Cooking With Christy

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This week I had a new adventure  in the kitchen! Travis and I invited our friend Jackie to come over and cook us a meal. Jacki is a 65-year-old African-American man with a huge heart and lots of energy. We’ve known Jackie for several years but in the last few months We’ve had the privilege of worshiping Jesus together with him in our home when our church meets.

Last Sunday when we were done worshiping and eating together Travis went grocery shopping with Jackie. They picked up greens, cornmeal, smoked Pork neck, cabbage, potatoes, cake mix,Wings, soul food seasoning… The works! Then on Monday Jackie came over ready to dive in to cooking, and show me how it was all done!

As we got to work I realize that this was probably the first time I’ve ever had someone come into my kitchen to teach me how to cook something new. I’ve really gotten into the routine of cooking basically the same meals over and over again. Now here I was learning to cook food that I’ve never eaten before using styles of cooking I’ve never used before. And Jackie was a great teacher! He did the old show me once and then have me try it method of teaching, and he encouraged me on how I was doing the whole way through.

There were several lessons that I took away from this experience. One is that there’s more than one way to peel a potato. Another is that saving grease makes for tastier food next time around. The biggest lessons, however struck my heart as we made the chicken. When we were working on frying the wings I watch Jackie put on the seasonings and the flour and put the chicken in the pan. He really did 90% of the work, but he encouraged me to take the wings out of the oil, and when Travis walked in Jacki proudly pointed at the work I had done and gave me credit for making the chicken.  I quickly clarified with Travis that Jackie had done the hard part, but after the exchange I couldn’t help but think that is is sometimes how things work in the kingdom.

In the Kingdom one person steps out in obedience to the Lord and labors for the sake of the church or the harvest, then sometimes someone else gets the privilege of seeing the harvest of that labor. They get to pull the chicken out of the perverbial  pan; delicious and ready to eat.  I realize as I think about it that I want to be like Jackie. I want to be cheering on those who are seeing  the harvest and the fruits of the labor even if it’s a labor that I started a long time ago and was waiting and praying to see. It doesn’t matter if I’m the one who “puts he chicken on the platter”. What matters is that the job got done and I can rejoice in the completion of that work, and in the fruit of those labors. 

The honest truth is that life can be hard. When we put in the hard work and don’t see the immediate fruits of our labors it’s easy to become discouraged and to want to put our hand to something that shows more immediate results . The work of the kingdom, however, is so important! And I want to be someone who rejoices in being a part of the process. I want to trust that the Lord has got it handled. Even if that means someone else gets to finish up the work. At the end of the day everyone got to enjoy the chicken that was cooked. It didn’t matter who prepared it for the pan or who pulled it out. In the same way we all get to enjoy the goodness of God and celebrate in the harvest, and it doesn’t matter who started the work or who got to finish it.

So, the night was great! We had a couple others come join us for dinner. It was a feast, way more than we could eat! My fridge is full of leftovers and that’s after we were able to send some home with friends.  To top off the night Travis and Jackie took a big plate to a friend who was sick which also made his day!

Over dinner we had several conversations about the food we’d be making next time. I’m loving getting the opportunity to try so many new types of soul food. Yes, it’s a little bit of a stretch for some of the family’s pallets, but everyone’s having so much fun and there was so much love in the house that we’re definitely going to do it again! So thankful for those the Lord puts in our lives to learn and receive from.