The Preacher’s delicious Shrimp Soup
I try to give him a compliment.
Another fabulous meal.
He just shrugs it off as no big deal. No false humility falls from his lips. “Anyone can be a good cook, you just need a good recipe.”
I laughed and reminded the Preacher who he was talking to.
Me, the one who burns the cookies.
He the one who never does.
Me, the one who boils the pan dry, and scrapes the burnt from the toast.
He who creates flawless pie crusts and delectable flourless chocolate cakes.
He wasn’t always this way. I was the cook for twenty years, with marginal skills at best. He was the one who didn’t find the “inner chef” until the boys left for college. It had been too deeply buried beneath the mounds of running shoes, baseball gloves, basketballs and golf clubs.
With no teams to coach, and no tri-weekly games to attend, he began to look for other activities to fill his time.
My boys missed out on the joys of the truly delicious meals I now consume. They suffered through my tater tot casseroles, and pigs in the blankets.
The crockpot became my best kitchen friend. It’s really difficult to ruin a dinner in the slow cooker. Though it is possible to under-time the beans so badly that the hungry family clamored for dinner, while the beans remained rock hard. To this day, the boys are not huge fans of soups, because I fixed them so often in that crock pot.
I had recipes from my grandmothers, both good cooks. I had a whole shelf covered in the latest and greatest cookbooks. I had hand written notecards from talented church ladies and family. The resources were not the problem.
My problem was the “following” part.
I am not a good follower and never have been. Sometimes that is ok. But in cooking it is not. If it calls for an ingredient that I don’t have, instead of waiting to prepare the meal until I can go to the store, I just wing it. Something that sounds like it would be close to the same should be ok, right? Or, I’m in a hurry so it will be ok to cook it at 400 degrees instead of 350 won’t it?
When Jesus asked the disciples to “follow him,” he expected them to leave their preconceived ideas and ways of doing things behind. As long as they followed his “recipe” some disasters could be averted, at least while they walked with Jesus in person. It was when they deviated from his plan that they failed miserably.
Peter walked on water as long as he did what Jesus said: Trust without doubting.
It took a blinding light on the road to Damascus for Paul to learn to adhere to God’s recipe and “Follow, love and forgive.”
Judas veered from the blueprint so drastically that he chose money over the plan. He betrayed Jesus and tragically took his own life.
With Christ there is but one way–to follow him.
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John 4:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”
-Are you a natural follower or a leader?
-There is nothing wrong with being a leader as long as you know when to lead and when to follow. How can you follow his lead this week? Do it!
(Let me know if you want this recipe my friend)