Bucketfuls of water from a flash thunderstorm poured on my compact rental car as I scanned the streets around the motel for a quick dinner. I was attending a conference in New Orleans, and had a hankering for some old fashioned Southern cooking. I passed by several fast food joints, including a McDonalds, a Pizza Hut and a Sonic, before I noticed a Popeye's in the corner. Ah, yes. Popeye's fried chicken. I've eaten at Popeye's in Los Angeles before, but having spicy fried chicken at the cradle of Southern and Cajun cuisine, that sounded pretty good. I pulled into the parking lot, made a mad dash into the restaurant just as a large rain cell descended, and waited in line, appearing quite conspicuously in the crowd not only because I was soaking wet, but also because I was the only Asian in the restaurant. No matter. I came to get my fried chicken, so I was going to get my fried chicken. I checked the menu board and approached to place my order.
"Uh, I'd like the two-piece combo with the cole slaw, red beans and rice, and..."
"Sorry, we're out of fried chicken."
What? No fried chicken at a fried chicken place? I could understand if a pizza place ran out of wings or a public restroom ran out of toilet paper, but this was really disappointing. Fortunately, they did not completely run out of chicken, and I settled for the spicy chicken strips and extra packets of barbeque sauce to go with them. They were satisfying, but they weren't what I wanted.
Just as I visited a fried chicken restaurant expecting to have fried chicken, we attend church on Sundays expecting certain "signature" flavors and dishes. It's nice if the church has handsome, well-groomed greeters and ushers, clean seats, comfortable air conditioning, excellent music, good preaching and friendly conversation, but those are just "fixins" on the side, like an order of curly fries, biscuits or cole slaw. They're nothing special - I could find similar ambiance (and sometimes more) at a time-share sales presentation. On the other hand, we leave church in awe, and our lives begin to be transformed, when we seek and experience God's presence and holiness, and when our brokenness is mended by unconditional, sacrificial and genuine love. God is not pleased when we do not genuinely seek Him, and do not infuse all our actions with love:
"The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught." (Isaiah 29:13)
"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
May we never fail to have our signature recipe in abundance.
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