On September 23rd—whether you realized it or not—autumn officially arrived. The beginning of fall means lower temperatures, changing leaves, high school football games, and—one of Pittsylvania County’s tastiest cool weather treats—homemade Brunswick Stew. In Southside Virginia, a stew isn’t merely something you eat, it’s something you experience. Furthermore, the stew itself is not simply a combination of meats and vegetables you cook in a pot. It’s a true work of art, with hours and hours of patient preparation contributing to the final masterpiece. You won’t eat any stew anywhere in the world that’s any better than what you can find right here in Pittsylvania County.
This undisputable fact leads me to comment on a news story of a few days ago. On September 15th, it was reported that the largest pot of stew in the history of the world was cooked in — not Virginia — but Venezuela, of all places. (Honestly, when you think of stew, isn't Venezuelan stew the first thing you think of?) President Hugo Chavez’s government set up a huge stainless steel cooking pot in downtown Caracas. The giant cauldron contained some 3,960 gallons of stew—obliterating the previous record listed in The Guinness Book of World Records, a pot of 1,413 gallons prepared in Mexico back in July. (Why on earth would you cook stew in Mexico in July? For that matter, why would you cook stew in Venezuela in September, when the temperatures are still in the 90s?)
The giant cooking pot used by the Venezuelan government actually had a capacity of 5,413 gallons. When asked why it was “only” three-quarters full, an official said, “We didn’t add more for security reasons.” Security reasons? Hmm, I guess that sounds a whole lot more important than just saying, “We were afraid we might spill it.”
Chavez’s government claimed that their record-setting stew was enough to feed some 60,000 to 70,000 people! (According to the photographs, it
didn’t look like they were dishing out very big helpings.) As the stew was being prepared, workers stood on raised platforms stirring the simmering concoction with long poles. Then, they dished out servings to a crowd in a state-run market. Reportedly, the stew contained 6,600 pounds of chicken (that’s a lot of birds that gave their life for their country!), 4,400 pounds of beef, and tons of vegetables. (Who knows what else was in it. From what I saw in the photos, the strange brew wasn’t very visually appealing.)
All of this leads me to some observations.
First of all, bigger isn’t necessarily better. Indeed, sometimes less is actually more. That’s true whether you’re talking about stew…or about life in general. For example, I’d much rather get
one small bowl of Brunswick stew carefully prepared by one of our fine local culinary experts than I would a whole cauldron of Hugo Chavez’s mystery concoction. (Of course, I’m not too interested in anything Chavez has to offer. That’s why I don’t buy Citgo gasoline anymore.)
You see, it’s not about quantity. It’s about quality. Have you ever heard the expression, “A mile wide and an inch deep”? That describes the Christian experience of a lot of church people. They’ve busily spread themselves thin with all kinds of seemingly wholesome activities, but they’ve become shallow spiritually because they’ve forgotten to keep the main thing the main thing. You see, we can get so caught up in all kind of peripheral stuff that we gradually lose sight
of the One around whom everything supposedly revolves. Someone once put it this way, “We’ve gotten so busy in the work of the Lord that we’ve forgotten the Lord of the work.”
Another thought. Anything worthwhile in life takes time. There’s a whole world of difference between a savory stew that’s been slowly simmering and carefully stirred for hours on end and a can of Dinty Moore that we open up, put in a bowl and zap in the microwave.
We live in an instant generation. We want everything now. But faster isn’t necessarily better. And there’s certainly no such thing as instant spirituality. Growth in the Lord, growth in faith and character and spiritual maturity—all of that takes time. In fact, it takes a lifetime. A lifetime of day-in, day-out soaking on the things of the Lord. A lifetime of daily letting the Spirit of God stir in our hearts.
We’re also impatient when it comes to seeing God work in our circumstances. We live in a day of instant gratification. We want quick results. We want to see God act quickly. We want to see God answer our prayers immediately. But, like a good stew, the working of God takes time. Don’t rush it. Remember that there are many lives and events that God is carefully orchestrating together in order to achieve His grand purposes. So learn to be patient and “wait on the Lord” as the prophet Isaiah instructed us. Remember that, with the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day (2 Peter 3:8). God’s timing is not always our timing. But God is never late. And God is never early. He’s always right on time.
