Avoiding Veggies

Every party has a pooper.

This summer the pooper has the name salmonella.

Just when the time is right to enjoy fresh veggies, the news is peppered with phrases like: 

unsafe to eat          avoid tomatoes         

removed from grocery shelves and restarant menus

That's no fun.  

Unless you grow your own.

 My garden took on a mind of its own this year and gave me a bumper crop of ...

weeds.  

Yes, these yummies came from my mom's garden.  (Another perk of living next door!)

My 9 year old heard the news about avoiding certain vegetables.  But she didn't catch the word certain veggies.  She thought they said all veggies.  So today, she just about knocked my mother's veggie burger out of her hand mid-air.   Mimi!  You cannot eat that!  It has ve-ge-ta-bles in it!  

Basically my 9 year old responded to the newscast the same way I would respond if there was a news flash that eating tiramisu increases weight loss.  I would totally take it to the extreme.

Hmm.. if tiramisu makes you loose weight, then surely bread pudding and chocolate chip cookies would do the same.

Even though it was a bummer to not get guacamole with my tacos today, it wasn't the end of the world.  While I heard, Avoid avocados and jalapenos, she heard Don't eat any vegetables. Ever.

How many times do we do that with God's word?  We often read it and only hear what we want to hear.  Or we add to it.  Have you ever heard someone say: 

God is good.  I am basically a good person, so I'm doing alright.   I'll probably get to heaven one day.

Yes, God is good.  While compared to a serial killer or habitual liar, I am a good person.  But is that what will get me into heaven?  

This is what God says about that:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9

In fact, my most shining moment, most giving days, most unselfish acts do not even compare to God's goodness.  He says:

All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.  Isaiah 64:6

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

This is how I know that I WILL go to heaven:

If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  Romans 10:9

Oh that I may never add to or take away from the truths found in the Bible.  I don't want to pick and choose what I want to hear, but be open to all that He has for me to know, enjoy, and live!