I'm especially excited to see my wife this afternoon. Why? She's picking up Chinese food for supper on her way home :)
Why is it that Chinese take out is so good? I can't explain it, but it is. The taste, the aroma, the paper boxes. Everything about it is good. I take that back...everything about it is not good. Not the fortune cookies. They are not good. But everything else is good and my stomach is growling and my mouth watering just thinking about it.
Why is it that there are just some insignificant things in life (like Chinese take out) that are not actually insignificant at all, but are truly special? Like this, when I was a kid, every once in a while on a Friday night dad would take us to rent a VCR (no, we didn't own one) for the weekend along with a few VHS tapes. My sister and I would each pick a video and then mom and dad would pick one out for the family. We'd maybe buy a pizza or two and head home for a glorious weekend. I remember one time we got hooked on a made for tv series we rented called "Return to Treasure Island". It was Jim Hawkins all grown up and an aged John Silver. There was a particularly crazy Ben Gunn and a new character by the name of Keelhaul (if you don't know what keelhaul means look it up). It was awesome! There were 10 episodes and I couldn't wait until we were able to rent the next one. It was good, clean adventure. A little boy's dream and some great fun.
Other special things were watching Saturday morning wrestling (its pronounced wrasslin') with my dad or when I would be flipping through the precious few tv channels we had hoping for something decent to watch only to find that one of the Rocky movies had just started. Oh heck yeah...this was almost heaven! These were special and memorable moments for me.
As unusual as it may sound, it is grace that God would give us such things. Things that, for some inexplicable reason, delight us beyond what it seems that they ought. What is it for you? Drives in the country with a milkshake and the radio? The smell and look of fresh cut grass? The crack of a baseball bat? Reacquainting with a long lost friend from childhood or maybe your favorite cousin? Maybe its just that feeling you get on Friday afternoon when work is wrapping up and the freedom of a lazy weekend lies ahead? Whatever it is, no matter how seemingly insignificant it is, I urge you to praise God for it.
James 1:16-17 tells us, "Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights". Yes EVERY good gift has come to you by way of God almighty. When you receive something good, acknowledge that the King of all the earth has seen fit to grant you something special and praise His name because of it. And do not neglect to drill this reality into your child or grandchild. Don't let them believe that they are entitled to what they want, instead teach them that when they receive these things they are being blessed by God.
There's more that could be said, but you get the picture and I gotta go...I think Denise just pulled up with the egg drop soup and fried rice. I hope she didn't forget the egg rolls!
Thank you, God, for Oriental Kitchen
Pastor Jeremy
