Pot Luck

A member of a certain pastor’s church, a very elderly lady, was in the hospital. Knowing the sun was about to set, knowing she was about to go the last mile of the way, she sent for her pastor, via her sister, so that she could make her final arrangements. In the presence of her sister and pastor, she told them what hymns she wanted sung at her funeral, what scripture she wanted read, and all the other details which she had not previously discussed with the funeral director. She said,”now pastor, this is going to seem strange to you and many people, but as I lay in my casket I want you to put a fork in my hand.” She was not obese, not known to be a big eater. She explained, “everyone will ask why and I want you to be able to tell them. I have been a member of your church for over 60 years. Supper after supper, one pot luck meal after another, as the plates are taken up off the table, you or some deacon has always said, ‘save your fork, the best is yet to come.’ I always knew there would be a wonderful dessert. I want everyone to know I am waiting for my dessert, that the best is yet to come.”

I know what she was talking about, as many church suppers as I have attended in my life, as many luncheons where I have spoken. Once, at a Christian college, the ladies brought pie to all the people at the head table, except for me. They brought me a sliced apple. The lady next to me said, “I am so sorry you are diabetic and cannot enjoy this pie.” I said,”when did you people get the idea that I am diabetic? I want my pie too!”...which I thoroughly enjoyed.

One of the greatest social acts of human endeavor: eating together, whether in a small or large group. The problem is that most of us eat too much, God was not joking when He spoke of fasting. This weekend before Easter, is a time of fasting for many people. For Baptists, fasting is a matter of eating one chicken leg. For Methodists, fasting is a matter of bringing only one casserole to the supper.

Most spoiled, overweight, indulged Americans feel that we are in the driver’s seat, in control. I have encouraged people, in writing and in speaking, to prepare for a most uncertain future by stocking up food in order to survive. We are not buying for a picnic, who cares if your children do not like certain foods, they will like anything if they get hungry and there will be many hungry people in a national disaster. The test of our Christianity will come when hungry people, those who did not prepare for the worst, are at your door begging you for your food.

For most of our lives, we have been able to live, anticipating most things, anticipating the seasons of the year, shelves and stores full of groceries. We learn, here in hurricane land that it takes just a few hours for all groceries to sell out of grocery stores. A few hours after we learn that a hurricane will hit land you cannot find bread, milk and many survival foods on grocery store shelves.

You must consider the fact that in case of nuclear disaster, an earthquake/tsunami, such as the recent one in Japan, the stores will be empty, there will be no delivery trucks on the highways. Power lines will be down, there will be no electricity for your house or for the gas stations (and this could last for months). There will be no power at the water plant, no water coming from the spigot, you can dial 911 until your fingers get tired, but as has been found in every place of disaster, you are on your own!

This year, the wheat crops were failures in Russia, Australia, and in many parts of Europe and Asia. Just as the energy prices (gasoline, etc.) are going up, so will the prices of food (triple in one year). I hear Americans speak of the quality of life as compared to those who are disabled, those who disenfranchised from the wealth of the world, as we find in third world nations. We are not alarmed about starvation from Sudan (Darfur), survivalists in Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Libya.

A nation known for the killing of its unborn, can expect little mercy from a sovereign God for those who want to survive through no effort of their own. God will not judge us according to what He has not given us, but by what He has given us. We get the idea that God sits in judgment, not knowing judgment; believe me, he knows justice and will judge us with equity (Psalm 98:9).

Actions have consequences, every financial decision is a spiritual decision. Your mission field is the land you are standing on...preparing those around you for the inevitable. Many think that Jews are only supposed to worship on the Sabbath, Saturday. I believe that if you study your Bible you will find that the Jews worshiped every day, they just rested on the Sabbath. Even in the desert, the Jews kept the feast, paid the tithe.

In 1860, Americans survived on 300 calories; in 1960, it took 600 calories. Most foods today have so little nutrition. Positively the worst things we can eat are the white foods: flour, sugar, rice, simple carbohydrates. We stay hungry because our bodies are starving, starving for nourishment. The more knowledge we have, the less we know about our own welfare. There are 30 more sexually transmitted diseases now than in 1960. One fourth of all college students have a sexually transmitted disease.

Some pediatricians do not give a deformed child any nourishment, much like the ancient Romans who put deformed, unwanted babies on the streets to be killed by horses’ hooves. Earliest Christians retrieved the babies that had been put under bridges and on the streets to die and raised them.

The sovereign God of the universe probably smiles on a pot luck church supper, but not luck as it involves other life activities such as luck that you do not get a disease from sexual activity, luck that you do not use your finances unwisely, luck that you can survive a disaster without preparation, or the luck that you have not been aborted as have so many of your fellow human beings. Dr. Francis Shaffer was the first preacher of the Gospel telling us of the holocaust of abortion, hypocritical Baptists and other denominations paid no attention to abortion, they thought it was a Catholic concern, that the Catholics were the only ones interested in abortion. You do not have peace with God until your have the peace of God.