Fuel-Up with Foods as God Made Them

By Laurette Willis –

How processed or close-to-nature are the foods you regularly eat?

Quick quiz: Which meal would you say is closest to its natural state?
a. Fresh fruit cup; raw vegetable salad w/lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar and flax seed oil); whole wheat tortillas with beans and steamed veggies.
b. Raw veggie salad with “lite” salad dressing; cooked salmon w/lemon juice; frozen veggies with cheese; brown rice; fruit dessert.
c. Iceberg lettuce and tomato with sweet an’ creamy Italian dressing; instant macaroni and cheese (just add water!); canned peas; Sara-licious Put-On-The-Pounds cake.
d. Fast food burger (with lettuce, tomato and pickle—those are vegetables, aren’t they?); French fries (medium-size, I’m watching what I eat); frozen dessert (what is that anyway?); diet soda (to wash it down quickly please, I’m driving).

You may have noticed our menu became increasingly more processed and further away from its natural state as our list progressed.

Okay, we’re modern people; we don’t live in ancient times. How can we possibly WWJD (“What Would Jesus Do?”) when it comes to food? Actually, it’s a lot easier than you think. You know what has helped me make changes in this area? Knowledge. While the world says, “Knowledge is power,” God says through the prophet Hosea, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6 NKJV). Either way, both knowledge (information) and wisdom (understanding how to apply that knowledge) are valuable, necessary and available.

Let’s look at one of the blights of modern life: processed food. Some of you may be thinking, “But processed foods are convenient! I thought conveniences were blessings not curses!” True, thanks to the joys of technology, most of us don’t have to till the soil, grind the wheat and kill the fatted calf to feed our family. I’ll admit I’d rather reach for a box of raisins at the supermarket rather than grow, harvest and dry the grapes myself. Many conveniences are blessings. Goodness, where would we be without air conditioning and electric lights? Sweating by candlelight I suppose.

Certainly not all processed foods are bad for us either. In fact, processed food is mentioned in the Bible. Bread (processed grain) is mentioned as early as the third chapter of Genesis. Bread is meant to be a blessing; otherwise Jesus would not have referred to Himself as “the bread of life” in John 6:35.

Simply put, the further the food is from its original state, the more processes it has gone through, the more preservatives and chemicals are added to increase its shelf “life,” the less nutritional value there is for our bodies to use. Also, the more potentially harmful these non-food items become as our bodies struggle under the weight of the toxic load.

Simple Plan: Alternate the days when you will eat the more processed foods with days when you will have a diet closer to “God-made” less processed foods. For example: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday can be cleaner “God-made” foods days, while Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday can be the days of the week you allow yourself to eat more processed foods. Balance is key. This way you won’t feel deprived or depraved!

Duh!

By Jarrod Spencer –

Some words and phrases are spoken in a way that makes the receiver feel insignificant or dumb. This is rude, and is especially true when a younger person is saying it to an adult, when they should instead show respect.

Over the past month, our three-year-old has learned to use the word “duh.” He thinks he is funny when he says it, and dose not realize it might be rude. However, as most parents know, when a “too-big-for-his-britches” child says something at just the right time, it can come across as funny. As hard as you try not to laugh, you are so surprised at your child’s response you cannot stifle it.

Recently, my in-laws visited and we planned to go out to lunch. At my wife’s instruction, my son asked his Papaw where we were going to eat. Papaw replied, “I don’t know, where are we going to eat?”

My son replied with one eyebrow raised up and a little deeper voice than normal, “El Dos de D’Oros. Duh!” And with a pause, as if realizing he had crossed the line, he added. “It’s up to you.” Though this would be considered a bit rude, we could not help but laugh, even though he spoke down to his Papaw, a person whom he should respect.

I wonder how often we treat our Father in heaven this way. He questions us and we respond with a direct or indirect “duh,” as if to say, “You should know this God. You’re God after all!” We fail to show the proper respect we should exhibit to the all-knowing God.

How often have you responded with “duh” to God? If you’re like me, you probably don’t even realize how often you say it. May our radars be tuned to becoming more respectful to Him.

PRAYER: Father, I am weak and mortal. I make more mistakes than I would like. I respect You and apologize when I am disrespectful to You, as if I know more than You do. Thank You for being such an awesome God!

Isaiah 55:6 – 9 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

“Battle with the Birds”

By Dianne E. Butts –

A family of birds is trying to build a nest underneath our second-story deck. We’ve had nests built there before. We wouldn’t mind it so much if the birds were better house guests. But their, eh-hem, “droppings” run down the windows of the basement-level family room and mud and sticks litter the porch. And they are not quiet neighbors.

All this meant my husband took on the challenge this year of discouraging them from build a nest underneath our deck. Turns out, just knocking their nest down once or twice was not going to be near enough to discourage them from building there.

