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PICKY EATERS?!

9/29/2024

It is the latest trend to take over social media. It is called “Fridgescaping”; and it consists of decorating your refrigerator in appealing and often romantic ways using decorative objects and appealing displays of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

Proponents say it has lots of benefits. In addition to emotional and psychological appeal by giving your refrigerator more aesthetic appeal, it can help you be more aware of not wasting food. It can also help you put together your meals more easily. It can even help keep your fridge clean and more organized.

But health experts are quick to offer a rebuttal. It seems that the risks of “Fridgescaping” far outweigh the benefits. For instance, it can create a risk for contamination and foodborne illness. It can put you at risk for exposure to harmful microorganisms. It can also make it more difficult for your refrigerator to do its job of keeping your food cool and safe. There is also a risk of chemical contamination when you place foods in containers that are not designed to be food-safe.

According to an article at Healthline.com…

Dr. Maria Knobel, the Medical Director of Medical Cert UK, says the main problem is the risk of contamination. “When you place decorative elements inside your fridge, especially if they are not food-safe or are difficult to clean, you could inadvertently introduce contaminants,” she explained. “For example, decorative items might harbor bacteria or mold, which can then come into contact with food items,” said Knobel.

Contamination is a problem because it increases your risk for foodborne illnesses. It also increases the risk that foods will spoil. Another potential concern is temperature regulation. “Fridgescaping might involve placing non-food items in the refrigerator, which can disrupt air circulation,” said Knobel. Without proper air circulation, your refrigerator may not be able to maintain temperatures that prevent bacterial growth and spoilage, allowing disease-causing organisms like Salmonella and E. coli to flourish. Knobel additionally pointed out the potential for chemical exposure.

“Some decorative items may be made from materials that are not intended for use in food storage environments,” she explained. “If these items degrade or release chemicals, there is a risk of these substances coming into contact with your food.” This could be especially risky for pregnant people and children, Knobel added.

Given all these considerations, I don’t think I’ll be engaging in “Fridgescaping” anytime soon. After all, the purpose of my refrigerator is to keep the foods that I consume safe, fresh, and edible. Clearly, anything that contaminates them has no place in the fridge.

As I thought about this, however, I was reminded that all of us consume more than just mere physical sustenance. By this I mean that we feed not just our stomachs, but also our minds. And just as we should take prudent steps to ensure that our physical sustenance is not contaminated, so should we do with our mental sustenance. Be careful that you do not pollute the things that your mind consumes.

More to the point, we also feed our souls! And if it is easy to contaminate what we take in physically and mentally, how much more so is it to contaminate what we take in spiritually?! The evil one knows this, of course. And he avails himself of every opportunity to taint whatever we feed our souls!

In the first chapter of the Old Testament Book of Daniel, we read about four young men - Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah - who all made a deliberate choice not to contaminate themselves by consuming worldly sustenance, no matter how attractive and desirable it was packaged and presented to them (verse 16 calls it “Choice food”). In other words, they chose to be “picky eaters”!

The result? Their unwillingness to “defile” themselves (as verse 8 puts it) was blessed by the Lord; and they prospered greatly.

And so, my friends, along with periodically cleaning out your refrigerator, take the time also to clean up what all you read and watch and search out online. Your mind will be better off if you do. And above all, be careful what you take into your spiritual kitchen as well. Become a picky eater spiritually! You’ll be glad you did. After all, it's only the health and well-being of your eternal soul that is at stake!

SOURCES:

https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/viral-trend-fridgescaping-could-dangerous-health-experts;

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/fridgescaping-health-risks-benefits.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/niv/daniel/1.htm.

Gotcha!

9/24/2024

Ruth Bell Graham was once asked in an interview if she had ever in her 63 years of marriage to Billy Graham considered divorce. She replied by saying: “I’ve never considered divorce. Murder, yes, but not divorce.” What married person cannot appreciate the humor underlying that remark? And yet, the sad truth is that, statistically, most homicides in America are committed by loved ones!

Want proof? Just watch most any rerun of “Forensic Files”! Like a great many others, my wife and I have seen just about every episode of this long-running show. As a result, we lovingly joke with one another that we are both fairly safe, given that modern investigative techniques pretty much assures that neither of us would survive forensic scrutiny should we deal nefariously with each other.

