Bacon In The Pan. Cook It Until Done. 5/6/2017

Good Morning,

I started a little later today than usual. Sleep seemed to escape from me and I just couldn't grasp hold of it until later in the night. So, next to me is a larger than life mug of Door County Peanut Butter Crunch Coffee and my mouth is putting it to good use.

I have a lot of things going on in my mind and when that happens, I find myself thinking and praying more. I find myself seeking and needing the Word of God like a thirsty deer needs water.

This morning I put a few strips of bacon into a cast iron frying pan and my intentions were to cook the bacon and cover it with two eggs and eat it for my breakfast. I placed the bacon into the frying pan and then stepped outside for a minute. When I came back inside, I expected  to be turning the bacon over in the pan to brown and continue the frying process. I expected the house to smell like the smoked cherry wood bacon that was frying. Instead, I walked into nothing. I had forgotten to turn on our stove. My bacon was sitting there in need of the heat. I could not eat the bacon in it's raw state or I would be writing this from the bathroom. The breakfast process had to be done the right way. My bacon needs to be served crispy, grease blotted off, not burnt, and definitely cooked through. The bacon needs to leave a bacon aroma in the house for me to enjoy for awhile.

Here's the lesson today. This tasty breakfast cannot take place without the frying pan and some heat. The meat has to cooked until done. It doesn't happen as quickly as I would like it to. I have to wait and let the heat do it's job. I also have to turn off the heat and remove the bacon from the cooking just in time so it is not ruined.

Friends, from time to time we find ourselves in the fire of life. Problems, hurts, anxiety, and unexpected failures are on the menu of the day, month or year. I for one have these times as well as all of you. But, there hasn't been one of these times that hasn't brought me to my knees in prayer, and Scripture. There isn't one flare up on my  life that I haven't learned a lesson from. Most of all, I learned that the time in the frying pan is supervised by God. He knows just how long I need to be there, just to be completed.

Two Bible verses come to mind this morning and I believe they were sent to this pea brain from above.

Isaiah 48:10English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁰ Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;
    I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

1 Peter 5:10English Standard Version (ESV)
¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

 

 Trials come and trials go. The heat is on for awhile and the process is tough. But as with cooked bacon, the results are awesome. We must wait on the Great Chef to know when our refining is done.


God bless,

Marty