Food to cook...Food to cook...over...

For a basecamp for our journey understanding and seeking that Food...lets look at a simple definition...for like anything even a definition can be complex and far reaching...Hmmm  that'll preach too!  OK
Food: ... "any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth." To expound a bit "The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism's cells to provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth." 
     Jesus was seeing His Father's Will  as "food"  I like looking at synonyms for Food... some synonyms:
nourishment, sustenance, nutriment, fare; bread, daily bread; cooking, cuisine; foodstuffs, edibles, provender, refreshments, meals, provisions, restoratives, rations; solids; eats, eatables, nosh, grub, chow, nom noms; comestibles; viands; victuals, vittles; commons, meat, aliment, fodder, feed, forage.
     It is also a word that for us almost begs for a descriptor like "French ,Chinese, home-cooked...etc".  So we think we have a good grasp on food...it is the "substance" which we manipulate and do all kinds of things to... to create something memorable to eat. Food has flavor characteristics; Sweet ( yum!)  Sour( face scrunching), Salty ( blood pressure raising), Bitter ( Did I eat that unsweetened dark chocolate...really?), and  Umami ( Oooooooooo  Mommy!  Savory!).
     So sometimes when reading or meditating on the Word or Words in the Bible perhaps these descriptors can help describe what Psalm 34:8 says  "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!".   Taste...when you taste...you partake...just a bit....just enough to identify its characteristics of flavor... of what it is... A taste introduces something familiar or new into your senses and leads to further acceptance or rejection. We taste in faith, trusting the cook to have delivered a delicious recipe into our mouths and bodies, and memories... to the heart of who we are.  The "substance ingested" by us whereby our physiology converts...and then it can "provide energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth."
     Even when we look in the Bible for the word to see how it is defined by the divine...We see Taste written (depending on translation) up to 50+ times... When Jesus tasted the sour wine he did not drink...He had to taste to "Finish the work" His Father started. In 1 Pete 2:2-3  "as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious."   Food indeed!  
    As I experience His Word some things are so sweet..the Sweet Psalm Songs, the Promises, The Good News!  Some are Sour feeling our faces scrunch as words challenge and expose our sinful hearts...And Jesus tasted the sour wine on the cross...did he drink it?  no  but He tasted...as the Word tells us in Hebrews 2:9 "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone"... Thank you Lord!  Some Salty..The word Salt used as seasoning  in Mark 9:50 "Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”  Bitter words  those spoken by persons (like us) hurtful the cry of "Crucify Him!" words expressing tears and feelings of guilt and sadness.  And then the Words so so Savory so filling and delicious words of deep Love, words of comfort, and Joy...His words that speak life and Light into our very being...
     So eat a bit...taste ...and see ...you may want seconds...

Begin again?...The food...

Continuing to seek "the food you know nothing about".  From the beginning  Our Father provided for us all  as a Father would...even if we were "bad"  now it is true some parents send children to their room without a meal...sometimes because we said we didn't like it...(Hmmm...that will preach at another time)  The Word of God speaks to us as a corporate body of all human beings, and to each of us as individuals...Amazing Word!  As a cook it speaks to me in terms that touch my heart and edifies and enlightens me in who I am in the world and who I am in Christ Jesus.
     After the "fall" Our Father provided and guided and taught so that they (and we) could continue on in this world as it was in the beginning living with His presence...seeking, praising and loving Him.  In Genesis 3:21 it is written that "God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them."  Some would say this was God slaughtering animals the source of the "skins"...and what of the meat? This sets a precedence and an image of us being "covered" by the sacrifice of a creation whom God had declared "Very Good" and without blemish... a little later in Genesis we see  in chapter 4 Abel raises sheep – not for eating as man was were vegetarian , but for both clothing and for offering as an animal sacrifice before the LORD; which precedent was set before his father and mother in Eden.  Then in Genesis 9:1-4 God gave his blessing to eat  of His creation..."God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! Every living creature—birds, animals, fish—will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else. Except for meat with its lifeblood still in it—don’t eat that."  And we know from here on that food was a source of not only nutrition...but of expression of our heart. In Gen 25:29-34 "Now Jacob cooked a stew"...The Lentil stew was used to obtain Esau's birthright...and then in Chapter 27 a hearty meal of game and fresh baked bread was prepared by Rebekah to deceive Isaac...to gain God's blessing...for one who maybe could't get it any other way?   Wow food has quite a history doesn't it?  When I eat a lentil soup it is a "taste" of something historical and world changing...something that did make an impact upon lives that...made an impact...Maybe that where we get the phrase "Cooking up something" Ah I can hear Hank Williams now...
     As we search on I notice the story of Joseph  indeed an impactful person by going with what God created him to be...Joseph found himself...by simply being simply by believing and trusting God ...and acting on it.  I also noticed in his adventures that we was imprisoned with a Sommelier, and a Pastry Chef!  In the Word called Cup Bearer (one who would choose the finest wine , and Baker ( one who would make the finest bread and pastries) for Pharaoh, the king and demi-god of Egypt!  This is the first time Bread and Wine in my searching is found together in the Word.  Here in Genesis we get lots of "tastes" of the Food we don't know about ... and as Joseph showed us by being who God made him to be and "doing" that... he was partaking of that food...in John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.".  When Jesus spoke those words He was letting us in on the next phase of seeking His will   taste by taste..eating a bit, chewing on it,.. taking some infants milk...garden food to meat... perhaps a good image of "Farm to table"  Amen?  So we seek and do His Will and join Jesus in His "Finishing" work...He did it, said
It is finished"...then told us....Go...make disciples
To complete a dish we have to have all the right ingredients, have all the right equipment, and have all the right knowledge and wisdom to put it all together in one lovely co-creation with God...OK we have the ingredients...now to the equipping...
   