My husband has been knocking their nest-building down and sweeping it off our porch, several times a day for at least a week. Every time he does, he gets scolded by that Father bird.

We have an odd board jutting across the bottom of the deck at an angle. I guess Mr. and Mrs. Bird think this is the perfect platform to put their nest on. Tucked up high, next to the house. A nicely protected location. After knocking it down numerous times, we finally found a garden gnome to set in its place. Problem solved, right? Nope. The Birds just moved down the board and started building again in the next open slot. Just as high, now not against the house, but apparently the second best location.

I raided the shed and we ended up setting all my little fake garden friends (a frog, squirrel, angel, two gophers (one with sunglasses), a rabbit) and several plastic pots along the rest of the board. The Birds keep building on top of the frog. Beside the gnome. Around the newspaper I wadded and stuffed up there to take up the space.

Persistent little creatures, aren’t they?!

I’ll admit it. At first I felt sorry for the Birds. Would they find another place to build and raise their young? I don’t feel sorry so much for them anymore. They have the whole wide world to build their nest in. Why are they so darned insistent in building it under our deck?

I put a nice, solid basket in the backyard aspen tree. It fits perfectly between branches. I put some of their nestings in it. A perfect place for a bird nest if you ask me. But no, they don’t go near it.

I keep wondering isn’t Mrs. Bird getting desperate to lay her eggs? How long can they keep putting off finding a place to build their nest where it will remain intact? Seems like she’d start nagging Mr. Bird by now about finding another location.

But persistent Mr. Bird just keeps building. So here we are still knocking down their efforts several times a day.

Mr. Bird is determined to build Mrs. Bird their dream home under our deck. My husband is just as determined that he will not. I’m betting on my husband to win the battle.

Isn’t it nice to know we have a Father Who is every bit as persistent in pursuing us?

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26, NIV)

Mundane Moments or Movie Magic

By Robin J. Steinweg –

What if life were reduced to a 90-second movie trailer–the highest moments, best explosions, disasters and funny bits? Would anyone pay money to see it? Would it count for anything?

Let’s see. Born. Dragged by my pony, had to soak the grit off in the tub. Fell in love, married. Hit a deer with the car. Birthed two sons. Gall bladder removed… Wow, even I don’t care to go see it!

So what makes my life count? Certainly not the film-worthy exploits.

I think about what others have done that mattered to me:

*The friend who brought a meal after my dad died—a small thing to her, but huge to me.

*The doctor who, when I was twelve, kindly told me that my wide-set eyes were a sign of beauty—he gave me hope when my peers called me ‘Grubworm’ or ‘Birdlegs.’

*A stranger (a professional musician) who told me in one casual sentence that I was born to make music—and sent me in the direction the Lord wanted me to go.

*Curly-haired, three-year-old Jamie, who hugged my neck the first and only time I met him while waiting in line to see E.T. at a theater—and completely rearranged my heart about wanting a child.

Do these people know that their small, ordinary investments were used by God to change my life?

AUTHOR QUOTE: It’s not the events that create movie magic that matter. It’s the mundane moments—even unintentional acts—performed for others daily, in the name of Christ.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in My name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward” (Mark 9:41 NIV).

Another Four Letter Word

By Rosemary Flaaten –

Four letter words have a reputation for being foul, slang, or crude. The vocabulary we choose reflects our values. Popular usage can change the conventional meaning of a word. There is a four letter word which, by definition, simply means “being actively and attentively engaged in work or a pastime.” By definition, “busy” is not a bad word.

I was recently contacted with a last-minute request to speak at a conference. The organizer admitted that she hesitated to call me because she felt she would be bothering me because I was so busy. I realized that I portray my life as busy. I have bought into the frantic pace of our society that equates busyness with worth, and stillness with laziness. Heaven forbid if I am caught being still.

Godliness reflects the opposite. Jesus beckons us to come away with Him and to learn His unforced rhythms of life. Studying the way that Jesus, with a limited time frame, interacted and lived out His mission, we would be hard-pressed to find Him looking busy or responding that He was too busy to meet the needs of the people around Him. His value did not come from being busy.

“Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10 NIV). As treasured children of the Most High God our value does not come from what we do. Rather, it is our connectedness to God which spawns our values and propels our actions. Time alone with God does not diminish our capacity for accomplishments. Rather, it fuels it. Martin Luther is noted as saying that he had so much work to do that he needed to spend the first three hours in his day in prayer. When our hearts are stilled we are recharged, making our work more effective, which also results in less busyness.

I am choosing to make my vocabulary match my values and for that reason I resolve to not give credence to a word that insidiously shapes my actions. I am eradicating from my vocabulary the four letter word – BUSY. In doing so I am charting a course of Christ-like stillness of spirit within activity.

PRAYER: O Lord, show me how to be still.

Matthew 11:28-30 (The Message) “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

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