Surprise!

What a great day!

I love surprises - both when I am surprised and when I can surprise someone. That's why I loved my niece Macy's plan to throw a surprise party for her mother (my sister) today. And the best thing is...it worked!

So much fun when we saw Kristy walk in the door to see her family and friends.

And then we ate. Awesome burgers, awesome trimmings, homemade ice cream, and one of the best cakes ever.

Swimming, boating, talking...just hanging out.

I really think days like today are a tiny glimpse, a shimmer, of the joy God has prepared for his children in the new heavens and new earth. Eternity basking in the glory of the Lamb, and living life in community with all the saints from through out history. It's going to be glorious!

But while we wait for that, we can enjoy days like today. Awesome!

Happy birthday, sis!

The power of a good meal

Last week, a friend of mine posted a wonderful narrative on how God has designed us to come together over a meal. He talked about all the Scriptural references to eating together, and how God's invitation to us is one of coming in to dine with us (e.g., Revelation 3:20). And the Lord's supper itself is an example. Please read his entire post here:

Thanksgiving and the Eucharist

Well, this struck a major chord with me, because I thought about how rich my life is because of meals I get to share with family and friends. It truly is one of the great blessings God has provided.

That's why a book passage jumped out at me today during lunch.

I am currently rereading Mockingjay, the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy. Without revealing any major plot points, I was at a point in the story where Katniss and other key characters are in the midst of some very stressful training. They have been through so much together. They were strangers, then in some ways enemies, and now in a weird way have bonded as friends. Adversity tends to do that.

And so our heroes are gathered in this extraordinary situation, and the description - from Katniss' narration - is this:

All around the dining hall, you can feel the rejuvenating effect that a good meal can bring on. The way it can make people kinder, funnier, more optimistic, and remind them it's not a mistake to go on living. It's better than any medicine. So I try to make it last and join in the conversation. (p. 240, italics mine)

What a wonderful description of the power of eating with others.

So yes, Patrick, you are right when you point out the power of eating together. God made us that way, and we can see it not only in Scripture, in our lives, but in modern literature as well.

Thank you, Lord, for good friends and good food. Amen.

Not this time

I order my steaks medium well. Used to be it was always well done, but at some point I got a little less picky. Either way, I like when they actually cook meat. Raw meat is great for animals, and alot of people like rare steaks. But for me, that's why they invented cooking.

Today I ordered a filet, medium well. For some reason, many chefs at steak restaurants take offense at this. They think you are ruining a perfectly good steak and they resent it. I'm pretty sure that was the case today.

I usually can tell when this occurs. I end up with a piece of meat that is of pretty low quality. Streaks of fat that just should not be in that cut of meat. What happens, I've been told, is this. There's some meat in the kitchen that is not up to standards. Some fool like me orders a steak that is (to him) overcooked. So why waste good meat? Send the gristle out to the guy who doesn't know how to order a steak.

So today, I recognized it. And, in a very tactful nice way, I asked them if this was their usual cut of filet. I didn't say why or accuse them of anything. Just asked. And you know what? The chef came out, looked at the steak, and apologized.

By the way, the replacement filet was awesome! One of the best steaks I've had in a while.

No lessons or parallels here. Unless it's this: It is possible to ask for quality service and be kind at the same time. As they say, honey catches more flies than vinegar.

This restaurant handled the situation great. If I'm ever in San Antonio again, I'll return. "Well done", folks.

Extraordinary cakes

Tonight, we celebrated my niece Macy's 22nd birthday, as well as that of her friend and roommate Hillary Kate (who thus managed to stretch her celebration even longer than Macy!). Fun time...great dinner, lots of laughs with family and friends. But I never expected to walk into the house and see this:

In case you think your eyes are deceiving you, they are not. That's a cake lined with gobs of three of the world's best Little Debbie snack cakes: Nutty Bars, Chocolate Cupcakes, and (my favorite growing up) Swiss Rolls. Oh. My. Goodness. And cake with icing inside.

Or this:

That, my friends, is a cake contained inside a ring of Kit-Kat bars and covered with M&Ms. Wow!

So how did this go over? What do you think? The guests of honor looked pretty happy about it:

Happy birthday, ladies!

The Best BBQ in the world

I am not kidding about this. Let's see...no fat in the meat. Really, like ever. Homemade sauce that tastes incresdible - none of that SC mustard-based stuff. Thick and ketchup-based. Absolutely amazing!

This may not be the most professional video you've ever seen. Well, it definitely isn't. But the subject matter makes up for it. If you're ever traveling from Montgomery to Tuscaloosa, treat yourself. You won't be sorry.

Cheese and more cheese

We interrupt the series of posts about last year's volcanic ash to bring you this semi-live report from Zurich.

Tonight we had dinner at a traditional Swiss restaurant, which means there was lots of cheese and bread. That is a very good thing - I love both. After we all shared some four-cheese fondue, I ordered this:

It was absolutely delicious. It was a mixture of potatoes and a very rich cheese covering...a specialty here in Switzerland we were told.

