy, he wants rice.  “Just wait,” I added. “When he looks at the table he will say, ‘Where’s the rice?’ “

 So I quickly peeled, boiled, and mashed the potatoes, finishing the table setting and putting the biscuits in the oven while they boiled.  Everything hit the table within 20 more minutes and we sat down to eat.  Keith asked the blessing on the food, then, as he lifted his eyes toward the table he said, “Where’s the rice?”  We three women burst out laughing—then I had to explain that to him.

 Now let me ask you something.  Did I cause Keith to ask, “Where’s the rice?”  Of course not.  What we had there was a woman who knew her husband so well (and after less than 10 years, I might add) that she could predict his reaction and even the very words he would say.  Now, why is it that people cannot understand that God, who certainly knows his creatures far better than any woman anywhere knows her husband no matter how long she has been married, can predict what one will do without causing that person to do that predicted thing? 

 Let me ask you another question.  Did you listen to the weather forecast last night?  Did the weatherman get it right this time?  Does that means he caused the rain or the sunshine or the cold front or whatever it was he predicted?  Of course not.  It just means he knows his subject so well that he can predict things with a fair amount of accuracy.  So why can’t God, who created weather patterns and climates and metereorology long before it ever became a recognized science, predict what will happen in the world?

 Are you getting my point this morning?  Do not let those who believe in unscriptural doctrines like individual predestination entangle you in arguments that are not valid and cannot stand up to reality.  God does not cause anyone to sin and, in fact, will not even tempt you to sin (James 1:13).  When people start causing you consternation over Pharaoh, for example, just open your Bible and read it yourself.  Then apply a little logic.  Pharaoh was stubborn from the beginning.  I bet even his wife could have told you what he would say.  Yet she certainly did not cause it, and neither did God.  There are too many passages in the Bible telling us to make a choice for it to be any other way.

 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed;Deut3019 to love Jehovah thy God, to obey his voice, and to cleave unto him; for he is thy life, and the length of thy days... Deut30:20

Dene Ward

Zucchini's popularity can be explained primarily by both its ease in growing and its bountifulness.  It may not be that one zucchini plant will yield 100 of the things, but it sure seems that way, and that is how the recipe for zucchini bread was born—a gardener going out day after day hoping for something else but finding nothing but zucchini, and you have to do something with them!  Your neighbors learn to run when they see you coming with a sackful, or they cower inside pretending not to be at home when you knock.

If you are a gardener (or know one), you have probably made your fair share of zucchini bread.  We quit growing zucchini a long time ago.  We prefer yellow summer squash instead.  At least it has a little flavor.  But it also works for zucchini bread, and I have found a way to make that little loaf that is actually worth baking, no matter which you use.

 Most zucchini (or squash) bread is compact and dense, and just about flavorless.  Try this instead.  Take your usual recipe.  Cut the amount of oil almost in half.  Use brown sugar instead of white granulated, and at least double the cinnamon.  If you use nuts, toast them first.  Then here is the big trick—put all that grated zucchini in a dish towel and squeeze as hard as you can over a sink.  You will get anywhere from ½ to 1 cup of water out of that squash.  No wonder the loaf was flavorless. It was literally washed out.

 Now you will have a lighter loaf that is still plenty moist and actually has some flavor instead of that compact brick that hardly rises above the top of the pan.  In fact, you won’t mind serving this one to guests, and they won’t run away and hide when you mention it either.

 Modern organized religion has suffered the same fate as that old zucchini bread recipe.  It is literally washed out from all the additions men have made.  Just as schools are now expected to teach the things that parents should teach at home, churches are expected to right the social injustices in this world and support every worthy cause in manpower and money.  You can read the New Testament from Matthew to Revelation and never find half the things found in a modern denomination.  But then these are the same people who, like the Jews of Jesus’ day, expect a physical kingdom on this earth.  They’ve stopped hoping for Heaven and settled for a poor imitation right now.

 My kingdom is not of this world, Jesus said, John 18:36.  Jeremiah prophesied that no one from the lineage of Jeconiah (the kingly line of Judah through David) would ever sit on the throne reigning in Jerusalem, despite the beliefs of thousands of dispensationalists, Jer 22:31.  The work of the church is not about feeding the hungry—it’s about feeding the soul.  It’s not about making sure everyone has a fair shake in this life—it’s about enduring that injustice and making ourselves fit for the next life.  Check this out yourself:  churches that are sold on the social gospel no longer preach much about heaven.  To them this life is what matters and that’s why they are so hung up on it.  That’s why their religion is so waterlogged with extraneous rituals and activities.  That’s why so many of the “un-churched” are turned off by the dense brick of bread they are handed instead of the bread of life.

