SALAD

Pastor Jeff — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:12:42 +0000

What is salad? Is it everything? Did you ever notice that if you order a salad at a restaurant, that it’s green, with stuff like lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber and some dressing? A salad has mixed, raw vegetables, right? Oh, okay, if you prefer, then you can make it with beets, beans, or some other cooked vegetables. Wait, there’s also salad where you can add meat, like pepperoni, ham bits, salami, you know, maybe make one of those antipasto salads. Of course, we want to remember that there are a few other variations, as well. There’s the potato salad, macaroni salad, pasta salad and the three bean salad.
Let’s also not forget about the salads that we serve as sandwiches, like egg salad, tuna salad and chicken salad. What is salad? What isn’t salad for that matter? I looked it up in Webster’s. It says, “Salad: 1) a cold dish of raw vegetables, as lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, served with a dressing, sometimes with meat, cheese, etc. added. 2) A dish of any of various raw or cold cooked foods, usually sliced or chopped and mixed with (of all things) mayonnaise (yuck) or other dressings, as in potato salad, egg salad and tuna salad. 3) Any herb or green vegetable, as lettuce, eaten raw, as in salads. 4) A mixture or assortment.”
Some mayonnaise containers and some Miracle Whip jars actually say “Dressing” or “Salad Dressing mix.” I don’t remember anyone ever filling up their plate with fresh vegetables and then asking someone to pass the mayo, so that they could glob it onto their “salad.” I guess they mean potato, chicken or tune salad. I’m back once again to my question: “What is salad?” I guess anything can be salad. If you think about it, tuna and chicken salad are actually “meat salad.” If you baked them, they would turn, suddenly, into a casserole!
Life has many areas that leave the final interpretation up to the individual. That is simultaneously both empowering and alarming. It is the very reason why God gave us His Divine Word to guide us. Even that truth can be challenging to understand, because of the aforementioned challenges of self interpretation. The good news, however, is that we also have His Divine Spirit to help us discern the Word and rightly divide it in His truth. Listening to Him would then be a very important skill to perfect.
In my world, salad is defined in a much more narrow sense than the one which allows mayonnaise into it. I hope to hold the Word of God to the truth, without also limiting it to my own interpretation. I think I see why we have the salad bar. Blessings!

THE FROG AND THE SCORPION

Pastor Jeff — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:45:51 +0000

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.
The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn’t see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.
Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
“Hellooo Mr. Frog!” called the scorpion across the water, “Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?”
“Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you won’t try to kill me?” asked the frog hesitantly.
“Because,” the scorpion replied, “If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!”
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. “What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!”
“This is true,” agreed the scorpion, “But then I wouldn’t be able to get to the other side of the river!”
“Alright then…how do I know you won’t just wait till we get to the other side and then kill me?” said the frog.
“Ahh…,” crooned the scorpion, “Because you see, once you’ve taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!”
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog’s back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog’s soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog’s back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
“You fool!” croaked the frog, “Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?”
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drowning frog’s back.
“I could not help myself. It is my nature.”
Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.
I think that we’ve all heard this story many times, but I like to replay its message to myself periodically to be reminded not to be surprised by the people who are like the scorpion and then act like a scorpion. Furthermore, I find it helpful to remember that the frog played his role in this story as well. He was perhaps reflecting upon what a noble cause he was performing, looking forward to the self gratification of viewing himself in that light.
I also need to reflect on the fact that some of my behavior is like that of the the scorpion’s. It is, at times, self destructive, or at the very minimum, counterproductive. Through all of this, of course, the Lord looks on me, on all of us who act scorpion-like, with favor. He, of all beings, must be an expert at not being surprised by the behavior of others, especially when He knows that we carry His Spirit with us and have the power to make other choices. It’s always worthwhile to remember our limitations before critiquing someone else’s. Blessings!

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SALAD

THE FROG AND THE SCORPION