Hot and Spicy, Please
1 Tim 4:2
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Yesterday afternoon, I ate three small Thai peppers. These bad boys, like a welterweight boxing champion--although small is stature--pack a mighty punch. I can often sneak stuff past my mouth but then my stomach goes, "Um, wait a minute! Will you please stop eating the equivalent of hot coals?" These peppers were leftovers from some Thai cooking I made several days ago. I am thinking of making a "Noel Necklace" out of the red and green ones and take it out to California for Christmas which I sure will impress the locals.
I was very disappointed when Lina and I last went to Bangkok Wok in Mechanicsburg and they appeared to not honor my request to make my dish mildly hot. The dish had no heat. I wept harsh tears from the loss. They probably thought that since I am a white boy, that I couldn't take it. Not so, I used to work at a Mexican restaurant as a kid and I used to eat the jalapenos straight out of the can which caused even our illegal alien Mexican cooks to shake their heads in disbelief.
I do greatly enjoy hot foods kind of in the same way I like playing a rough game of football with the boys. The hardness of the experience creates a sense of triumph amidst the pain. I am happiest over a plate of food that has me sweating like a pig in a sauna. Of course, this causes my wife to really wonder about me. She prays that if we have children that they do not adopt these strange and peverse practices of their father. She attributes my odd actions to deprivations in my past.
Yet, I would argue that eating hot things causes the body to respond; it rouses the lumbering giant. The worst thing for a body to experience is softness and cushiness...the life equivalent of Charmin. Science has born out that peppers (the main ingredient Capsaicin) are very good for us...kind of like garlic without the social offense. Now, I know that I can go too far, there is a line that can be crossed where the stimulus is damaging. I just think that this line is further down the road than many of us realize. Just because something is uncomfortable does not make bad.
We live in a weak age. People want to be blandly babied rather than being told to grow up and take it like an adult. We whine and we complain. We beg for no great trials which means that we will have no great triumphs. We think that they lack of heat is a sign that God is on our side and all is well. Or if we do have defeats, somehow that God is not at work for our and others' good.
Doctrine gets a bad name as a result. Doctrine sounds so stultifying and oppressive; we think doctrines are like the prison bars keeping us from personal freedom and expression. Doctrine, in the hands of oppressive men can be, but when doctrine is preached and practiced faithfully, it is actually the tool that God uses to cut the true prison bars of our sin. We can't be freed by weak tools, those Fisher-Price play drills, saws, and hammers that kids play with. We need real tools, ones that can fight back against the strength and will of evil.
Give it to me hot and spicy, please. My stomach is just going to have to buck-up.
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
Yesterday afternoon, I ate three small Thai peppers. These bad boys, like a welterweight boxing champion--although small is stature--pack a mighty punch. I can often sneak stuff past my mouth but then my stomach goes, "Um, wait a minute! Will you please stop eating the equivalent of hot coals?" These peppers were leftovers from some Thai cooking I made several days ago. I am thinking of making a "Noel Necklace" out of the red and green ones and take it out to California for Christmas which I sure will impress the locals.
I was very disappointed when Lina and I last went to Bangkok Wok in Mechanicsburg and they appeared to not honor my request to make my dish mildly hot. The dish had no heat. I wept harsh tears from the loss. They probably thought that since I am a white boy, that I couldn't take it. Not so, I used to work at a Mexican restaurant as a kid and I used to eat the jalapenos straight out of the can which caused even our illegal alien Mexican cooks to shake their heads in disbelief.
I do greatly enjoy hot foods kind of in the same way I like playing a rough game of football with the boys. The hardness of the experience creates a sense of triumph amidst the pain. I am happiest over a plate of food that has me sweating like a pig in a sauna. Of course, this causes my wife to really wonder about me. She prays that if we have children that they do not adopt these strange and peverse practices of their father. She attributes my odd actions to deprivations in my past.
Yet, I would argue that eating hot things causes the body to respond; it rouses the lumbering giant. The worst thing for a body to experience is softness and cushiness...the life equivalent of Charmin. Science has born out that peppers (the main ingredient Capsaicin) are very good for us...kind of like garlic without the social offense. Now, I know that I can go too far, there is a line that can be crossed where the stimulus is damaging. I just think that this line is further down the road than many of us realize. Just because something is uncomfortable does not make bad.
We live in a weak age. People want to be blandly babied rather than being told to grow up and take it like an adult. We whine and we complain. We beg for no great trials which means that we will have no great triumphs. We think that they lack of heat is a sign that God is on our side and all is well. Or if we do have defeats, somehow that God is not at work for our and others' good.
Doctrine gets a bad name as a result. Doctrine sounds so stultifying and oppressive; we think doctrines are like the prison bars keeping us from personal freedom and expression. Doctrine, in the hands of oppressive men can be, but when doctrine is preached and practiced faithfully, it is actually the tool that God uses to cut the true prison bars of our sin. We can't be freed by weak tools, those Fisher-Price play drills, saws, and hammers that kids play with. We need real tools, ones that can fight back against the strength and will of evil.
Give it to me hot and spicy, please. My stomach is just going to have to buck-up.
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