Tag: baked beans

Posted in Family, food, forgiveness, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, love, loving others, priorities, Scripture, spiritual battles, thankful

What Really Matters

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.” Philippians 1:18

What could be better? The other night, a friend invited a group of friends over for a great time of food and fellowship. Let me just say it was a great get-together and we all enjoyed every minute. We first enjoyed a great meal of fried fish and all the fixings including three fabulous desserts. Then we sat around the table and at the suggestion of someone we began to tell our stories. Every story caused us to pause and reflect and we all learned something new about one another. There were times when we laughed and yes, a few times when tears were shed.

Now back to dinner. Did I mention fried fish? How about coleslaw, potato salad, hushpuppies and all the other trimmings. Oh, did I mention baked beans? Let me tell you that the baked beans that night were incredible. They were so much so that I just had to find out who made them. It turned out that one of the ladies had brought them. They were rich and savory, sweet and filled with chunks of what turned out to be BBQ brisket.  Can someone say, “hallelujah?”

Well, they were so good that I had a second portion. As I scooped the second helping on my plate I told my wife, “Judy, you have to get this recipe.” And that is when it happened.

My friend to my right said, “Well, you are going to make me tell the rest of the truth.” She paused for a moment and of course I was harassing her to share the rest of the story. “Well,” she said, “I did bring the beans, but I didn’t make the beans. I got them from Sam’s.” We all had a good laugh, and I told her that that was even better than a recipe. Even with a recipe, sometimes things don’t come out quite the same. Since they were from Sam’s—well, hey—the outcome was in the bag. I wasn’t at all disappointed, in fact, I was excited.

By the way it really wasn’t important if the beans came from her kitchen or from Sam’s. What mattered was we got to enjoy good, baked beans. More important than who made them was the fact that we got to enjoy them. And guess what? I think that is true many times in life. We often put too much weight on who does what rather than the what itself. That is never truer than in the Church. Too often we lose track of what is important. Is it who brought the message or the way the message spoke to us? Does it really matter who sang the special or if the special spoke to our hearts? You see all that really matters is that we make sure everything points to the One who is worthy and that is Jesus.

So then, if you want to enjoy some great baked beans you can find a good recipe and try your luck or you can run down to your local Sam’s Club. If you try those from Sam’s, I guarantee they will make your tongue happy. And always remember that it isn’t about who does what but rather that He gets the glory. Lay the who or the what aside and let’s just celebrate the fact that, “He’s got this.” Bro. Dewayne

Posted in Family, food, friends, Grace, gratitude, life, Scripture, thankful, Trials, wisdom

Cooking Class: Beans & Burns

Posted on by Dewayne Taylor

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.” Galatians 6:7

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.  Oh wait–that opening line has already been taken. Well, it was just over twelve years ago now, but I well remember the night. Judy was out of town, and I was at the church.  We were sponsoring a dinner for the football team.  I wanted to help but, well, it didn’t go to well.  It is a known fact that I can’t be trusted with a power tool of any sorts.  It just doesn’t go well.  Apparently, you can add all things kitchen to that list.

I love being a fixer.  When one of my grandkid’s toys would break, they would bring it to Papa—their fixer.  I love being the hero. And I love to help. It’s in my DNA. WelI, that night I volunteered to help the head cooker person get a large pan of baked beans out of the convection oven at church.  It was in one of those pans made of formed aluminum.  When I volunteered, I could see the concern in the head cooker person’s eyes. For an expert this was no deal…for a preacher who wasn’t allowed to use power tools—it was Death Valley.

“Dewayne”, she said, watch the bottom of the pan—it can collapse if you aren’t careful.”  She went on, “You might want to put a sheet pan under it for support.” Well, Mister “I -Know-It-All” said, “No deal, I can handle it.” So, I reached up, I lifted it and in a moment of time…a moment that will live in infinity…the pan collapsed, and my lower left arm was baptized in a tsunami of scalding, hot baked beans.  The pain was instantaneous, and it was intense. Can someone say “ouch?”

Well, I immediately used my other hand to wipe some of the beans off (not too smart since I burned that hand too) and ran to the sink and started running water over it.  The bottom line is I ended up with second degree burns, a working knowledge of how not to take beans out of the oven and several other good life lessons added to my repertoire of knowledge. You might say I have “bean” educated.”

Perhaps the first lesson is this.  No matter how well you do something the wrong way, it probably isn’t going to work out for your benefit.  When King David and his crew were moving the ark in the Old Testament, they decided to use a cart instead of doing it God’s way.  The result was the oxen stumbled and a man reached out to steady the ark and was instantly struck dead by God.  Now don’t blame God—the rule was you don’t touch the ark.  Period.  But when you do something in a wrong way you open yourself up to a whole bunch of circumstances.

Second, listen to the experts.  The head cooker person I was helping was a professional cook.  She knew the danger–I didn’t.  I was a he-man, bean toting pastor–that is until “I spilt the beans” (pun intended!) I thought I could handle it—and I could not. I’m not sure why we wrestle this around but isn’t it funny how God, the ultimate expert, offers us advice–and we tend to ignore it.  And the pain that it causes can rival or exceed second degree burns. Listen to God.  He knows best.

Finally, get ready for the lasting effects of the consequences.  I burned my arm on a Tuesday and it took days, lots of days, to even begin to feel normal. Oh, and did I mention that I didn’t go to the doctor because I was going to tough it out? You see, pride is a bad deal.  I guess I was embarrassed enough, and I just didn’t want to explain to the doctor about how unwise I was.  So, I just dealt with it.  Fortunately, I did bump into him later and he saw the bandage, checked it out, asked the inevitable questions, and gave me some awesome medicine for burns. It did heal and left only minimal scarring to gently remind me to listen before I act. It taught me that whatever you sow…you reap. It taught me that—every bad choice we make carries some sort of consequences.  Choose wisely, my son, choose wisely.

So, twelve years later, there is still a twinge of regret over that fateful Tuesday night.   I still shake my head and wonder how in the world I could do something so, so, stupid. Every once in a while, when we are having a dinner at church, I will say, “Hey, head cooker person, do you remember…” and before I can finish the sentence, we both nod knowingly.  I was afraid I was going to swear off bake beans forever but that that didn’t happen, but I will never look at a pan of beans the same way.  And I will forever have a greater respect for an oven set to 350 degrees.

As you journey along and you are faced with decisions and crossroads and someone suggests maybe going this way or that or doing it this way or that—take a moment, pause, and listen to their advice—especially if it involves baked beans.  And if that voice is a gentle whisper from the Whisperer, definitely stop and listen.  He will probably be helping you avoid some needless pain or letting you know you can rest in Him.  He will be whispering, “I’ve got this.” Bro. Dewayne