I love God. He made everything, and since everything exists to glorify him, it seems that there is little that he cannot give you a better understanding of him through. Case in point: I was eating at a wonderful place called "A Piece of Ireland" with some friends of mine and, clearly led by the Lord, I ordered the Guinness Beef Stew. It was the most delicious stew I have ever eaten. After that great meal, I went down to The Gathering, a youth conference being held by a local church called "Vineyard Christian Fellowship" (some of you may vaguely remember this as the place where I participated in an outreach event called Liquid Love).
So, I was laying down and just soaking in the Lord's presence. The worship team started playing Jeremy Riddle's "Sweetly Broken" which almost always stirs my heart up, and then this revelation hit me like a sack of golden potatoes:
"God is like a good beef stew."
I proceeded to seize my notebook and furiously expand on this lovely nugget of understanding and felt lead to share it (because revelation is also like a good beef stew, in that it should be shared!). For those of you who either do not know what beef stew is, or find it so disgusting that you can't get anything out of this note, my apologies and prayers go with you (apologies that this note isn't for you, and prayers that you will see the light and eat/enjoy beef stew). But hopefully everyone else will get it.
So. God is like a good beef stew. The beef is kind of like the power and authority of God that we have as adopted sons and daughters; it has more flavor than the other things in the stew like the potatoes and carrots by themselves, and is on the whole a much more attractive morsel on its own. The beef is also like the power in that the only way that we could have it is by something being sacrificed; Christ's blood had to be shed in order for the authority over the enemy and creation to be given over us so that we may deliver the oppressed, heal the sick, and do many other spiritually miraculous things besides. It is also like the beef in that beef, in older times, was a rarity that required labor to have in your food. If you wanted beef, you had better be willing to work a few extra hours that week to get something other than pork or chicken in there. The same is with the power. You don't get it without practice and working at your gift. And, finally, the beef helps you build muscle, it makes you strong (yes this is circular..."ingesting power makes you powerful!"... but this should be a no-brainer). You'll never build muscle on celery. And really, you just can't have beef stew without beef. I mean, man alive, it's in the name of the dish!
The character of God is like the potatoes and carrots. It's like the potatoes because, like potatoes, God is simply...good. He just is. Potatoes are the same way. They're just good. For lots of reasons, mostly having to do with taste and how they compliment other things. At the same time, his character is also like the carrots, because they help us to see better (I credit this particular bit to my friend Nate Krause, who mentioned this when I told this to him today). If that last sentence didn't strike you, read it again because it's deep. And next, we return to the circular thing, because the carrots and any other veggies in there are actually good for you and nourishing to your body, providing nutrients it needs that the beef can't provide. And, really, you just can't have beef stew without carrots and 'taters, because honestly who has ever heard of such a thing? You couldn't call it stew without carrots and 'taters. They go together with the beef like...well, like beef carrots and potatoes in a stew (besides, using "like peanut butter and jelly" as a simile is just lame). The other reason being if all you ever have is straight beef in your stew, you'll get fat and unhealthy. You need some (relatively) healthy stuff in there taking up space.
But here's the thing that makes all of this special: His love is like the gravy that saturates everything, and what makes stew special and different from everything else. Without the gravy, there is no stew and there is no seasoning. The gravy is the most key and special part of the stew. A stew lives or dies on its gravy. Without the gravy, the potatoes are just potatoes, the carrots are just carrots, and the beef is just plain hunks of meat. And sure, those things nourish, but here's the rub: God doesn't want us to just live and sustain ourselves to the end of our race here. Does he want us to endure? Yes. Without a doubt. But he also wants us to live to the fullest and most awesome experience we are willing to have the faith for. When you order a stew, you don't get it to gulp it down quick and wash it down with soda before the taste of it can sink into your tongue like some of the dining hall food around here. You get it because it's delicious in all it's gravy saturated goodness. And speaking of saturation, there's another reason why his love is like the gravy; in order for the other stuff to really be a part of the stew, they have to soak in that gravy, until it's permeated everything in that stew, so that the savory flavor is in everything and not a single bite is without that delicious flavor.
So...
If you're being served a God who's like a stew without beef, send it back and get some beef in there.
If you're being served a God who's like a stew with no 'taters and veggies, send it back and get some 'taters and veggies in there.
If you're being served a God who's like a stew with no gravy...smack your server upside the head and send it back. I mean...seriously. They should know better. And I might even say to never go back to that restaurant again... because if they don't know that gravy is supposed to be in stew, then that's one messed up place. Maybe you can learn how to make stew yourself and come back one day to teach them (if they're willing to learn)...but until then, avoid that establishment like the plague!
So thanks for readin'...man am I hungry now. All of this talk of 'taters and stews...
Author's Note: The comment about backhanding your server is meant to be figurative. It is not nice to slap your waitresses, not to mention illegal and Not Very Nice and/or Biblical.