And then we realized it. What I had ordered was an extra-large, extra-rich helping of Waffle House covered hash browns.

Come to think of it, not a bad thing at all.

Hamburger Helper

I made a trip to Walmart last weekend - a fairly rare occurrence for me. I'm not a huge fan of the store, mainly because they never seem to have enough check-out lanes open. I'm usually zipping in to get something I need and wanting to zip back out with it. Seldom happens.

Anyway, as I entered the Walmart through the door on the food side, I saw the following display:

That's right - one of the staples of quick, easy-to-prepare meals: Hamburger Helper.

Now this brought back a flood of memories, and they were not good. In fact, as I walked past the display, I was surprised at myself. I had looked straight at the boxes of HH without getting nauseated.

You see, way back in my college days, my friend Steve and I shared a trailer and neither one of us had very much in the way of income - after all, we were in college. In the summer, we would run the air conditioner one day a month just to absorb the luxury of a cool trailer for a few hours. So HH was one of the ways we could eat without spending much money. A little hamburger meat, a box of the seasoning and voila - dinner!

But one November evening, we finished our Hamburger Helper meal and then it happened. I can't remember whether Steve or I started to feel sick first. but within an hour or so we were both sick as dogs. I can only remember one other time in my life where I felt that bad. I will spare you the gory details, but you can imagine. I didn't eat for days.

Now here's the thing: I don't know to this day whether the food had anything to do with it. I kinda think it didn't because I found out later that there was a stomach virus going around. but it didn't matter. From that day forward, if I saw a box of HH I would feel sick at my stomach. If you mentioned it...nausea. And Lord help us all if I actually smelled any of it cooking. I couldn't stand the thought of it.

Have you ever had anything like that? A food associated with a bad memory that makes you sick to think about? Or a song that reminded you of a bad break-up and you would get depressed every time you heard it?  Of course it works both ways - our senses are very powerful carriers of nostalgia both good and bad. There are songs that still make me think of specific periods of my life. Smells and tastes that bring back memories. That's just the way we wired.

But if you have songs you just can't stand to hear, or places you can't stand to see, or - yes - foods you can't stand to smell, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to last forever. God's grace is strong enough to help you put those behind you. Christ came to give us a brand new start. Yes, from our sin and rejection of our Creator. But also from the pain that comes from living in a fallen world. If I can walk past that Hamburger Helper display (and write about it!!), then it can happen.

And oh, I grabbed my travel size shaving cream and walked to the check-out stand. Believe it or not, there was an employee waiting to check me out. No line! Yes, it was a miraculous day...no nausea and no line at Walmart. I sure hope I wasn't dreaming.

A tradition renewed

It was a cold night in Minnesota, January of 2008.  I was there to go ice fishing (of all things), invited by friends up there that I work with.  It was very, very cold -- about 10 degrees below zero -- and there was lots of snow.

So on Friday night while I was there, I got a call from some friends.  Turns out it was snowing at home.  In Montgomery!  For the first time in years.  So I left the south to see snow, and there it was in my back yard.

But that's not what this blog is about.  It's about what my friends were doing when they called me.  You see, a small group of friends who had met as YoungLife leaders had begun getting together on a regular basis at my house.  We would eat Thai or Indian food.  We'd talk about life, our ministry together, and fun stuff.  And, as a group that loves good stories, we would watch a couple of favorite TV shows together.

At the time we were watching a couple of shows, Heroes and 24, as a group.  But on that cold night, we were caught up as a group, and they were snowed in, and they were looking for something new.  Enter the greatest show in the history of television.  That's right...LOST.

At the time, the show had not begun its 4th season, and my friends had not ever seen an episode.  So...the phone call.  I discovered that cold Friday night that my friends were at my house, without me, watching my DVD of the pilot episode.  I was thrilled, because you always want to share your passions with those you're close to.  And this definitely qualified.

Well, it's too late to make this long story short, but my friends became as addicted to this amazing drama as I was.  I had the most fun watching the DVDs with them, and watching them enjoy it was almost as cool as the show itself.  We had long discussions about what stuff meant.  But as great as that was, what really, really was awesome was a tradition of getting together with friends and sharing life.

Fast forward two and a half years.  Two of our group, Clark and Laura (pictured at the top of this post), have been in Asia for the past two years.  They have had two children.  Throughout most of history, end of friendship, right?  But through the technological marvels of email, skype, and facebook, we have kept in close touch.  I even went to visit them once.  And now...they are back.

So, Sunday night, we renewed a tradition.  This time at their house.  The core of the old group was back together.  Eating chicken tikki masala (not to mention some delicious pies Laura made!).  Talking about Asia and my trip to Africa.  Catching up on life.  Watching a movie.

It's good to have y'all back, guys.  I look forward to many more evenings like Sunday.  Friends and family...the stuff life is made of.