Waiting on God is a lot like waiting for all of the elements of a good stew to come together. Truly, it’s worth the wait, for—as the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us—“God makes all things beautiful in His time.”
Pastor Danny
This undisputable fact leads me to comment on a news story of a few days ago. On September 15th, it was reported that the largest pot of stew in the history of the world was cooked in — not Virginia — but Venezuela, of all places. (Honestly, when you think of stew, isn't Venezuelan stew the first thing you think of?) President Hugo Chavez’s government set up a huge stainless steel cooking pot in downtown Caracas. The giant cauldron contained some 3,960 gallons of stew—obliterating the previous record listed in The Guinness Book of World Records, a pot of 1,413 gallons prepared in Mexico back in July. (Why on earth would you cook stew in Mexico in July? For that matter, why would you cook stew in Venezuela in September, when the temperatures are still in the 90s?)
The giant cooking pot used by the Venezuelan government actually had a capacity of 5,413 gallons. When asked why it was “only” three-quarters full, an official said, “We didn’t add more for security reasons.” Security reasons? Hmm, I guess that sounds a whole lot more important than just saying, “We were afraid we might spill it.”Chavez’s government claimed that their record-setting stew was enough to feed some 60,000 to 70,000 people! (According to the photographs, it
didn’t look like they were dishing out very big helpings.) As the stew was being prepared, workers stood on raised platforms stirring the simmering concoction with long poles. Then, they dished out servings to a crowd in a state-run market. Reportedly, the stew contained 6,600 pounds of chicken (that’s a lot of birds that gave their life for their country!), 4,400 pounds of beef, and tons of vegetables. (Who knows what else was in it. From what I saw in the photos, the strange brew wasn’t very visually appealing.)All of this leads me to some observations.
First of all, bigger isn’t necessarily better. Indeed, sometimes less is actually more. That’s true whether you’re talking about stew…or about life in general. For example, I’d much rather get
one small bowl of Brunswick stew carefully prepared by one of our fine local culinary experts than I would a whole cauldron of Hugo Chavez’s mystery concoction. (Of course, I’m not too interested in anything Chavez has to offer. That’s why I don’t buy Citgo gasoline anymore.)You see, it’s not about quantity. It’s about quality. Have you ever heard the expression, “A mile wide and an inch deep”? That describes the Christian experience of a lot of church people. They’ve busily spread themselves thin with all kinds of seemingly wholesome activities, but they’ve become shallow spiritually because they’ve forgotten to keep the main thing the main thing. You see, we can get so caught up in all kind of peripheral stuff that we gradually lose sight
of the One around whom everything supposedly revolves. Someone once put it this way, “We’ve gotten so busy in the work of the Lord that we’ve forgotten the Lord of the work.”Another thought. Anything worthwhile in life takes time. There’s a whole world of difference between a savory stew that’s been slowly simmering and carefully stirred for hours on end and a can of Dinty Moore that we open up, put in a bowl and zap in the microwave.
We live in an instant generation. We want everything now. But faster isn’t necessarily better. And there’s certainly no such thing as instant spirituality. Growth in the Lord, growth in faith and character and spiritual maturity—all of that takes time. In fact, it takes a lifetime. A lifetime of day-in, day-out soaking on the things of the Lord. A lifetime of daily letting the Spirit of God stir in our hearts.
We’re also impatient when it comes to seeing God work in our circumstances. We live in a day of instant gratification. We want quick results. We want to see God act quickly. We want to see God answer our prayers immediately. But, like a good stew, the working of God takes time. Don’t rush it. Remember that there are many lives and events that God is carefully orchestrating together in order to achieve His grand purposes. So learn to be patient and “wait on the Lord” as the prophet Isaiah instructed us. Remember that, with the Lord, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day (2 Peter 3:8). God’s timing is not always our timing. But God is never late. And God is never early. He’s always right on time.
Waiting on God is a lot like waiting for all of the elements of a good stew to come together. Truly, it’s worth the wait, for—as the writer of Ecclesiastes tells us—“God makes all things beautiful in His time.”
Pastor Danny
