Posts Tagged ‘Christianity’

28 Jun

I Own A Paula Deen Frying Pan

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , .

Just one.
That’s all I need.
It’s pan-enough to handle all of my stove-top cooking needs.

My husband bought it, actually.
I’ve never fancied myself a Paula Deen fan.
Not really any kind of fan, for that matter.

I am Not A Fan.
             [Sorry, couldn’t resist.]
[But it’s true, I am not.]

This Paula Deen pan I have,
it’s blue and sort of speckled.
Not hard to miss in the sea of orange and silver pans in my cabinet.
It’s one of a kind.

Love my Paula D Pan!

Love my Paula D Pan!

I have always enjoyed cooking in that pan.
It’s sturdy.
It’s reliable.
Things cook up well in it.
The clear, glass lid fits nicely, too.
It’s easy to see what’s going on inside it.
It’s also unmistakable.
I could pick that pan out based on the sheer weight and solidness it has.
It does not waiver when it comes to even heat distribution either.

Sure, it’s over cooked some meals.
It’s even burnt one or two.
Okay, 12 or 18.
But what pan doesn’t make mistakes?

In light of recent current events and headlines,
I’m finding myself more and more fond of my Paula Deen pan.

Whenever I cook in it, or wash it, or even think about cooking in it and washing it, I am now constantly reminded of how much My Savior loves me.

How cool is that?

I mean, how wasteful and frivolous would it be if I every time I scorched a little food, or over salted it, I threw the pan away that the food was cooked in?

Thank you, Jesus, you haven’t and won’t discard me based on my mistakes and slip ups.  Thank you, Jesus, for your daily forgiveness of my sins!  I know, because of You, that I am to forgive as You forgive.  I am to love as You love.  I am to understand second chances (and third and fourth…), because You have given me so many.  Because of You, Jesus, I also know that I am not to judge others, lest I be judged by You in the same way.  I’m not to judge people who cook in Paula Deen pans, nor those who choose not to cook in Paula Deen pans.  Thank you, Jesus.

Yep, the Paula Deen pan has a permanent residence in my kitchen.
I’m going to keep it.

14 Aug

Shark Teeth

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .




Beachcombing one Saturday morning on the shore of Topsail Island, I realized something pretty cool.  As I walked along the abundant crush of seashells and things, my son walked a few feet behind me, on the same path.  Every so often, he would say, “Hey mom, you missed this one!”, “I can’t believe you missed this one!”, or “Are you wearing your glasses, because you missed another good one?”.  NO, I  was not wearing my glasses, and I refuse to think that my 40+ years had anything to do with my overlooking the big ones. Then, clear as my vision is from behind those prescription glasses, I heard my Savior say:

“As you and your son are looking at the same sandy shell bed, searching for the same thing, you each find exactly what you were intended to find at exactly the right moment.”

Jump back!  What an awesome teacher our Savior is.  This is exactly how it is with His word!   We can read the same scripture or hear the same message and get completely different rewards from them.  Or, something that may speak to my heart with great significance or result in a clear understanding for me, may speak to your heart differently.  We see in the word what we were intended to see at exactly the moment we were intended to understand it.  Isn’t that cool!?  Have you ever been exposed to a particular scripture repeatedly before, but it never jumped out to you and stuck?  And then, one day, hear the same scripture and all of a sudden, you ‘see’ it for the first time?

Praise God for being with me on the beach that morning and revealing to me the significance of our different “eye sight”.

12 Aug

Stop, Drop and Pray

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

You’ve heard that saying before…”Stop, Drop and Roll”.  You may have learned it when you were very young, like I did in elementary school when the local firemen visited our classroom to teach us the importance of remembering this life saving phrase.  I didn’t really understand the importance of those words when I was younger, but the phrase was so catchy that I held on to it and gained a better knowledge of what it meant as I grew older.  Thankfully, I’ve never had to put the phrase into action, but I think I could if I was ever in a situation where it was needed.  Those firemen taught a fundamental lesson and did so very well.

God has been moving in my life, and things that I’ve been taught or heard over the years are coming to life left and right.  Praise God!  It’s like a light switch being turned on!  That’s how I woke this morning.  In the pitch dark of my bedroom, before I even opened my eyes, I was reflecting on and thanking God for all of the opportunities He’s given me recently, and that’s when it came to me – Stop, Drop and Pray.

