September 22 - “The Cake”

Today as I munched on a brownie, I thought about all the food that had been brought to us by different folks in Josh’s church.  We have had Mexican food.  And chicken.  And breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  There’s been Dr. Pepper and lemonade and Christi’s iced tea.  We even got a Wal Mart gift card so we could get what we wanted to eat.  That gift card, by the way, was one of the most disconcerting presents I have ever received.  Don’t get me wrong.  I really appreciated it, but with the delivery of the card came what to me seemed a highly unusual sentiment.  The givers are long-time friends.  In fact we respect them greatly as spiritual mentors.  I certainly learned a lot from the husband, and Chris still speaks of the wife with a touch of awe.  This couple, who gave us so much over the years in terms of showing what it means to be Christlike, was at it again.  But this time they included their thanks … to us.  The card even said “Thank You” on it.  Why are they thanking us?  It should rightly be the other way around.  I’m still flabbergasted by this expression, but I know I will always “thank God for because of his grace given in Christ Jesus.”  (1 Corinthians 1:4).

Now, back to the brownie.  One of the desserts we received was a German chocolate cake.  That’s a memorable end to a feast in any country.  It’s one of my mom’s favorites, and I have hard time turning down anything with the word “chocolate” in it.  But there was something quite unusual about this particular German chocolate cake.

Now before I tell you what it was, you need to understand something about my son Josh.  He is – and has always been – the perfect definition of a picky eater.  He has it all – different foods can’t be touching on the plate.  Never liked macaroni and cheese.  Will only eat French fries if he can dip them in (no, not ketchup) honey.

Now, about that cake.  It seems that Josh does like German chocolate cake.  Sort of.  He likes the cake part, but not the icing.  And so we come full circle to where we began.  The German chocolate cake looked scrumptious (and tested great), but the icing only covered part of the top.  The lady who made it knew how picky Josh is, so she left a long strip of cake bare – icing-less – so Josh could eat some, too.

Boy, did that ever hit home spiritually.  I don’t know what it did for Josh (Well, I do know he took advantage of the “situation” before him, and enjoyed his cake).  But this reminded me that God knows us pretty well, too.  And he not only knows our “picky-ness,” but all of our quirks and oddities – and thoughts – and disobedience.  He knows it all, and loves us still.  Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Father, That German-chocolate-sort-of cake was a wake-up call for me.  You know me.  You know what I need and what “icing” I don’t like.  Help me to trust you in the confusion that is my life right now, and to celebrate you when you custom-make the topping of my life’s dessert.