With a few exceptions, very few, I try to avoid chain restaurants. I like
to eat fresh prepared food from family recipes. Taste the different spices that
make one carne asada different from another, but look forward to both. No
premade hamburger patty, but one made by hand, not quite round, but thick and
juicy. Local delicacies that make you detour to an area just to eat. When
traveling through New England breakfast means a muffin, grilled. A few seconds
on the flat top giving it a whole new flavor. Recently in Tulare I had my wrap
grilled, and what a difference a few seconds made. Personal touches that
separate the ordinary from the exceptional, and make even the mundane
flavorful. No secret ingredients, just the right proportions....made by loving
hands where a dash of this and a pinch of that make all the difference. No
written recipe to work from except from the heart. Years ago when traveling it
was looking for signs that offered home cooking, which I never understood, don’t
you go out to eat because you don’t want to eat at home? Didn’t you want a Big
Mac to taste better than your mom’s burgers on the stove? No matter how much I
tried, I could never make a sub like Duke’s, and my salads never have the same
something they do when eating out. Same ingredients, but something is
different...maybe it is the atmosphere, being waited on, or drinking a Coke at
the table, but home cookin’ today is much different than even a few years ago.
For me home cookin’ means roast beef, with mashed potatoes, from real
potatoes, corn on the cob, and gravy on everything, except the corn. Fresh
biscuits, and apple pie for dessert. Ice cream on top, all made fresh except
for the ice cream, unless it was at Grandma’s, where we made it with the old
hand crank. A meal that took hours to prepare and was gone in minutes, with
conversation uninterrupted by cell phones. A meal, that was home cookin’.
Today home cookin’ has a totally different meaning, as for breakfast it is a
microwave breakfast sandwich, or Pop Tarts. Lunch is fast food, or a salad made
yesterday, kept fresh by the wonder of refrigeration. Dinner for many is
microwaved lasagna, reheated left overs from last night, renuked to the point of
hardness, and gravy comes in a can from the store. Add water to make potatoes
from a bag, salad from a bag, at least it was in the produce section once, and a
Klondike bar. At least the ice cream is the same. Or better. So when home
cookin’ is seen by today’s generation, it means something completely different.
And I can’t blame them for not wanting home cooking, they want something
different than a microwaved surprise...and so restaurants with home cookin’ are
fading away with the generation that once was invited in by them. Today 7-11
sells breakfast sandwiches, AM-PM sells lunch, and any drive in is a drive
through any more. Giving a new meaning to the old signs “eat here, get gas.”
And fading from our society are waitresses and waiters, once professionals, now
replaced by starving students. Who stand behind a counter and take your order
by number, “give me a number 3 to go,” even the old stand by “do you want fries
with that?” is passe any longer.
Seconds are a thing of the past too, or thirds as there was always some
potatoes left, an extra piece of corn, or an extra roll. To sop up the left
over gravy. Home cookin’, cookin’ from the heart. Another thing that my
generation will not pass on to future ones. I can see the displays in museums,
“people really ate like that?” Clean your plate having a different meaning than
pickup your wrappers and throw them away. Last night’s feast is today’s lunch
special, leftovers, but still tasty when reheated, not renuked. Remember when
Mom made enough so you could have the rest for lunch? Try that with you fast
food burger, or salad sweepings. And yet one store tells us “have it your
way.” Another tells us “you need a break today.” As long as we like the way
they prepare it. So I will hang onto the last vestiges of home cookin’ as long
as I can...until I can only eat the memories.
“Give me that old time religion, it was good enough for me...” goes the
chorus of an old song. A personal relationship with a loving caring God. Who
was a real person, and still is. Yet today many are satisfied with a fast food
god, one they can text to, spend time while streaming, and avoid all contact
with others. With the advent of satellite services, some churches today are
beamed to other locations, with a few staff members there to assist. Make the
hour go by as fast as possible so we can get onto the next hurry up and wait
event. Some think that is church, and sadly it can be. But even worse is when
they confuse Jesus for the church, and think that knowing God is a fast food
experience. Eating was a personal and almost spiritual event for the Jews. It
was personal when you ate, a time to share, to fellowship, and to get to know
others. Jesus made it even more personal at the last supper, and maybe the best
example of home cookin’ was feeding the 5000. With leftovers for later, for
just as spending time with God fills you, Jesus knows you will get hungry again,
and need food. And more time with him. Home cookin’. Feeding the body, but
also the soul. Something one quick church buffet on Sunday morning cannot do.
We get hungry everyday, and we need to be fed, every day. Real meals, not
fillers, not a quickie snack. We need real food, soul food if you will, that
feeds the soul and our spirit. How many times do you leave church full? Or
wanting more? The 5000 left full, with more for later, a good example of
feeding by the holy spirit. Scripture tells us that we re filled to
overflowing, pressed down and shaken, like you do for your Slurpee, to get all
you can. But unlike after downing the Slurpee, and you are still thirsty, the
spirit satisfies. And at the same time has you desiring more. Do you desire
more of Jesus? Is a daily feeding even enough anymore? Do you snack on the
spirit, looking forward to that special meal time with him? Or do you settle
for a fast food relationship with God, when he offers home cookin’? Cookin’
from the heart and soul. His recipe written on our hearts. He knows just what
it takes to fill us up, but also to make us hunger again. And he can feed one
just as much as he did the 5000, personally. Your food cooked just the way you
like it, and not a microwave in sight. And you find you can have it your way,
because you find you want it his way.
Jesus is home cookin’, sadly religion is fast food. Both fill you up, one
leaves you hungry. Never satisfied, only in Jesus will you be. Religion served
family style, we are part of the family of God, and as he passes the blessings,
we pass the plates. Each one with a promise of love, to not just meet the need,
but to be part of a relationship we look forward to. How many used to make fun
of Sunday pot roast, but would travel 100 miles to eat that meal again? If
Jesus is missing from your church experience, if it is not personal, seek him
now, wherever you are. You plus him equals church. Enjoy the fellowship, let
him feed you, and watch as you grow in him. Home cookin’ never tasted so good
as cookin’ from the heart. It takes longer like any good relationship does, and
always ends with dessert. Even after a big meal, we always find room for
dessert. Do you always find time for Jesus?
Love is a recipe that must have the ingredient of Jesus in it. God is
love, more than an experience, he is with us always. Full but yet hungry after
religion? You need Jesus. Why leave the table still hungry, when you can leave
full, and with dessert to come. Heaven awaits us, and we will all get our just
desserts. Only Jesus offers and delivers heaven. All else is hell, and you
cannot have it your way. Jesus allows you to have it your way today, make your
ways his, and enjoy home cookin’. And not a microwave in sight.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthw25biker.blogspot.com