I’m just joking! As did Billy and Ruth Bell Graham, we love one another far too much for any such shenanigans.

Still, given these things, a news story by Arden Dier posted on www.Newser.com earlier today caught my attention. Titled “Suitcase with Woman's Body Stayed Hidden for 16 Years: Maintenance Worker Make Gruesome Find in South Korea Building; Cops Suspect Old Boyfriend”, the article reads:

The body of a woman who disappeared in South Korea some 16 years ago was discovered by chance last month during maintenance work on an apartment building, leading authorities to her alleged killer. The man in his 50s, identified as Mr. A, told police he'd been living with his girlfriend in a studio apartment in Geoje for five years before killing her during an argument in October 2008, the BBC reports. The man said he hit her in the head with a blunt object, put her body in a suitcase, then concealed the suitcase in cement on his third-floor balcony. No one inspected the concrete until last month when a maintenance worker drilled into it.

The body of the woman, identified as B, was discovered partially preserved inside the suitcase and identified through fingerprint analysis, per the Korea Times. She was in her 30s when she died. Family members had reported her missing in 2011 after they went to find her in Geoje and were told she'd split with Mr. A and left the city. Mr. A left the studio apartment in 2017, per the Times. It was never occupied again, but instead used by the building owner's as a storage space, the BBC reports.

The owner had called in workers to repair a leak on the balcony when the discovery was made. "The concrete structure was located on a balcony separate from the rooftop room, making it difficult to notice from inside the room," a police officer is quoted as saying, per the Independent. Mr. A was suspected in the woman's disappearance early on. Given the new evidence, he was arrested Thursday in the city of Yangsan. He confessed to the killing and to throwing the murder weapon and his girlfriend's phone into the sea, per the Times.

What does all this prove? That you can run, but you cannot hide? Most likely so. For, in the modern world, with the advent of modern forensics, people are fooling themselves if they think they can get away with murder. Chances are, they simply cannot.

But more to the point, if we cannot get away with things in this world, how likely are we to get away with them in the world to come?

After all, (in the Old Testament Book of Numbers, chapter 32, verse 23) the Bible says, “… behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.”

All throughout history, men and women have done wrong and attempted to cover up their transgression, only to have it then uncovered by the Lord. Whether it was Cain in his murder of Abel, or David in his adultery with Bathsheba, or Ananias and Sapphira in their deceptive self-promotion, the Lord has always had a way of fulfilling His promise: “What you have done in secret… I will (now) do … in the open for everyone … to see.”

And so, my friend, be careful! Remember the words of Jesus (in the New Testament Gospel of Luke, chapter 8, verse 17), when He said: “For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.”

In other words, you can run; but you cannot hide. For your sins, most assuredly, will eventually find you out!

STORY SOURCES:

https://billygrahamlibrary.org/remembering-ruth-bell-graham-2/;

https://www.newser.com/story/356787/building-maintenance-work-reveals-16-year-old-murder.html.

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/numbers/32-23.htm;

https://biblehub.com/2_samuel/12-12.htm;

https://biblehub.com/luke/8-17.htm.

A SOLID FOUNDATION!

9/19/2024

I'm not sure if you saw it, but www.Newser.com carried an article this week titled “Teen With Largest Feet, Hands: 'It's OK to Stand Out': Michigan's Eric Kilburn, 16, Makes Guinness With 13.5-Inch-Long Feet, Hands That Are 9 Inches Plus”.

According to Jenn Gidman, Newser Staff Writer:

When Eric Kilburn was in kindergarten, he noticed he was much bigger than the other kids. By the time he was in fifth grade, he couldn't shop for shoes in regular stores, and finding gloves his size also became a challenge. The Michigan 16-year-old now claims feet that are 13.5 inches long (he wears a size 23 shoe; the average for US men is around a size 8 1/2 or 9) and hands that stretch 9.13 inches—both of which have earned him a place in the Guinness World Records rankings, reports the Guardian.

