Day 322- A Man Food First

Laura was in Mobile today at the dentist. She had a bad toothache last week and went to the dentist. They put her on antibiotics and told her to come back today.  She did and there was still too much infection for them to do anything about it.  They will have her go back in a week or two, but at least the tooth is not aching like it was.  She's spent the day in Mobile doing some shopping after the dentist (imagine that?).

So, I was in charge of supper tonight.  Hannah Grace was not very hungry because she's getting over the flu.  It was just Joel and I eating.  We decided to have a man food night.  This means no salad or utensils. We built a fire in the backyard.  We brought out hot dogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, and marshmallows for dessert.  We enjoyed some man time around the fire eating meat and bread.  Joel loves to build.  After a bit, the fire got a bit hot for his comfort while roasting a hot dog.  He built a contraption where he could roast his hot dog and not have to hold the wire hanger.

We had a lot of fun. It was fun gathering wood for the fire. We poked and prodded and piled wood on the fire.  There are lots of things about a fire that interests a 10 year old boy.  Joel wanted to put a marshmallow in the fire and just watch it burn. That was more fun that I expected.  It kind of turns inside out.  Joel loves a fire and enjoyed our man food tonight.  I had hot dogs with mustard and Joel had hot dogs with ketchup.  We both had marshmallows for dessert.  Joel really likes to burn the marshmallows for fun. He would rather just eat them right out of the bag.

 

Notice the hanger wrapped around the wood and the hot dog is over the fire

At one point, I asked Joel what he thought about when he looked at the fire. He said, "You mean something Goddy?"  It took just a minute before I realized that he was asking if I wanted him to say something about God.  I told him it could be about God but it did not have to be. I do love the word Goddy.  That means something to do with God. As I watched the fire, I thought about how God burns up the junk of our lives if we'll let Him.  Most people think of sins that God wants to burn up as being things like cussing, drunkenness, and adultery.  For sure, those things need to go. There are other things that need to go as well.  Things like self-centeredness, materialism, greed, using God as a means to an end (ex. if I follow Jesus maybe He'll give me a happy family), and trying to appear better than I am. These are sins that need to go.  The thing is, I'm so much happier without that junk weighing me down. 

John Eldredge wrote a book a few years back titled, "The Utter Relief of Holiness."  The idea is that when we live holy, it is an utter relief from the weight of sin.  Here's what Eldredge wrote in his book, "It may seem strange at first , because I don’t think most folks look at holiness as an utter relief. Hard, perhaps; boring, if we’re honest; necessary, like flossing; a level of spirituality we might attain one day. But a relief? Look at it this way: Ask the anorexic young girl how she would feel if she simply no longer struggled with food, diet, exercise— if she simply never even gave it another thought. Ask the man consumed with jealousy how he would feel if he woke one day to discover that all he once felt jealous over was simply gone. Ask the raging person what it would be like to be free of rage or the alcoholic what it would be like to be completely free from addiction. Take the things you struggle with and ask yourself, "what would life be like if I never struggled with this again?” It would be an utter relief. An absolute, utter relief."

Relieved in the abundant life,
Barry

3 things I thank God for today
1. Eating roasted hot dogs with my son
2. Holiness is a relief and is God's plan
3. Dentists