 Get out your Bibles and examine your church against the one in the New Testament.  Look through Acts and see how they converted sinners.  Here’s a hint:  it wasn’t with soup kitchens and Wednesday night potlucks.  Now look through the epistles and see the work they did.  It had nothing to do with gymnasiums and playgrounds.  See what they did when they met together for a formal group worship.  It wasn’t about entertainment.  Now maybe you can see the difference between an oily sodden brick of bread and a light flavorful loaf that actually appeals to the appetite.

 But then maybe it’s your appetite that is the problem in the first place. 

Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and were filled.  Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed,John 6:26-27.

Dene Ward

I bet you have some of those recipes yourself—Hawaiian pizza, nacho cheese stuffed shells, Mexican lasagna, spinach and feta calzones.  It may not be an upscale restaurant’s version of fusion cooking, but for most of us it’s as close as it gets.  Italian cuisine mixed with Mexican, Greek mixed with Asian, French with Thai, anything to put a little variety in the weeknight meals.  And for many of us, they become some of the family’s favorite dishes.  When the flavors don’t clash but meld together beautifully, the whole dish is improved.

 Isn’t that the way the church is supposed to work?  God never meant us to gather in monochromatic assemblies.  He never meant for one ethnic or economic group to position itself higher in the pecking order as the more learned, the more spiritual, the more zealous.  The prophets prophesied a multi-cultural kingdom.  It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways... Isa 2:2-3. 

 Even as far back as Abraham God promised, “In thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed,” Gen 22:17.  Not one nation, not two, but all.  When you read the book of Genesis and watch God funnel his choice down to one people, then in the New Testament see that funnel turned upside down to include salvation for all in the fulfillment of that promise, you cannot possibly exclude anyone and still show a true appreciation for God’s plan. 

 And you cannot make yourself better than any other without annulling grace.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love, Gal 5:6.

  “God is no respecter of persons,” Peter said to Cornelius, and even he had to learn that lesson and teach it to others.  And the struggle went on for years.  Have we not in two millennia finally figured this out?  Even Jesus began the process when he chose Simon the Zealot and Matthew the publican.  If ever two people, even of the same race, could be polar opposites in ideology, it was these two, but they overcame their biases and went on to work peaceably and respectfully together to conquer the world for their Lord—the whole world, not just one race.

 Who are you teaching?  Who are you welcoming into your assemblies?  Who puts their feet under your table and holds your hands during the prayer of thanksgiving for the meal?

 A long time ago, my little boys wanted some friends to stay overnight and go to school with them in the morning.  “We’ll tell the teachers they are our cousins.” 

We adults looked at one another and smiled.  These playmates were black and my boys were about as fair-skinned as they come.  Their father shook his head and said, “I don’t think that will work.”

In all innocence and sincerity they asked, “Why not?”

Finally Keith looked at the father and said, “We’re brothers, aren’t we?  So I guess that makes them cousins after all.”

Would that we could all be as color-blind as an innocent child, as color blind as the Lord who died for all.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise,Gal 3:27-29.

Dene Ward

I was utterly confused when the older lady asked me about the bread recipe I had mentioned.

 “Is it short?” she wanted to know.

 The reply on the tip of my tongue was that it was about an inch high, but intuition told me that was not what she meant.  Someone else came to my rescue then and I gradually realized over the first few years of married life that “short” in cooking had nothing to do with height. 

 Shortening does exactly what its name implies.  It shortens the strands of gluten in a bread dough.  In a quick bread, which doesn’t take hours to rest and rise, that is important.  If it were not “shortened” it would be too tough to chew.  So biscuits, cornbread and other un-yeasted breads are far shorter than yeasted ones.

 Which shortening you choose makes a world of difference too.  Butter, oils, meat fats, and plain old shortening are the most commonly used, and the texture and flavor you want determines which one.  If you want a sandier texture, use oil; if you want a flakier texture, use shortening.  If the flavor makes a difference, choose olive oil for Mediterranean breads and bacon fat for cornbread—if you are from the south, that is. 

