Every once and awhile I get a good idea in the shower. Think about it. It's a wonderfully creative atmosphere. There’s plenty of water for thoughts to grow. A nice warm and humid environment like that of a greenhouse. Why shouldn’t it be a place where ideas can push through the soil of the mind and sprout?
It’s practically replaced the bath of centuries past, where I’m sure many great thoughts came to birth and fruition. Like practically all guys, and most people, I don’t take baths. Perhaps that’s why everyone’s so hyper-stressed these days. More time needed in hot water to melt those anxious thoughts away and foster the percolation of worthwhile ones. But the shower still provides some level of relaxation and besides, it’s also a fairly quiet place to think, unless you’re a crooner.
Not too long ago I was in the shower and God gave me this little gem. Remember, it's not mine but his (and no, I’m not claiming divine revelation, so relax and go take a bath). But he's loaned it to me so I feel OK quoting myself - "The discovery of truth is not a point of one’s own genius, but the dispensing of the grace of God."
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Part 2 of Many Ways from Point A to Point B
In a culture and country filled with mediocrity and so many individuals devoting their entire lives to absolutely nothing of actual substance and value, the Christian is commissioned to be the ministerial mouth, hands, and feet of Jesus. If our relationship with our Lord is healthy and we are growing through the Holy Spirit, we certainly realize that we’re to live in an attitude of one that’s 180 degrees from indifference and run-of-the-mill living, and bring the message of the Gospel to others. We are to be salt. Salt brings a dish alive, as passion does a person. We are to be light. Light blazes and energizes, as passion does a community.
Spiritual passion ignites and drives a disciple to do the work of Jesus. But passion is always rooted in something or someone. Food. Money. Success. Servanthood. Power. A lover. A leader. God. Our passion isn’t intangibly or vaguely based. It’s found in its connection to the Object of our faith.
Would our Lord have us go about our work for him with anything but a passion fueled by the Spirit? But a cook doesn’t always feel passion when spending a night behind a line of stoves where you look down at your pocket thermometer and it reads 120 degrees in your jacket pocket. It’s not always about feeling great. It’s about the big picture that drives one ahead in good times as well as the difficult. The same for the disciple.
But we’re not to forge ahead as a disciple of Jesus in a state of confusion. If one chooses to stand at the stove and attempt a dish with absolutely no clue as to how to do so, she can’t successfully proceed one moment further. Trying to wield a razor sharp chef’s knife without knowledge in how to do so is a great way to lose a finger or two, or worse. It’s no different for a follower of Christ.
I think it’s so very cool that as Paul lists all the spiritual armor for the disciple, the only piece that is used in an offensive capacity is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. In your mind’s eye add to the example of the untrained cook a Roman untrained in sword warfare. Imagine him swinging that thing wildly, only to unintentionally plunge it into his own flesh, or some innocent bystander. So the minister of God must not only know the Word, but know how to use it. And one must start somewhere; I think that’s to be a foundational knowledge of that which God took the loving time and effort to reveal to us – his written Word.
I have more respect for an atheist who can vehemently tell me why he is one than a Christian who has no idea why he believes what he does nor can share that why with someone else.
And so I’m referring to not only that foundational Biblical knowledge of who God is, who we are in Christ and so on, but the ability to passionately share that revelation from God with others, who whether they know it or not, are starving for it. And unlike the cook, we have the Holy Spirit, God himself, to guide us in our understanding of what he has to say to us in Scripture. And he doesn’t stop there, but makes himself available to equip us to incorporate that very Word into our own lives and make it available to others as they see it lived out in our life application.
So I hope my comparison of a cook’s world and that of a minister of Christ is one you can relate to. There are so many other ways to express these ideas; you can plug in so many different occupations to make the same case. But as a chef who taught others how to cook, I was fervent about expressing the need to the novice in acquiring the cooking knowledge and understanding base and then go and express himself. The sky was the limit in what you could prepare and you’d save time, wasted effort and food, and frustration along the way. You could cook safely for you and for those you fed. The work of a ministering disciple is more practical, even more possible, and infinitely amazing. Bon appetite!
Spiritual passion ignites and drives a disciple to do the work of Jesus. But passion is always rooted in something or someone. Food. Money. Success. Servanthood. Power. A lover. A leader. God. Our passion isn’t intangibly or vaguely based. It’s found in its connection to the Object of our faith.
Would our Lord have us go about our work for him with anything but a passion fueled by the Spirit? But a cook doesn’t always feel passion when spending a night behind a line of stoves where you look down at your pocket thermometer and it reads 120 degrees in your jacket pocket. It’s not always about feeling great. It’s about the big picture that drives one ahead in good times as well as the difficult. The same for the disciple.
But we’re not to forge ahead as a disciple of Jesus in a state of confusion. If one chooses to stand at the stove and attempt a dish with absolutely no clue as to how to do so, she can’t successfully proceed one moment further. Trying to wield a razor sharp chef’s knife without knowledge in how to do so is a great way to lose a finger or two, or worse. It’s no different for a follower of Christ.
I think it’s so very cool that as Paul lists all the spiritual armor for the disciple, the only piece that is used in an offensive capacity is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. In your mind’s eye add to the example of the untrained cook a Roman untrained in sword warfare. Imagine him swinging that thing wildly, only to unintentionally plunge it into his own flesh, or some innocent bystander. So the minister of God must not only know the Word, but know how to use it. And one must start somewhere; I think that’s to be a foundational knowledge of that which God took the loving time and effort to reveal to us – his written Word.