Begin again? ...an appetizer

With each day another chance ...and some days its a total reboot...its a Genesis 1:1 day Amen? This week I will share excerpts from a Devo I shared with CCA and students from a couple years ago ...over this week we pray you enjoy are blessed, and encouraged as the next school year begins again and we ask for prayer...prayer ...and did I ask....more prayer?   

Making an impact...
What makes an impact? First let’s define. One definition says “have a strong effect on someone or something.”  synonyms: affect, influence, have an effect on, make an impression on; touch, change, alter, modify, transform, shape

I believe that each of these defining words aptly describes what a relationship with Jesus Christ is all about …just add an “ing” to each of those words and we can see what Jesus is doing in the lives of those who Love, believe, and follow Jesus. In this real relationship we mirror it in our own relationships with everyone we come in contact with. So how do we do that? Our Role model Jesus shows us how…by following Him…and ultimately told us what to do…He gave us our “job” At the end of Matthew He gave us a promise and our Mission…“ Therefore go and make disciples… of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…"

So off we go! Here at the Christian Culinary Academy in Cannon Beach Oregon we are in love with the vision Christ in the kitchen and making culinary disciples. Training up culinarians is wonderful but the first word in the name of the school is Christian. Christ first leads God has given Christian Chefs International to share the Good News of to a foundation that establishes life success and a firm foundation that their passion for cooking will lead them. And it testifies to a changed and Impacted life.

Matthew 11 25-30 Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: “Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You’ve concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that’s the way you like to work.”

27 Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. “The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I’m not keeping it to myself; I’m ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.

28-30 “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.”



“Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t la\y anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Did you know Jesus is all about food and feeding...and is a Cook? I encourage you to read the Gospel of John...in fact just pray and think on the times God spoke to you about Food as something that truly feeds from within...Jesus our Master and Teacher said "I have food to eat that you know nothing about"  When I read this I almost hear Jesus say this with an exclamation mark !  So...let us journey together in a search to "know about" Jesus' Food, and ultimately our Source...let us learn from watching working, and ...yes Tasting and seeing!  

Till Tomorrow  Rock and Roll!  Jesus is the Rock and we Roll!

Tell them " I Love them" Supper is ready...

Sometimes in our life of service...or in fact anytime as we go through trials... we still seek to present a fantastic awesome powerfully packed message from the Lord!  We read, study and pray and read, study...like shampooing our heads...rinse lather repeat!  Finding the Lord in the "every" moment  not just in the prayer closet, or just in congregational worship, or every "small group" be it Womens, Mens, Couples , youth, intersessional prayer, service ministry, evangelical or missions work...especially the witness and testimony that is our Lives!  I am so pleased that Jesus came into my life...and indeed into all of ours...and for that I am thankful...and we learn that Thanks is the key to the door of that relationship.  So IN thanks...lets Go!  The first two letters in God...Amen?  

2 Corinthians 9:15 (NKJV)

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

2 Cor 2 :14 ish  (MSG)

And I got it, thank God!  In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance. Because of Christ, we give off a sweet scent rising to God, which is recognized by those on the way of salvation—an aroma redolent with life.

...When we get a gift...we usually say "Thanks" even if we wonder why. Why is this person giving me a gift?...to manipulate me?  To use me?  To endear me into their favor for a later time that suits the giver...It happens...there are people hurt by a little c "church"...and may shy away from and be afraid of a gift because of the past  and the "strings" that come with such gifts...and in our "beware of greeks bearing gifts" suspicious and fearful way of looking at gifts...we all revere that strategy as the most famous military strategy whether in reality or mythology.  And it fills our lives even to this day. When your child ( whom you love)  brings you a gift...(not all the time) some gifts are accepted with a heart touching thanks...some with "OK  what do you want??"  