In a 2023 interview with USA Today, Eric's mom, Rebecca Kilburn (who's 6'2" herself; her husband is 6'5"), noted that her son didn't have any endocrine issues or other conditions that are tied to such growth. Per Guinness, once she had to start buying him expensive custom-made shoes in middle school that cost more than $1,500 a pair, she began wondering if her son might be world-record material - which in turn might lead to companies making some more shoes for him. Eric applied to Guinness when he was 14, when he already stood 6 feet, 10 inches tall (he's grown an inch or so since), and sure enough, Puma and Under Armour came forward with offers of new shoes and boots.

It turns out one person in particular may have been prescient about Eric's future Guinness feat: the obstetrician who delivered him. Eric tells Guinness that, when he was born, the elderly doctor told his mom and dad that the newborn's feet and hands were the largest he'd ever seen on a just-born baby. Today, Eric, who loves gaming and looks up to basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal, is proud of his oversize appendages, and he wants others who may feel different from the pack to take pride in themselves.

"It's OK to stand out," he says, per Guinness. "Don't let negativity distract you from your goals." More here on Eric's journey, including the joint pain he suffers and on his correspondence with O'Neal, who helped him through some of what Rebecca Kilburn calls the "darkness."

This story resonated with me. And it’s not because either my feet or my hands are anywhere near the size of this young man’s. I’m average height and size.

But my youngest grandson (affectionately known as “the caboose”)… now, that’s an entirely different story! While just three years old, he is tall for his age. More to the point, he has feet that are nearly as large as those of his eight year old cousin! In short, as the obstetrician referenced in the above story, he has been given a rather large foundation upon which he will invariably one-day build a frame.

I can only trust that the Lord will let me live to see this young man reach maturity; because he’s gonna be a Hoss (as in Cartwright)!

As I have reflected on this, I have been reminded that we all need a proper foundation for growth. This is true with regard to physical bodies and physical structures. And it is also true with regard to the spiritual realm.

In is New Testament Letter to the Ephesians (chapter 2, verses 19-22), the Apostle Paul writes the following:

You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

In this, Paul is reflecting the words of the Prophet Isaiah, the Apostle Peter, and Jesus Himself. Thank God that, in Jesus Christ, we have been given the one true foundation upon which to build our lives. He alone is rock solid! And He alone will serve to support us all throughout our lives!

My grandson has clearly been given a solid foundation upon which to grow his physical body. I trust he will one day build upon it to an impressive level. But more importantly, like all of us, he has also been given a solid foundation upon which to build a vibrant spiritual life. In time, I pray he will do just that!

For my part, I have chosen to do just that. Have you?

STORY SOURCE:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/18/guinness-record-eric-kilburn;

https://www.newser.com/story/356467/teen-sets-world-record-for-biggest-feet-hands.html.

SCRIPTURES:

https://biblehub.com/niv/ephesians/2.htm;

https://biblehub.com/isaiah/28-16.htm;

https://biblehub.com/niv/1_peter/2.htm;

https://biblehub.com/matthew/16-18.htm;

https://biblehub.com/niv/matthew/7.htm.

LIGHTS ON!

9/12/2024

Several of my grandsons are playing what is termed “Fall Ball”. If you don’t know what that means; I’ll tell you. It means Little League Baseball in the fall as well as the spring. Two to three evening games a week.

But, ultimately, I’m okay with that. I’d much rather my grandsons be involved in organized sports and learning life skills that will serve them well than to be sitting at home mindlessly watching television or playing video games.

But what is troublesome is that daylight is growing noticeably shorter. And that means I find myself driving home in the dark. All of this now brings me to my point.

Earlier this week, after watching a game that began at 6:00 pm and ended at 7:30 pm, my wife got on the road around 7:45 pm, and then headed home. In the twenty to twenty-five minutes it took to get home, daylight gave way to dusk and them to darkness. And in that brief time, we encountered no less than three automobiles on the road being driven with no lights on!

As I pulled into my driveway, I thanked the Good Lord for getting us home safely. And I wondered if the poor people driving without their headlights on made it home safely.

You see, it often matters whether or not you let your light shine! Whenever your light should be shining and it doesn’t, it can have serious consequences – both for you and for the ones who need to see your light shining forth in the darkness!

