Waffle Fries & Mad Cows

To my readers, 

I love Chick-fil-a. 

As my friend Josh Boren would say, “Who doesn’t? Except for Vegans!”

Chick-fil-A is a top notch fast-food restaurant that has great food, amazing service, and waffle fries.  Waffle fries alone sell me- not even the unique ketchup packets or the staff that always responds with “my pleasure,” after you thank them.  You had me at Waffle Fries.

The interesting part is when I crave Chick-fil-a.  Don’t get me wrong, I certainly agree with Tim Hawkins when he sings, “I could eat there seven times a day,” but it never fails that as church lets out, I smell chicken.  The thoughts of an Arnold Palmer drive me crazy until I remember the heartbreaking truth:

Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sundays.

It seems that every Sunday my Chick-fil-a crave meter skyrockets. Have you ever in your frustrated search for second best food wondered why this is?

I believe its because I can’t have it on Sundays.

James writes a letter in the New Testament that says,

“You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.  You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.  Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong- you want only what will give you pleasure.” James 4:2-3, NLT.

My craving for Chick-Fil-A goes up on Sundays because I can’t have it. 

The truth is, if I had the gear, I would very much scheme and suit up as a spy would and infiltrate a Chick-Fil-A.  Sadly, I don’t have this as an option.

However, how often do we want something so badly that we are willing to cut corners, break rules, or even laws in order to have it?

If we were honest, we'd see that we are looking for something very temporal.  We are hoping that this next piece of technology, this next relationship, the next job will fill us and give us satisfaction, peace, and joy.

None of it will ever work.

When we focus our attention from these temporal quick pleasures to Christ, we are able to go from empty to overflowing. Until we focus on Him, we are simply pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the bottom of it.  Its when we’re focused on our relationship with him that we are filled.

Jesus is the only thing that can ever satisfy you.  He is the living water from which we will never become thirsty again. 

Whats stopping you from being filled?

PS) Come join us tonight at the Chick-Fil-A College Kickoff at Sunset Station from 7pm-9pm! Two42 will have a booth and we'd love to see you! 

Simply,

Tex G.M. Rule

“You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it.  You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.  Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.  And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong- you want only what will give you pleasure.” James 4:2-3, NLT.

Horses & Memorable Writers

To my reader,

Today I am doing something different. I am sharing a passage from one of my favorite C.S. Lewis books- A Horse and His Boy. Here is a passage where a boy meets Aslan, a lion that is Lewis' portrayal of Jesus.

The Thing (unless it was a Person) went on beside him so very quietly that Shasta began to hope he had only imagined it. But just as he was becoming quite sure of it, there suddenly came a deep, rich sigh out of the darkness beside him. That couldn’t be imagination! Anyway, he had felt the hot breath of that sigh on his chilly left hand...

...At last he could bear it no longer.

“Who are you? he said, scarcely above a whisper.

“One who has waited long for you to speak,” said the Thing. Its voice was not loud, but very large and deep....

Once more he felt the warm breath of the Thing on his hand and face. “There,” it said,”that is not the breath of a ghost. Tell me your sorrows.”

Shasta was a little reassured by the breath: so he told how he had never known his real father or mother and had been brought up sternly by the fisherman. And then he told the story of his escape and how they were chased by lions and forced to swim for their lives; and of all their dangers in Tashbaan and about his night among the tombs and how the beasts howled at him out of the desert. And he told about the heat and thirst of their desert journey and how they were almost at their goal when another lion chased them and wounded Aravis. And also, how very long it was since he had had anything to eat.

“I do not call you unfortunate,” said the Large Voice.

“Don’t you think it was bad luck to meet so many lions?” said Shasta.

“There was only one lion,” said the Voice.

“What on earth do you mean? I’ve just told you there were at least two the first night, and--”

“There was only one: but he was swift of foot.”

“How do you know?”

“I was the lion.” And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued.

“I was the lion who force you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the housed of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear the last mile so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you.”

“Then it was you who wounded Aravis?”

“It was I.”

“But what for?”

“Child,” said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.

What is he telling you about your story today?

Simply,
Tex G.M. Rule
"Child,” said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own." C.S. Lewis