 Some recipes call for a mix of two or more shortenings to produce the best of each.  You want a great cookie?  Click on my recipes on the left sidebar and then click on Almond Crunch Cookies, which use both oil and butter—great flavor plus sandy texture. 

I prefer to keep my pie crusts plain so they won’t detract from the filling.  To that end I use shortening only.  It also makes a flakier crust.  Others mix butter and shortening, but I can tell you from experience that an all butter pie crust is difficult to work with and tends to be heavy, at least to me.

 Then there is cornbread.  I can tell from a recipe whether the cook is from up north or down south.  Northerners use less cornmeal, a good bit of sugar, and either oil or melted butter as their shortening—except maybe some Midwesterners who live where pork is king.  I nearly flipped when a television chef based in New York used 1 cup of cornmeal to three cups of flour.  To a southerner, it’s called cornbread because it has both the taste and texture of dried corn, plus that wonderful yumminess of bacon in the background.

 I have been trying to figure out what we Christians use as our shortening, and I think it has to be love.  Love can change both the texture and flavor of what you do.  Notice Mark 10:21: And Jesus looking upon him loved him, and said unto him, One thing you lack…  Love made Jesus tell this young man, the one who had done well at keeping the law all his life, exactly what he lacked.  Try doing that without love and see how far it gets you.

 Sometimes love is tasty and easy to get down.  Sticking your finger in cake batter is a whole lot nicer than doing the same with pie crust.  One is far sweeter and has much more flavor than the other.  So pats on the back, compliments and pep rally encouragement are easy to stomach.  It doesn’t take any maturity to handle it well.

Sometimes love gets a little salty.  Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.  Col 4:6.  Salt can sting an open wound, and sometimes that is exactly what we need—a sharp word to wake us up.  That one is harder to handle, but what are we?  Toddlers who still think that discipline means Mama and Daddy are mean, or adults who have learned the benefits of correction?

 Keith grew up in a family where compliments were rare, almost non-existent.  Until the day they died I never once heard his parents praise one of his sermons or Bible lessons.  They viewed criticism as a way of helping, and if they didn’t love him why would they try to help at all?  Most of the people up in those hills were exactly the same way.  They appreciated plain speech, people saying what they mean and meaning what they say.  They viewed pro forma compliments as hypocritical, and indeed, any teacher knows when the man shaking his hand and saying, “Good lesson,” means it and when he doesn’t.

 And we should recognize the value of love in all its forms.  When you know that a rebuke comes from a heart of love it is much easier to take, even a salty one—love shortens those tough strands of “gluten” and makes them tenderer and easier to chew on.  Don’t ever dismiss a word of exhortation because it doesn’t taste good to you.  God expects you to recognize the shortening and use the admonition to improve yourself whether you like its flavor or not. 

A friend of mine once tried to sift some biscuit mix to “get out all those lumps,” not realizing they were lumps of shortening.  What she produced were the toughest biscuits anyone ever tried to eat.  If you try to get rid of the rebuke, even if it is shortened with love, God won’t be happy with your end product either.  In fact, the comment you get from Him when you try to excuse yourself from not listening because you don't like what is said is likely to be something like, “That’s tough!”

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it...​Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy… Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent…Psa 141:5; Prov 27:5,6; Rev 3:19. 

Dene Ward

On January 14, 1973, Public Television aired the final episode of The French Chef, hosted by Julia Child.  It was the first cooking show of its kind on television and had aired for ten years.  Julia went on to write several books and host other shows, the last of which, Julia and Jacques, with Jacques Pepin, spawned a cookbook I have on my shelf.  If you want great instructions and well-prepared food, it's the one to have.  It is especially interesting to see the comparison between the two chefs' ways of doing the same dish.

 Julia was quite a personality.  She was born on August 15, 1912, to a well-off family, attending private schools throughout her growing up years, but expelled from one for insubordination.  Having watched her cook and listened to her give her opinions in sometimes humorous ways, I can well imagine that happening!  During World War II she was an agent for the OSS, the precursor to the CIA.  She was six foot two and athletic.  Her role was the communication of top secret documents between government officials and intelligence officers.

 As an agent, she met her husband and fellow-agent Paul Child in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and they were married in September of 1946.  Paul was assigned to Paris, where Julia decided to attend Le Cordon Bleu, the famous cooking school.  Afterward, she and two fellow-students, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholie, wrote Mastering the Art of French Cooking, from which Julia's television show came.  Suddenly, American women were cooking French food and reciting French phrases.