What is true in the physical realm is also true in the spiritual realm. Jesus told all of us who purport to be His followers that we should let our light shine. His exact words are found in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew (chapter 5, verse 16): “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

The world is a dark place. Not just during the nighttime, when the sun does not shine in the sky. But also spiritually, when the Son of God and His radiance have been covered over by the forces of darkness. In such a context, the world needs light. Lots of it!

Jesus, Himself, claimed to be the Light of the world (in the New Testament Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 12), when He said: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Given this, those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ clearly have an obligation to let our light shine forth in the midst of dark world. To do otherwise is not only to fail to meet eh expectation of our Lord and Savior, but also to fail to identify ourselves and our presence as one of His followers.

Even worse, to do otherwise is to fail to light the way for others! And Heaven help any follower of Jesus Christ who is given the opportunity to light the way for a non-believer, but chooses not to do so! To have the light and not to share it is, at best selfish, and at worst, malicious!

And so, my friend, if you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then by all means, please, please turn your lights on!

SCRIPTURES:

https://biblehub.com/matthew/5-16.htm;

https://biblehub.com/john/8-12.htm.

ANY LUCK?

9/7/2024

I once heard a story about Napoleon Bonaparte. Whether it is true or not, I do not know. In any event, he was supposedly looking for a new general to replace one that had faltered. A certain individual was highly recommended to him for the position. After hearing out the glowing recommendation, Napoleon responded to the recommender by saying, “I know the man is a good general; but is he lucky?”

After a day like today, I do not know if I am lucky or not!

It all started out early this morning when I went out on my daily walk, only to have a black cat run across the road right in front of me. I immediately realized that it was the 7th of September, the beginning of a week leading up to Friday, the 13th. What is more, summer has now come and gone; and I have not found one single four-leaf clover all season!

To make matters worse, I have not seen my rabbit’s foot for at least a decade or more, let alone carried it with me in my pocket! And then it hit me. I’ve never even won the lottery! Talk about a steak of bad luck! It looks like I'm the living embodiment of bad luck!

Of course, this could be due to certain facts. To begin with, I don’t buy lottery tickets (which I must confess that I consider a voluntary tax on stupid people). If I don't buy them, how can i expect to win? Moreover, I have not bothered to look for my lost rabbit’s foot in decades, let alone carry it. How can it then possibly help me? Nor have I looked for a four-leaf clover in years.

Statistically, Friday the 13th rolls around about twice a year; and it has never really bothered me all that much when it has done so before.

And as far as the black cat goes; it belongs to my neighbor. I see it often out on my walks either in or near the road. For whatever reason, it darted across the road in front of me today. But it is likely that if I startle it again tomorrow, it will do much the same.

Am I unlucky? Who knows!

Now, fast forward two hours. After my walk, I rushed in and changed clothes before my wife and I headed off to our grandson’s fall baseball game. Not sure which of the five fields he was playing on, I decided to park in the east parking lot. Turns out, I should have parked in the west lot!

As we were trudging our way past two empty ball fields to the field where he was playing, I was continuing to bemoan my streak of bad luck in having chosen the wrong parking lot; when lo and behold, I looked down and there was a twenty dollar bill!

As not another human being was within two hundred yards, I snatched it up, put it in my wallet, and totally reexamined my string of misfortune! It turns out that “Ol’ Lady Luck” wasn’t necessarily frowning on me after all.

Am I lucky? Who knows!

But this much I do know. About twenty minutes after the cat ran across the road in front of me, my phone rang. It was a retired pastor who is a dear friend of mine, but whom I had not talked to in about a year. He was just calling to catch up on things.

We chatted for about twenty minutes before concluding that we were both very blessed to have been given what all we had been given by God. After all, we had both been given our lives, our health, our salvation, our wives, our children, our grandchildren, and our various places, our various churches, and our various people to serve.

As I hung up the phone, I realized that Napoleon may have considered it more important to be lucky than to be good; but for my part, I consider it far more important to see one’s self as blessed than to think of one’s self as either good or lucky!

At the conclusion of the resounding U.S. victory at the World War Two Battle of Midway, Admiral Chester Nimitz asked a subordinate officer, “Were we better than the Japanese, or just luckier?”