Just yesterday, while standing in the parking lot of WalMart, I met a man.  I’m going to call him Mr. Calvary Baptist Church, because I can remember that instead of his name (I’m terrible with names, and I’m not in denial, but chances are if I’ve met you, you hold a special moniker, too).  I really thought, upon hearing this man’s voice across the way, that I knew him.  I really thought, upon seeing his profile, that I knew him.  Excited to share with him some good news, I grabbed a flyer to an upcoming event and called to him.  As he  came closer, I realized that I didn’t know him at all!  Wow!  That was a hearing AND sight blooper, but that’s another blog for another time.  Moving on.   This normally would have embarrassed me, but now, so many things that would have done that before just remind me it’s an opportunity.  Within moments of our introduction, I had made that statement we all hear so many times, “Will you pray for _________”.  You fill in the blank.  I’ve asked people to pray for my mother, our President, a stressful situation I was facing, a friend’s sick husband, for clarity…….and so on.  And without batting an eye, this man who I had only known for seconds, put his arm around my shoulder, and right there in the parking lot of WalMart, in the middle of the day, front and center to the entrance doors, he began to pray.

Stop, Drop and Pray.  STOP DROP AND PRAY!  I get it, Lord.  I hear you!  Why has it taken me so long to understand this?  I’ve been doing this recently, and didn’t even know I was doing what has been taught to me all these years – what I’ve seen around me.  Other people have prayed on the spot when I’ve asked for prayer, but yesterday’s opportunity connected the dots for me.  Instead of agreeing to pray for someone when they ask me to, at a later time, I am going to pray right away, with them, if I can.  There are so many needs, and so many things that need to be prayed over.  I’ve tried to put them aside oftentimes until they accumulate and I, within a structured timeframe, pause to remember the list and pray at a “more convenient time”, or a “more private time”.  There’s nothing wrong with that – God wants our prayer and our conversation always, in all ways.  But today, I wake with a desire to address prayer immediately…to slow down and bring things to God in real time…to stop putting prayer time in a box and keeping it closed….

Thank you, Mr. Calvary Baptist Church.  I wish I could tell you how much the opportunity to meet you yesterday has meant to me!  “Stop, Drop and Roll” may be a life-saving phrase, but “Stop, Drop and Pray” is a saved-life phrase.  Now I have to go put it into action!

13 Jul

It’s Personal!

Posted by Sherry in Not Food. Tagged: , , , , , .

Who is Jesus Christ to you?

I’ve heard this question asked before.  I’ve listened to a multitude of responses.  Yes, He’s the Holy One, the Mighty Father… Counselor, Confidante and Corrector always.   He’s the Alpha, the Omega – the A to the Z.  The Omnipresent.  He’s called by so many dear, wonderful, descriptive names.

So who is Jesus Christ to me?  It’s personal.  I mean, really and truly, deep down and inside out, completely personal.  Jesus Christ is my best friend.  He calls me by name, and I call Him by His.  I don’t have to talk with Him through others.  He is in the front row, seat one.  I have access to Him all the time and desire Him to have access to me all the time.  I’m working on that!  As I grow in my relationship with Him, I desire to be more like Him.  I find  “including Him” in my daily walk to be more a recognition of Him “including me” in His.  He doesn’t just think of me sometimes, He thinks of me always, and always has.  Before, Now and in the Future, Christ thinks of me!  This is no one-sided relationship.  And it’s not an exclusive-to-me relationship.  Jesus Christ loves you and you and you and you…….and He longs to have a personal relationship with you, too.  He is mighty, indeed, but not in an intangible way.  Jesus Christ is very real and very present.  He is very personal!

Recently I met a couple of people who have not been called by their first names in a very long time.  They refer to themselves by title or last name or both, but not by first name.  In their friendships, they use their titles or last names.  Never their first names.  Even the mother of one doesn’t refer to her child by first name!  This made me sad.  I couldn’t help but think of my own family – my mom – and wondered how weird it would be for her to call me by some title, or by my last name.    My relationship with my mother – with my family – with my friends – it’s personal.  Why would I ask to be called by anything other than my name?  Then I started thinking about our Heavenly Father.  He calls me by name, too, and it is very personal.  We are family, and I can’t imagine it being any other way!

I’m so thankful for Jesus Christ, and that he calls me His. There’s a comfort that comes with being referred to by name.  His. I’m His!  And that is very personal!