Bursting With Thanks
April 26, 2019 by Robin Steinweg
Filed under Daily Devotions, Humorous
By Robin J. Steinweg –
I decided one year that Mom needed a break from cooking the whole Thanksgiving dinner. She and Dad determined still to have it at their house. They would provide the big pull-out table and some side dishes, while traveling relatives could bring fresh fruit and relishes. It was my graduation from Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and Niblets. I would roast (heavenly choir sings) The Turkey.
In preparation, I watched PBS cooking shows and checked out cookbooks from the library. I even found a video for my husband on how to carve a turkey. Thus equipped, I felt confident. After all, I come from good Scandinavian cooking stock.
We ordered a turkey big enough to feed nearly twenty people. He barely fit in my oven. I took no chances. He came with a pop-out thermostat and gravy pouch, and I stuck him in one of those convenient cooking bags. I glanced over the directions, noting how much time he’d need to cook. After a newlywed fiasco in which I served my husband’s bosses nearly-raw chicken, I thought I’d err on the side of well done. I’d cook it a bit longer, but with a cover over the pan so no moisture would escape. The fragrance soon promised a mouth-watering meal.
Pressed for time at the end, I whisked the food from the oven to a towel-lined box along with some pumpkin pies and Potatoes Supreme. I thought I would burst with pleasure at supplying the main dish for the first time! Mom stood by to help lift it out. My husband stood by ready to carve. My older sister stood by, curious. The guests, seated, seemed to suspend their breathing as I raised the cover to reveal a perfect wreck of a bare carcass. It looked like a bomb had landed in its middle. My husband would not need his carving lessons, with the turkey in bite-sized bits. I’d forgotten to cut venting holes in the cooking bag.
Let’s see; humility? That’s an important lesson. Plan ahead more? Be better prepared? Count it all joy when you face trials of many kinds? They say that at such times one’s life passes before one’s eyes. But I took comfort as instead, a verse from 1 Peter in The Message flashed to mind: “Love makes up for practically anything.” Then I obeyed the next verse: “Be quick to give a meal to the hungry…”
AUTHOR QUOTE: Thank God if you belong to a family who loves you whether you succeed or fail (even if they never let you live it down).
“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV).
Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!
Deadly, Dawdling Dial-up vs. Instant Eternal Access
April 24, 2019 by Robin Steinweg
Filed under Daily Devotions, Humorous
By Robin J. Steinweg –
Click. Hear the bloops and bleeps as the telephone dials for Internet service. Feel the impending tedium as you prepare to wait. Pretend with me exactly as I did—when I still had deadly dial-up:
Click—wait for Home page: Pretend to walk upstairs, put on coat, grab keys, go out to the garage, get in the car, put keys in the ignition, buckle seat belt, adjust mirrors, turn on Life 102.5 Christian radio…
Home Page at last! I want the library’s online catalogue. Click—wait: Put car in reverse, back out, wait for neighbor to cross the street for the mail, head for fifteenth street, turn onto Grande, pass high school at 15mph, stop at crosswalk for sleepy-looking teens…
Library page! Click—wait for Search page: Drive 4 blocks to stop sign at 5th, wait for crossing guard to maneuver a 3-foot tall boy with a 4-foot tall backpack across the street, wait for bus in front of me to turn, make silly faces at waving children in back window, pass grade school, continue 4 blocks to stop sign at Water Street, wait for five cars, turn right…
Finally! Type in full title of book, Click—and wait: Proceed south on Water for 2.2 miles, turn in at library parking lot, park, turn off car, remove seatbelt, get out, lock doors, walk up sidewalk, in the door, wipe feet…
Ah Ha! Click to check out book—and wait: Walk past check-out, greet friendly librarian, admire her antique pin, head for the stacks, look for desired book, back to check-out for expert help, follow librarian to the stacks, find book plus three more, back to check-out, lay books on counter, dig for library card, hand it to smiling librarian (who swipes it, swipes books and hands back my card in 4 seconds flat because she has High-Speed Internet), take books to car…
What? The book I want is not available; I need to execute a search for another? Ack!
Before High-Speed Internet, before Dial-up, before computers, before electricity, there was instant communication with the Source of all knowledge and wisdom. The Maker of all makes Himself available to all at all times. Unhindered by time, He has all eternity to consider each word we pray. Before a word is on a person’s tongue, He knows it completely.
AUTHOR QUOTE: Prayer. Faster than High-Speed Internet / More powerful than the IBM Roadrunner /Able to leap cyberspace or the entire universe in less than an attosecond.
“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24 NIV).
Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!
