Roy’s Ramblings

So in the Ice household we have three totally different ways of cooking. Lauren, finds a recipe that looks good and writes down the ingredients on a shopping list. The next time she goes to town she buys said ingredients, comes home and follows the recipe word for word and creates a magnificent, amazing, wonderful meal. Sometimes this recruits the use of a food scales and/or the discarding of a table spoon of leftovers that are not called for nor needed.

I, on the other hand, look to see what ingredients are available and start to cook things, combine things, add things to make a meal. I taste along the way and modify it with seasonings or other ingredients as my taste deems necessary. There are a few things that I learned to make as a child from my grandmother and so I do kinda-sorta measure, but they are just close approximations at best. (Also, if there is less than a cup of some ingredient left … it usually just gets thrown in instead of going back into the fridge or pantry)

Then there is Kaleb. Of the 47.5 meals per day that he eats … most of the time it is just: “Mom/Dad fix me something – I’m Hungry!” But, when he does want something and we aren’t available; he will pull whatever processed food we happen to have in the freezer or pantry and he will follow the directions to create some “food-like” product that fills his belly and calms his soul.

So this brings me to the church part of this ramblings. The Bible. How is the Bible like cooking you might ask? Well, this past week as I was talking with some friends, one of them said a phrase that stuck with me. “Some believe that the Bible IS the word of God … and others believe it CONTAINS the word of God.” (Yes I know that there are about a gazillion other thoughts on the Bible but I am simplifying it here to keep this short.) Some right now are asking: “What is the difference?” Well, to me, this difference is that if the Bible IS the word of God then everything in it must be taken literally – word for word – never straying – following it to the letter. If it CONTAINS the Word of God then we use it as our need arises as inspiration, as examples of what to do or not to do, and follow the stories contained within to re-center or moral and life compass. I am not passing any judgement on which way to read/interpret the Holy Scriptures. I am also learning along the way as I read and re-read, study, ponder and search.

So just as there are many different ways to feed your body – there are equally (if not more) ways to feed your soul. I encourage you to spiritually eat well and stay hungry my friends.

Blessings upon you and yours – Pastor Roy