“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Matthew 7:15-20
We have a Vitamix blender. It is probably our most-used kitchen appliance. The one shown in the picture below is 12+ years old. It is well-loved and well-used sometimes multiple times a day.
Every morning, I make myself a breakfast "smoothie": 1/2 cup old fashioned oats, 1 frozen overripe banana (for sweetness), a spoonful of flax seeds, 1 cup of almond milk, and 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa. After I mix all of the above on high, and then a small handful of raw almonds and blend on low for a bit. I love having crunchy almonds in every bite. (That's a Julie Anne original recipe - enjoy!) I love it and miss it whenever I am away from home.
I also enjoy making the kids smoothies and use various fruit depending on what is available. I might put these fruit in a smoothie: pineapple, mango, banana, and orange.
Or I might put these fruit in a smoothie: banana, orange, mango, and pineapple.
I could change things around and put these fruit in a smoothie: mango, pineapple, orange, and banana.
Or this combination, too, works well: orange, banana, pineapple, and mango.
How will Smoothie 1 vary in taste from Smoothie 2? How about the taste of Smoothie 3 and Smoothie 4? Will they vary in taste or be the same? Yes, I think you are probably getting it by now.
The pastor's family had recently purchased a Vitamix and I know from talking with his wife, that they were thrilled with using it and the health benefits from drinking smoothies. We had been using our Vitamix for years, so they were speaking our language. I remember sharing my favorite ways of using our Vitamix with her.
At church, I became aware that many people were tiring of the very repetitious sermons, week after week, month after month. I encouraged them to tell the pastor, that it wouldn't do any good to tell me about it (although I personally did have the same issue).
After hearing that others had brought this subject to their attention time and again, I used this Vitamix illustration in a meeting with the pastor and elders. It seemed apparent that either the pastor did not get the message or did not want to get the message from others, so I attempted to speak in a language that might make a clear connection.
I told him that if someone was to take Fruit A, Fruit B, Fruit C, and Fruit D, mix it up in the Vitamix and pour it out, it will taste the same if you switched around the order and used Fruit D, Fruit, C, Fruit B, and Fruit A. I explained that people were going crazy with the repetitious sermons (that typically lasted one hour). We needed more fruit, not the same fruit mixed up again and again.
Note: If Vitamix Corporation likes this free advertisement for them and would like to upgrade the Smith family's Vitamix, please contact Julie Anne here: bgbcsurvivors @ gmail dot com :)
. . . . to be continued
We've owned a Vita-Mix for over a decade and like you enjoy turning out great smoothies each morning. What an incredible way of enjoying a nutritious breakfast! Like your recipe!
ReplyDeleteJulie Anne, I have two comments. First, I commend you for your directness (and bravery) in going straight to the pastor to address the issue. Second, how clever of you to use a word picture to illustrate your point. Most of us don't communicate effectively because we don't take the recipient into account when we're speaking, and finding a word picture that the other party understands is often very helpful.
ReplyDeleteBack to your illustration, it does make one wonder whether he was fixated on those "four fruits" for some reason and why he was reluctant to try something else. Quite literally, it's food for thought.
SmoothieQueen: Thank you :)
DeleteAny time you want to be a guest blogger, let me know. I like the way you write :)
I like smoothies too, but if you only drink smoothies made from mango, pineapple, orange, and banana all day, every day, how are you going to get your protein, iron, calcium & other essential nutrients? Simply stated, this would not make for a healthy body. You probably get the picture. Same song, second verse, a little bit louder and a little bit worse sermons don't make for a healthy body of Christ either.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I wonder if, like pop stars, there are any pastors out there that lip sync with taped sermons. Fortunately I have little experience with the repetitious sermon pastor. Little, but not none.
ReplyDeleteYou know what's funny about your using this story in the meeting with the church leaders? They didn't get it. Unlike the Pharisees, who understood very well that Jesus' stories spoke about them. Wonder why that is?
I know that there are churches out there that the leadership believes that if you aren't going to their church, exclusively, that you are apostate.
ReplyDeleteIf you aren't being fed, then you gotta move on.
There is so much to learn, and not any one preacher is even capable of even knowing everything that is supposed to be "spiritually" interpreted.
For example, for those just coming to Christ for the first time are fed the milk. As you get more mature in the walk with God, you are fed the meat.
The Apostle Paul speaks of this. But if you keep being fed milk, that does no one any good.
Most Christians seem to want to stay in the New Test writings, bad mouthing the Jews for being "disobedient". There is a ton of spiritual things to learn from the Jews, and none of us are experts at every one of them.
The Basic teaching is that Jesus is the lamb, as outlined in the feast of the Passover.
That is a hint, in that Jesus is identified much more in all of the law, the prophets, and the psalms, in the spiritual sense.
We should be taught HOW to study the law, the prophets, and the psalms in the spiritual, rather than the carnal.
Here is another great example. Abraham offered up his ONLY begotten son.
Hebrews 11:17
By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
Was this story just about Abraham offering up Isaac because God told him to? NO. It is a spiritual story.
While this is basic teaching, we need to be fed the DEEP MYSTERIES that are in the law, the prophets and the psalms; and not all preachers are capable in doing this.
Bottom line, if you are not being fed, ya gotta go to where the food is.
As the Apostle Paul states, the Jews hold the Oracles of God. No Gentile does. We gotta get in the spiritual mind set, and stop being brow beat with the carnal, such as concentrating that the Jews were disobedient, and what kind of clothing we wear.
None of us knows everything, but we can sure get closer than where we are now.
I'm not missing the point but just want to point out something else too. Julie Ann makes a smoothie to put good things into her body. When you are healing emotionally and spiritually, you should flood your body with nutrition. How many levels can you be stressed on? Not every single one. Take care of your body and you'll have more energy to heal spiritually.
ReplyDeleteI know smoothies sound gross, but your taste buds can get used to anything within five days. Same with fish and squash and broccoli. Just tell yourself over and over during those five days how your body is loving that nutrition. Eventually you will actually like it and crave it. One of my favorite websites for good nutrition is www.rootedwellbeing.com.