There are those who would like to think of themselves as somehow better. There are those who would like to think of themselves as somehow luckier. I’ll settle for being one of those who chooses to see themselves simply as blessed by a loving God!

I leave you with the words of the Psalmist of old, who penned these words in the 103rd Psalm (verse 1-5) millennia ago:

"Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things."

Am I blessed? Absolutely!

And like the Psalmist, I will be careful to testify to this fact at each and every opportunity!

SOURCES:

https://biblehub.com/nlt/psalms/103.htm.

WHAT’S IN YOUR STOMACH?!

9/2/2024

You cannot make this stuff up. My son called us on the phone to tell us about the latest exploits of his family’s pet cat. But first, a little background…

“S.J.” (the name of his cat) has not necessarily led a charmed life. In his short time on earth, he has fallen off the porch rail and broken his right hip. That required extensive surgery, including a pin in his hip.

It took forever for him to heal, having to learn to walk on three legs before on four all over again. Thereafter, he got caught in someone’s “Have A Heart” trap some distance from their house. He was gone for about a week before he got out of that one.

After this, he got outfitted with an Apple Air Tag on his collar. In short order, he disappeared again. The Air Tag showed him in a given location; but he was nowhere to be seen. Later, he showed back up at the house minus a collar and his Air Tag.

And now, for the kicker… Earlier today, he threw up on their front porch. And what did he disgorge? You guessed it. His chewed up collar! He has now been refitted with yet another, stronger collar and yet another Air Tag. It remains to be seen what the future holds for either. Or for that matter, for poor ol’ “S.J.” himself!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I wish the poor creature no ill will. But, it won’t surprise me if the next phone call I get form my son contains the eloquent quote from Cousin Eddy in Christmas Vacation, “If that cat had nine lives, he just spent ‘em all!”

After a hearty laugh at my son’s latest update in the saga of the ongoing adventures of “S.J.”, I found myself thinking about the spiritual truth that underlies this most recent episode.

If you think about it, cats are not the only ones to swallow things unfit for consumption! People do it all the time!

Seriously, I’ve known people who have hungered for and strived for any one of a thousand “must haves”. Yet, once they have gotten themselves a belly full of clothes, jewellery, cash, cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, boats, jet skis, lake lots, beach houses, season tickets, and the like, they have quickly discovered that it left them with a rather sour stomach.

In the opening chapters of the Bible, we read about the very first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Though all their needs were supplied by God in the Garden of Eden, it wasn’t enough for them. They just had to have more. Thus, they chose to go after, acquire, and consume that one thing which they did not have, and which was not meant for them to consume – fruit from the forbidden tree.

What did it get them? A belly full of trouble, that’s what! “S.J.” the cat could simply regurgitate that which did not agree with him. But not so for Adam and Eve. Once consumed, the forbidden fruit forever poisoned them. Not so much in body as in spirit! For it ate a hole in their souls and made them deathly sick spiritually. And ever since, men and women have had that same void within. Sadly, they have continued to attempt to fill that void with any and everything imaginable.

But only one thing will fill that void. Given that it is a spiritual hole, it must be filled with spiritual substance. And that substance is found only in He Who came to us as the Bread of Life! Only in eating of that Bread will we be truly filled, truly nurtured, and truly satisfied.

As Jesus, Himself, said in the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 6, verse 35): “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.” Later in that same chapter (verse 51), He further states: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

And so, my friend, “What’s in your stomach?!” Better yet, what’s in your soul?! I hope it is not merely worldly provision, but is instead the true “Living Bread … from Heaven”! For this alone is the only true staff of life! All other sustenance is bound, inevitably, to make you sick, and thereafter, to leave you with “that empty feeling”!

SCRIPTURE:

https://biblehub.com/niv/genesis/3.htm;

https://biblehub.com/john/6-35.htm;

https://biblehub.com/john/6-51.htm.

PICKY EATERS?!

Gotcha!

A SOLID FOUNDATION!

LIGHTS ON!

ANY LUCK?

WHAT’S IN YOUR STOMACH?!

Cleo E. Jackson, III

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