Toothaches and Sin

This is the daily devotion that I wrote and was published as part of our church's daily devotion ministry. Don't ask me how I know so much about toothaches and sin. :-)

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A gift from Kris Baker, Order of St. Francis and St. Clare at #cohdallas, a United Church of Christ congregation, today's devotional is based on the following scripture :

Scripture
Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. James 1:15 The Message (MSG)

A Word of Hope 
Today is National Toothache Day, a seemingly odd thing to celebrate. Have you ever had a toothache? If you haven't, count your blessings! If you have, this scenario may sound familiar. Occasionally when hot or cold food or beverage touches your tooth, you feel a slight tinge of discomfort. You ignore it for awhile. When the discomfort becomes a little more persistent, you make a conscious effort to eat or drink on the other side of your mouth so as not to aggravate the untoward tooth. Eventually, the pain becomes incessant. You try to end-run it with some OTC pain-killers, all the while never stopping to think about what is really causing so much pain in your mouth. Then the inevitable happens...you wake up in the middle of the night (I don't know why it is ALWAYS the middle of the night!) in unbearable pain. Nothing will even dull it, let alone stop it. You count the hours, second by second, until you can call the dentist and plead with him or her to make the pain go away right now!! By this point, you don't care by what means this happens...drill, pull the tooth, cut off your head...just do something, anything to make this excruciating pain go away. Morning finally comes and you make the call to the dentist; the receptionist says, "Good morning. How can I help you?...I can get you in next week on Friday."

We treat sin in much the same way that we treat a toothache. We ignore the slight twinges of pain caused by our lusting. We find ways to justify our less than healthy attitudes and behaviors even when we know that there is something not right. "It was just a little sin."  We think that we are in control...until that dreadful moment in the middle of that dark night, when sin reaches adulthood and, as James writes, "becomes a real killer."

The good news is that we don't have to wait until morning to call for help. And no receptionist will offer us a ridiculously long wait for an appointment. God answers our calls 24/7. Once we name our sin (admit that the pain of the toothache is too much for us to bear on our own), unlike the dentist, God is immediately available and ready to relieve our pain. The treatment is always the same...forgiveness and God's unconditional love, freely given to us.

Prayer
Holy God, I bring to you a heart broken and hurting because of my sins. Please help me. Please heal me. Please hold me. Amen

About the Pot

I ordered a new pot last week...a four quart dutch oven.  I'm not sure why I ordered a new dutch oven other than it was on sale and it is a pretty blue.  I don't have a dutch oven and I make a lot of meals that could be prepared in a dutch oven, but I do have lots of sauce pans and stew pots that have served me quite well up until now, so I could have easily done without a new blue four quart dutch oven.  But I don't have to do without because now I have one.

Okay.  I fell prey to a sale email.

The pot is enameled cast iron made by Staub...in France.  Not that it matters, but I think staub is the German word for "dust."  I don't know what that has to do with cookware made in France, but whatever.  I'm just easily amused and entertain myself pondering such inconsequential things.

My new pot is quite pretty!

Just in case you don't believe that it was made in France, it tells you so right on the lid.

And I don't know what the Nike swooshes have to do with a dutch oven made in France...maybe a new ad campaign...Just Cook It!  Who knows?  This pot was becoming more entertaining by the minute.

Then I saw this:

Apparently this pot requires an instruction manual, a 100 page instruction manual!  How can that be?The pot has no cords, or dials, and doesn't even require an app to use it.  

And to further confuse things, this!

These 100 pages are the mini manual!  If this is the mini manual, I wonder what the maxi one looks like!  Forget that.  Let's start with what's in the mini manual.  

Relief!  The manual contains information in nine different languages so the required information for use only encompasses ten pages per lanuguage and within those ten pages, there are lots of pictures.  But still...

The manual begins with some history about the Staub company and then moves to an explanation of their unique manufacturing process.  Interesting, maybe even a little bit fascinating if you are sucked in by reading about resistance to thermal shocks and majolique enamels.  I did learn that the Nike swooshes aren't really Nike swooshes; they are "spikes"to help with humidity retention and even basting.  Just Baste It!

The important stuff, which is the same important stuff they tell you when you purchase almost any new pot can be condensed into about four sentences.

1. Wash with warm water, dry, and season with a light coat of oil before using.
2. Use either wooden or silicone utensils only.
3. Use a pot holder when handling and do not place hot pot on unprotected surface.
4. Do not use abrasive cleansers or sponges to clean and do not put pot in the dishwasher.

Pretty much common sense.

I should not make fun of these instructions.  They assume a far greater level of intelligence than do such instructions as the one included with a hairdryer that says, "Do not use while sleeping."  Or, "Do not iron clothes while on body." as instructed in the manual to a Rowenta iron.  

It does seem to me that all of the necessary information needed to successfully use my new pot could have been contained on a concisely written single page, even a mini single page.  And even if all nine languages must be included, still a mere nine pages.  But, because booklets must be constructed in multiples of four for pagination purposes, this leaves three pages available for a nice cover, some pictures, and space to print the company's web address so that I can go there to read all about the company's history and manufacturing process on my computer in something larger than 5 or 6 point type!

All that said, the first meal that I made in my new pot was a hearty vegetable beef soup and it was delicious!  It cooked and simmered beautifully.  Yeah, I do like my new pot very much!

And as per the instructions, I used a wooden spoon!