 One of those phrases has become common on every cooking show you will watch:  mise en place.  It is something that every cook does, whether they know the phrase or not, or even how to pronounce it.  It means "set in place," and refers to the practice of gathering every ingredient needed for a recipe in one place so you don't have to run back and forth to the pantry or the fridge throughout the cooking process.  We all do it.  In fact, I have taken it to the next level—I read through the recipe and if several things are added at the same time, I put them all in the same small bowl.  It is so much quicker and easier to throw in the required measure of cumin, coriander, fennel, salt and pepper from one custard cup than having to stand there measuring it out as you cook.  Sometimes those few seconds can make a difference in how things turn out.  And if, like mine, your pantry is across the room from the stand mixer or the range, you can wear yourself out going back and forth.

 All of this came to me one Sunday as my husband was preaching on the phrase "the Lord is at hand" from Phil 4:5.  Some say this is evidence that Paul was expecting Christ's return any day.  He was "at hand."  But no, what it means is that he is always with you.  You could reach out your hand and he would be there.  Just like all my ingredients, he is handy when I need him.  When life is difficult, he is there to comfort: when I am tempted, he is there to strengthen; when I am lonely, he is there to show me I am loved.  But it is also a reminder than wherever I go, he sees what I am doing.  When I am driving, he is in the seat next to me; when I am talking to my neighbor across the fence, he is standing there too; when I must face a situation that might develop into bad feelings, he is there reminding me to be gentle for the sake of a soul that needs saving.

And of course, the passage itself tells us how knowing he is so nearby should affect us.  We should rejoice—if one cannot rejoice in such knowledge, something is wrong!  We should not fret but pray—just turn right around and talk to this ever-present Lord!  Wouldn't it feel awkward if you were walking with someone all day long and never said a word to him?  We should be grateful, and such knowledge should grant us peace. 

 Mise en place might be a catchphrase for a chef, but it should mean everything to a Christian—a disciple of Christ.  The next time you gather all of your ingredients together for your favorite dish, remember who else is "at hand," sitting in place right next to you.

Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.  In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus, Phil 4:4-7.

Dene Ward

When my mother raised us, she always said, “I’m not running a restaurant.  You get what I serve,” and what she served was always fine with me.  I don’t recall a single bad meal.  Even recently I heard a television cook reminisce about coming to dinner as a child and eating what was put in front of her, so my family wasn’t weird, and neither was I when I followed suit as an adult.  It was as much about finances as anything else, but it certainly helped teach a few things, like, you don’t always get what you want in life and be grateful for whatever there is.

            But once in awhile I tried to please everyone as much as possible.  If the main dish was one boy’s favorite, then dessert was the other boy’s favorite.  It was the best of both worlds for them—a favorite entrée and a favorite dessert.

            Recently I have come up with a dessert that has to be the best of both worlds.  I haven’t decided whether to call it a cheesecake brownie or a brownie cheesecake.  It has two layers: a brownie bottom, and a cheesecake top.

            So, if you like chocolate and cheesecake, you can have both in one piece.  If you want chewy and smooth and creamy this is the dessert for you.  If you like chocolate and vanilla, this is even better than Neapolitan ice cream.  It’s even part convenience food and part “from scratch.”  The brownie layer is a mix and the cheesecake layer is all homemade.  A friend told me it’s perfect for her and her husband.  He has celiac disease, so he eats the gluten-free cheesecake layer and she eats the brownie layer.  Like I said, the best of both worlds.

            Now try to convince your neighbors that as a Christian you have the best of both worlds.  All they can see is what you can’t do and how much you sacrifice in time, energy, and types of entertainment.  Especially if all you do is complain about what you can’t do, ruing the messed up weekends, the missed ball games and picnics, what else do you expect?  You are supposed to make your life look like something they will want, not something they will hate.

            So perhaps we should start by convincing ourselves.  We don’t have to go to church; we get to assemble with our spiritual family.  We don’t have to dress differently; we get to look like decent, classy people instead of prostitutes.  We don’t have to give up drinking and smoking and drugs; we get to keep our dignity, breathe clearly, and preserve as many brain cells as possible.  We don’t have to give up revenge and gossip; we get to get along with people and stay out of trouble.  We don’t have to watch our language; we get to look like intelligent people with a real vocabulary.  We don’t have to give up status and money and things; we find our joy wherever we are in any situation—we have learned in whatever circumstances we are “to be content,” Phil 4:12, and contentment equals happiness.