I have more respect for an atheist who can vehemently tell me why he is one than a Christian who has no idea why he believes what he does nor can share that why with someone else.
And so I’m referring to not only that foundational Biblical knowledge of who God is, who we are in Christ and so on, but the ability to passionately share that revelation from God with others, who whether they know it or not, are starving for it. And unlike the cook, we have the Holy Spirit, God himself, to guide us in our understanding of what he has to say to us in Scripture. And he doesn’t stop there, but makes himself available to equip us to incorporate that very Word into our own lives and make it available to others as they see it lived out in our life application.
So I hope my comparison of a cook’s world and that of a minister of Christ is one you can relate to. There are so many other ways to express these ideas; you can plug in so many different occupations to make the same case. But as a chef who taught others how to cook, I was fervent about expressing the need to the novice in acquiring the cooking knowledge and understanding base and then go and express himself. The sky was the limit in what you could prepare and you’d save time, wasted effort and food, and frustration along the way. You could cook safely for you and for those you fed. The work of a ministering disciple is more practical, even more possible, and infinitely amazing. Bon appetite!
Friday, November 7, 2008
Many Ways from Point A to Point B
Part 1 of a philosophical comparison in two areas of endeavor...
I used to work as a professional chef. I later sold food and cooking equipment, and taught people about cooking. I mention these things to merely point out that as I share a philosophy and comparison of mine, you may consider me qualified to do so. If not, perhaps read on further and contemplate anyway.
One role and responsibility of a chef, the most important, is that of a cook. You see, a chef is a managerial, leadership role. A cook, not necessarily so. A cook must know how to do exactly that - cook - and execute his station with passion and proficiency. If the second violin doesn’t come in on cue and in tune, the entire orchestra (kitchen) suffers. It’s the makings for an ear wrenching symphony.
You can go to school to learn to be a professional cook. It’s certainly possible to excel as one without formal training. So one cook trains at a great school, works her way up the ladder in many restaurants, becomes a superb cook. Another works his way through a few great books on cooking, labors on his own at the stove, and has a better way around the kitchen then the average cooking school grad. He may arrive at the same level as the schooled cook in a fraction of the time. Perhaps a “foodie” has a natural knack for the knife, whisk, and stove and is able to jump right into the fray of a commercial kitchen after much less experience than most. Whoever the person passionate for food, and whatever the culinary path they walk, a few things are certain.
The cook’s desire has to be fueled by passion. First, you must have the longing to take quality raw food ingredients and create a dish pleasing to both eye and palate. But to bring that desire to fruition, you must have a strong, solid foundational knowledge of foods, cooking techniques, and what happens when you combine the two. This foundation is not only built in the mind, but by hands-on experience - tasting, smelling, touching as a one progresses. What happens when sugars are exposed to certain degrees of heat? Why can fish dry out, even though totally submerged in a poaching liquid? So, the knowledge is honed through experience and executed with excellence.
And is it any different for someone who ministers? I’m not only referring to those who do so as their occupation, but to everyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ, freed from the penalty of sin by faith in his death in their place. Because the Bible teaches that every member of the body of Christ is called to ministry. I’ll continue in Part 2.
I used to work as a professional chef. I later sold food and cooking equipment, and taught people about cooking. I mention these things to merely point out that as I share a philosophy and comparison of mine, you may consider me qualified to do so. If not, perhaps read on further and contemplate anyway.
One role and responsibility of a chef, the most important, is that of a cook. You see, a chef is a managerial, leadership role. A cook, not necessarily so. A cook must know how to do exactly that - cook - and execute his station with passion and proficiency. If the second violin doesn’t come in on cue and in tune, the entire orchestra (kitchen) suffers. It’s the makings for an ear wrenching symphony.
You can go to school to learn to be a professional cook. It’s certainly possible to excel as one without formal training. So one cook trains at a great school, works her way up the ladder in many restaurants, becomes a superb cook. Another works his way through a few great books on cooking, labors on his own at the stove, and has a better way around the kitchen then the average cooking school grad. He may arrive at the same level as the schooled cook in a fraction of the time. Perhaps a “foodie” has a natural knack for the knife, whisk, and stove and is able to jump right into the fray of a commercial kitchen after much less experience than most. Whoever the person passionate for food, and whatever the culinary path they walk, a few things are certain.
The cook’s desire has to be fueled by passion. First, you must have the longing to take quality raw food ingredients and create a dish pleasing to both eye and palate. But to bring that desire to fruition, you must have a strong, solid foundational knowledge of foods, cooking techniques, and what happens when you combine the two. This foundation is not only built in the mind, but by hands-on experience - tasting, smelling, touching as a one progresses. What happens when sugars are exposed to certain degrees of heat? Why can fish dry out, even though totally submerged in a poaching liquid? So, the knowledge is honed through experience and executed with excellence.
And is it any different for someone who ministers? I’m not only referring to those who do so as their occupation, but to everyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ, freed from the penalty of sin by faith in his death in their place. Because the Bible teaches that every member of the body of Christ is called to ministry. I’ll continue in Part 2.
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