Don't Forget the Meat
Don’t Forget the Meat
A friend of mine once said that the best sandwich is one that somebody else makes. I think he’s right, because we now have a plethora of sandwich shops. Tops among these is the submarine sandwich. Who doesn’t love the freshly-baked bread, freshly-sliced meats and vegetables, all made by somebody else? Let’s face it, there’s nothing on a submarine sandwich that you couldn’t make yourself, but it’s so much nicer when you don’t have to.
My wife likes Thundercloud Subs. I don’t know what it is about them that she fancies. Perhaps it’s the requirement that all employees have at least two tattoos that makes them such great sandwich makers, but no matter, I don’t mind, so we will enjoy them on occasion. One night she picked up Thundercloud for us after a long day at work and brought it home. When she asks me what I want, I always say the same thing: the American Classic. It’s nothing special, but I’m a creature of habit. However, on this night, my American Classic came to me a little bit different.
It had no meat.
Instead of my American Classic I was served a . . . Veggie Classic?
When she came in the door, I was watching TV in the dark, so she joined me on the couch, and we proceeded to eat in the dark. As a result, at first I did not notice that my sandwich was lacking . . . something. In fact, the first bite of that fresh bread was delightful to my hungry taste buds. But after a moment, I started to notice that something wasn’t quite right. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
The bread was fine. The vegetables were fine. The “Thunder Sauce” was fine.
So, I turned on the light to get a better look at my sandwich, and, lo and behold, there was no meat! Traci was aghast. I was amused.
Now, before you go passing judgment upon my wife for not catching this error when it happened, it must be understood that the counters at Thundercloud are rather tall (at least for us short folk) so it’s easy to not notice exactly what is happening back there. We typically assume that the sandwich maker is capable of following the not-overly-complex instructions we give him.
I find the interesting part of this story is how I didn’t notice at first that there was a problem. Since I wasn’t paying close attention, at first blush my sandwich looked just fine. It wasn’t until I bit into it that I noticed that it was just . . . not right.
Have you ever had that feeling? That something looks fine, but it’s just not right?
Marketing people rely on that. They try to sell you something that looks great, sounds great, and promises to solve all of your problems. Then you take it home. You unwrap the shiny product, admire its beautiful outside, maybe even give that fresh new packaging a deep, satisfying sniff, then proceed to delve into what you expect to be the joy of using this fabulous product.
And then it hits you: there’s no meat. It’s all just shiny fluff.
We can all fall prey to this deception.
King Saul looked like a king. Tall. Dark. Handsome. The people loved him! He was exactly what they wanted. But we soon learn that Saul’s beauty was only skin deep. He had no meat. Even Samuel was deceived by appearances when he went to anoint Saul’s successor. His first thought was that Eliab, Jesse’s oldest son, was the obvious choice: “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”
Surely not.
Since Samuel had already been through this with Saul, we might expect him to know better, but it’s hard to see as God sees. God proceeds to correct him: “But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.’ ” (1Sa 16:7)
The man God chose for his next king was the youngest of the family that was left to tend the sheep. Now, it does say that David was also handsome, but he had something the others did not: he was a man after God’s own heart. He had meat.
We all try to look nice and put our best foot forward. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if there is nothing underneath that façade, people will soon notice.
Don’t forget the meat!
- Phil Parker
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The Book of Proverbs and Ants
In Proverbs 6:6-8 king Solomon admonished, “Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest.”
In 1747, William Gould published a scientific paper on the ant in which he contradicted Solomon, asserting that there was no evidence that “ants have magazines or granaries of corn, and lay up provisions for the winter.”
However, in the middle of the 19th century, scientists discovered that ants really do harvest. In a book entitled The Insect Societies, Dr. Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University, a renowned entomologist (and an avowed non-religionist) grudgingly acknowledged the accuracy of Solomon’s statement. He wrote, “Thus for once the tales of the ancients proved right and modern European science proved wrong.”
It appears that the sluggard is not the only one who can learn from the ant. The Bible is right, and those who criticize it are destined for embarrassment, and ultimately, something worse!
- Christian Courier
God does not promise to always change our circumstances,
but He can change us so that we can deal with them.
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