            God does not expect us to be miserable in order to earn Heaven.  Being a Christian is not a horrible life.  It is a life of joy, a life of fulfillment, a life of health, a life of spiritual wealth.  I have more family than any of my neighbors.  One of them was amazed at the food brought during my surgeries, at the women who cleaned my house and the teenagers who raked the yard after Keith had a serious illness.  If I ever need help, I don’t have just one person to call, I have a whole list. 

            My marriage is intact and happy.  My children are happy, productive citizens, and servants of the Lord to boot.  We don’t have money problems because we don’t love things and don’t need luxury to be satisfied.  We don’t have legal problems because we are honest and law abiding.  We don’t lose our faith over our illnesses and disabilities because we have something far better in store for us.

            Which leads us to the next world.  If this life has been good—not perfect, for how could it be in a cursed world—the next one will be nothing short of amazing, an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,1 Pet 1:4.

            God promises us a “best of both worlds” life, far better than a “best of both worlds” dessert.  But He doesn’t make you eat it.  He gives you a choice.  You can have this world and the next if you do it His way.  Otherwise, this one is all you get.

For bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come, 1 Tim 4:8.

Dene Ward

If you want the mentioned recipe, click on "Dene's Recipes."

It’s one of those recipes you don’t really like to admit that you use, especially if you have a reputation for baking from scratch or cooking multi-course meals for your anniversary dinner, meals like a leek and Swiss chard tart as an appetizer, an entrée of veal shanks with sage over polenta with broccoli rabe, ending with pear croustade in a hazelnut crust.  Somehow this recipe doesn’t fit into that mold.

            But once in awhile life gets hectic, stressed, entirely too busy, and you find yourself needing a dish for a potluck with exactly one hour to cook it and no extra time for much prep.  So then I pull out this three can, two bottle, two bag recipe, dump it all in a pot and go on with my life.  I have learned not to let it bother me when this stuff gets more raves than another recipe I spent six hours on.  I have also learned not to tell anyone what’s in it until they taste it because it is truly a weird concoction, but oh, so good.

            Those Party Meatballs, as the recipe calls them, have been my salvation more than once.  Sometimes we need something easy instead of something elaborate.  If it meets the need and is just as tasty, who cares?  There will be plenty more times for elegant three layer cakes and brined, crusted. herb-infused entrees.

            God understands that, too.  When I was very young I thought you couldn’t pray except at certain times, using certain phrases, making sure it was long and full of heavy, theological words and concepts, usually from the King James Version.  Why I thought that I don’t know.  The Bible is full of examples of people praying in all sorts of situations, all sorts of postures, long prayers, short prayers, prayers of profundity and simple prayers of just a few words.  Maybe that was the problem:  I just hadn’t studied enough myself.  All I had done was listen to what others told me.

            Now I know better.  Now I know that in the middle of a crisis I can send up a quick prayer for control, for calm, for an easy resolution.  I don’t always need an opening salutation, I can just say, “Help me, Lord.”  I don’t have to preface everything with my own unworthiness.  Usually in the middle of a problem, that is already on my mind anyway and God knows it just as well as I do. 

            I don’t have to find a quiet spot alone.  I can talk to God in the middle of a milling crowd if my child has wandered off and I can’t immediately find him.  In fact, I can scream to Him if I want to.  God understands if there isn’t time to hunt up a closet right now.  In fact, He is more than pleased that I think of Him first in trying circumstances.  He is thrilled that my relationship with Him can be so spontaneous.  There will be other times for reverence.

            God makes it easy for you to talk to Him.  People who have set up word and posture requirements, with ideological notions of “propriety,” are the ones who make it difficult to approach God.  He went to a lot of trouble and pain and sacrifice to make Himself available at any time in any circumstance. 

            You may not want Party Meatballs all the time, but when the time is short and the need is urgent, they will do just fine.  We certainly need lengthy times of humility and reverence in our approach to God.  But God also made a simple way for us when we need Him quickly.  Don’t let anyone mess with His recipe.

May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, "God is great!" But I am poor and needy; hasten to me, O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O LORD, do not delay! Psalms 70:4-5.

For the recipe accompanying this post click Dene's Recipes.

Dene Ward