Revelation 3:20

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

...So OK we tentatively put out the invite...we take the chance on Love...to live in a relationship that is expressed in living each day in and by the life of another...bearing the fruit of the relationship  Children, Works, and Treasures...an expression of our New Life based on a choice to Love...

You know when I am invited to someones house for dinner it is customary and an expression of thanks for the invite to bring a gift...and often it is a bottle of wine...So imagine if you will...Hear the knocking...then we hear His voice... knowing the person on the other side of the door is bearing a gift...the gift that is the New Wine of Himself...We have even peeked through the peep hole and seen Him   hmmmm    looks like a mirror....

Open the door...the door opens inward...Thank Him for the wine...Wow  a rare vintage the bottle as old as time itself...yet the vintage is of today...this is the day it was "created"...open it to let it breathe...OH look!  He brought Bread too!  Supper is coming...

Labor...A message is for those who wish to serve God, but think there will be no opportunity...

I see Labor as a word with many definitions ...Man's;

noun

1.  work, especially hard physical work.

"the price of repairs includes labor and parts"

synonyms:  work, hard work, toil, exertion, industry, drudgery, effort, menial work

2.  the process of childbirth, especially the period from the start of uterine contractions to delivery.

"his wife is in labor"

synonyms: childbirth, birth, delivery, nativity

verb

1.  work hard; make great effort.

"they labored from dawn to dusk in two shifts"

synonyms:  work, work hard, toil, slave (away), grind away, struggle, strive, exert oneself, work one's fingers to the bone, work like a dog, work like a Trojan, plug away; literary: travail, moil

"a project on which he had labored for many years"

strive, struggle, endeavor, work, try, work hard, try hard, make every effort, do one's best, do one's utmost, do all one can, give one's all, go all out, fight, put oneself out, apply oneself, exert oneself;

informalbend/lean/fall over backwards, pull out all the stops, bust a gut, bust one's chops

"she labored to unite the party"

...and God's...and in the Word as associated with a promise...a gift in many ways  the Talents...the rewards...and expression...Run don't walk to the Word ...be blessed in your "labor-ing"...asking, seeking, knocking...whatever the definition...this is the Truth..It's in the Word!  

Taste these and see!

Matthew 11:28(NKJV)
" Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Psalm 128:2
When you eat the labor of your hands, You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.

I just searched for the word labor in a bible search online...  I encourage you to do also  I place a few here for the diversity of Our Father's "definition" of the word Labor...

Rock and Roll Y'all!  

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Genesis 35:17

 Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, “Do not fear; you will have this son also.”

Exodus 5:4 

Then the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor.”

Exodus 23:16 

and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

Deuteronomy 5:13 

Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

Joshua 24:13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

1 Kings 5:13 

Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men.

Nehemiah 4:10 

Then Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.”

Nehemiah 4:21 

So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared.

Job 9:29

If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain?

Proverbs 5:10 

Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, And your labors go to the house of a foreigner;

Proverbs 10:16 

The labor of the righteous leads to life, The wages of the wicked to sin.

Ecclesiastes 1:8 

All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.

Ecclesiastes 2:10 

Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, For my heart rejoiced in all my labor; And this was my reward from all my labor.

Ecclesiastes 3:9 

[ The God-Given Task ] What profit has the worker from that in which he labors?

Ecclesiastes 3:13 

and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor—it is the gift of God.

Matthew 9:37-38 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

John 6:27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”

Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Revelation 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

Choose His Will...It's a Love thing...cling to it!

Isaiah 43:2-4


When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.
Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.


Matthew 6:10

‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.

Lamentations 3:32
Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.

Psalm 63:8
My soul clings to You;
Your right hand upholds me.

When we pass through the waters, God will be there with us. God wants us to trust Him even when we are in deep waters.
Don't be concerned about your feelings during an emergency.  There are no emergencies in heaven   The most important thing is that we turn to God, trusting that He is indeed with us. When our heart is sinking under waves of panic, don't focus on those feelings. Instead, Look to God, for "as your soul clings to Me, My right hand will uphold you"--keeping us safe in turbulent waters.

Choose Authority

Matthew 28:18
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.


Psalm 143:8
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go
for to you I entrust my life.

We must entrust our loved ones to God. They are much safer with God than in our clinging hands.
Sometime we confuse loving others with rescuing them. God wants us to stop feeling responsible to fix people, since that is God's role, not ours. It is God's prerogative to bring about change in peoples lives as He chooses. When we feel compelled to rescue a loved one, look to God. Don't usurp God;s role in peoples lives, no matter how much we want to help them. God can rescue or control anyone He chooses, but He created us with the capacity to choose good or evil. God wants us to be free to love Him--or not. Love that has no choice is not real.