Filling up On The Finger Foods

Fillin Up On Finger Foods

(follow up to"The House That Stands: The Kitchen") 

 

 

Do you find your faith unsatisfying? Like maybe it's not really adding anything helpful to your life, or you simply find yourself without energy when life's storms hit? You may be filling up on the finger foods.

  

Finger foods are good, but they aren't meant to be the meal. The same is true of religion and our religious traditions and functions.

  

In this series we're relating our lives to a house and trying to picture what our lives would look like as houses.

  

When building a metaphorical "house that stands" the kitchen's important and what we stock it with is even more important.

  

One of the mistakes Christians often make is filling up on the finger foods. God invites us to "taste and see that the LORD is good" but for many of us, that's all we take, just a taste. That's like filling up on the chips and salsa before the enchiladas arrive. As good as the salsa is it wasn't meant to fill you.

  

Religion is like that. As good as it is and as much as we may enjoy the traditions and rituals of our faith, they are meant as an hor dourve, a finger food that precedes a meal, not the meal itself.

  

If you were trying to live on chips and salsa eventually your body would find ways to let you know it's not doing well, that it needed more. Our spirit is like that too. Often we think "religion" is not working for us but the truth is many times we're simply not using it right.

  

If after years of walking with God "religion" is all you have, you may be filling up on the finger foods and missing the meal. It may be time to stock the fridge with something a little more substantial.

 

by Michael Holmes

Lead Pastor

 

4 comments (Add your own)

1. Azucena wrote:
my wealthy Tycoon fidenrs and associates like mrs Elizibeth Taylor and some well known middle class here in the greater Tulsa Oklahoma metro area.had always sid we would have given more Tax write off money's unto charity if we had moere controll over and about where the money's are spent.we know from experience places like the Salvation Army and Annie Henry Zarrow building help some what with gas vouchers and help paying folks rent.yet imagine if mrs Taylor or one of my rich Grenwich associates were to become homeless and poor tomorrow could they walk to one of these places and ask for an voucher to buy A cheap Automobile and also have A voucher paying for insurace till the he or she recieved his or her first pay roll check.maybey perhap's the non religious version would be more what my freinds were hoping for.i being kiddnapped and brain washed too lose my memory only too live under this new name both as semi retired S:S:D;i while attepting to make ends meet as A temp worker at our local Stand by personel labor hall=know all too well how the current or present system works and how it could be improved.i have seen days at stand by when hardly no work order's come in at all.yet these former and currently homeless folk show up each day to work regardless.this is one reason i had hinted unto my corperate Executives to view my drivers licsense photo and throw some work these folk's direction.(Why) both bennifit.smaller floor space factories=less taxes per year for my coperate giant offices and cheap abandoned Exfactory buildings here local are easy to retool for our type of Toy bicycle motor cycle products yet each plant i hath seen are all with in walking distance from local temp agencies and Homeless shelters.yet others are not this is where the used car vouchers would come in handy.most folks i have net each day are honestly enough attempting to leave the homeless life behind by working.if you could run such A thing wuld you not want it just as i hath described.or for those whom donate huge sum's of money(why) this controlls where our your money is going better than the old system we hath had all this time.admitted an currupt entity and most of we or us know it.i leave this ball in your court yahoo.commers and with my associates whom donate this wad of cash each Tax year.added i apologize for this lengthy question. yet once you read it,i art sure you all will agree.

Fri, May 18, 2012 @ 3:50 AM

2. Abigail wrote:
I commend you for geitntg on board with your mom about these diet changes. To do it right, geitntg and keeping the bad stuff out of the house is very important.You should be more specific about what kind of health food requirements for your mom less sugar? less fat? less sodium? It makes a big difference in the way to change a recipe.Small changes at first are important with a diet change. Think of this change as retraining your tastebuds. For example, cutting out fast food and soda seem difficult to some people, but it's really not if the substitute food is decent. Browsing cookbooks at a bookstore or library is a fun way to think about a big, special meal. My favorite to start with is How to Cook Everything. It's just great and the ingredients are pure, for the most part. The author educates the reader about techniques and strange veggies and stuff.Here are some ideas to get you started:*Change to whole wheat or whole grain everything. This means no enriched flour. If it doesn't say whole it isn't whole.*Stock up on veggies and fruits. I threw much of the fresh stuff away at first because it rotted. I was stubborn about choosing those as snacks over, say, toast and peanut butter. Frozen or canned veggies are super convenient and the shelf life is better. Eventually fresh stuff is easy to keep on hand in the appropriate amounts, once you learn what you should and actually will eat.*Pure sugar and oils are better when necessary to cook with them. Stay away from syrups (i.e. corn syrup) and processed oils. Pressed oil is better (i.e. extra virgin olive oil).*Use broth to cook meats or anything on the stovetop. Real broth is best, but canned is fine if sodium isn't an issue. This helps reduce the amount of oil/fats in cooking.*Spices, spices, spices are key. Learn how to cook with them. Think of cooking as learning about cultures Italian cooking uses parsley, basil, garlic and onion Mexican food has cumin, cilantro, peppers, lime, garlic and onion Thai food includes cilantro, vinegar, ginger and peanuts etc. Pick up a cookbook and try a few, without worrying too much about the health value. It will greatly improve your fluency in the kitchen.*Buy a crockpot and let the meat/veggies cook slowly in healthy spices. One of the easiest things to cook in the crockpot is a lean roast (pork or beef) or chicken, and vegetables. The veggies will break down, mix with the juices of the roast/chicken, making a tasty sauce. (I always put a tablespoon of vinegar with the roast to make it more tender.) I make salsa from scratch (no salt) and dump a couple of cups of it with chicken breast. It cooks for a few hours and it super yummy! If you want to make the broth into a sauce after it's all cooked, shake a little flour with milk, then stir it into the broth to thicken it. OR you can save the broth for cooking something later. It freezes for a couple of weeks.Expect to spend some money stocking your cabinets with the right things. It will save you money in the long run, believe me. Nothing beats a home cooked, healthy meal! Happy cooking!Oops forgot to add something about snacks. Until your mom can rely on a piece of fruit as a snack, she really needs to fill up at healthy meals and skip snacks (unless she needs them for a health reason). This particular issue relies solely on will power. Perhaps you can let her slide for awhile as she gets excited about changing what's in the kitchen and how she's cooking. Also, drinking fluids can be like a snack since it does bring about a full feeling. When all else fails, nuts can be a good choice, in moderation. Watch out for sodium and fat intake with these snacks. Instead, find recipes that have semi-sweet chocolate and oats, roll in some flax or other good option, and bring in some cashews into the snack. It can be like a trail mix. (Warning: dried fruit has much more sugar than fresh fruit.)

Fri, May 18, 2012 @ 10:43 AM

3. Ninxha wrote:
Fat is fluvoar we add fluvoar through cheese, mayo and other fatty things.A little bit of cheese or other fatty flavor may be in order.You can find ways to add fluvoar without being too fatty.Vinegar (widely used in chinese and japanese cooking) really helps.For example, bake various vegatable such as baby potatos, mushrooms, onion, cherry tomatos, carrots, egg plant etc .then sprinkle with red wine vineger or I prefer balsamic vinegar.Also choose the best ingredients, which does cost more. But organic tomatos don't need any fluvoar to make them work.Just keep trying different recipes, there are many cook books with low fat dishes, and eventually you will find ones you like.OH, and baking takes longer but makes things taste better than boiling and is just as healthy.

Sat, May 19, 2012 @ 6:48 PM

4. vyvpqjjyhdx wrote:
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Tue, May 22, 2012 @ 7:34 AM

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