Ramps (wild garlic/onions) are harvested in the spring all over these mountains and sold on the roadside from the back of pickups. The master chef of Knife and Fork, near Mt. Celo Church, is a former WNC Chef Challenge Winner. One of his winning recipes was tempura-fried ramps. There are ramp dinners held at many of the local churches and fire stations that feature more pedestrian recipes such as scrambled eggs and ramps.
My Meditations on and Applications from Today's Bible Readings
"The Worth of a Soul*": From God's Perspective: (Judges 7 and 8 and Luke 15:11-32) God calls us to humility before Him but to confidence in Him. Gideon is being raised up by God to destroy idol worship among the Israelites and to lead them into war against their enemies. But, like Moses, he does not yet see that he is not called in His own strength, but in God's. Gideon likely only saw himself and his circumstances through the eyes of his world: "We are besieged on all sides; God has forsaken us; why did God bring us out of Egypt to be destroyed here; all hope is lost." But God... sees a man of valor and of might - a leader of Israel - in God's strength. It is not about Gideon's strength. It is about the yielded life to God in obedience. "But God I am not able...my clan is the weakest, I am the least in my father's house." "I know, Gideon, but I, God, am calling you, empowering you, sending you." And then the next key: Gideon listens and obeys. In the Luke account of The Prodigal Son, we see humility changed into humiliation. The son realizes his awful mistake; he has squandered his remaining livelihood, is starving to death, is relegated to feeding the loathsome swine in a foreign country. But..."he comes to himself"...he remembers....his father and returns to him pleading for forgiveness. The father runs to embrace him, forgive him, to place a feast before him.
"The World Never Quite Understands*" - Gideon and the 300 rout the multitudinous armies of the Midianites and their cohorts. Gideon realizes this is a miracle - the enemy has turned on each other. This is God's Mighty Hand and Outstretched Arm, and he gives God the glory: "Arise, for the LORD has delivered...When the LORD has delivered." But the people could only see the man: "Rule over us, both you and your son and grandson." But Gideon refuses: "Neither I, nor my sons, will rule over you; the LORD shall rule over you. As soon as Gideon dies, the people return to Baal worship, play the harlot and forget God...who had delivered them...nor did they show kindness to the house of Gideon (Jerubbaal)...in accordance with the good he had done for Israel. The older brother of the Prodigal Son, likewise, was angry at the grace and mercy the father showed his sinful brother. He forgot that his father had given him all that he had, that he had always gotten to be with his father, that he had not endured all the horror and humiliations of the wayward brother. In his jealousy and self-absorption, he is unable to enter into the joy of the father over the lost son who is now found, who was dead but now is alive. He will never understand the joy of unmerited mercy and grace that the humbled prodigal son experiences. "The foolish crowd never quite understands, the worth of a soul and the change that's wrought, by the touch of the Master's Hand.*"
The Story Within The Story: This is the story of each of us who return to our heavenly Father after squandering our gifts, talents, lives bought by Christ on the cross, when we have nothing left and nowhere to turn. It is our story when we remain in our helpless state and refuse to go forward in the strength of the Lord, in obedience to Him. It is, then, in our humiliated state that we return to God, who accepts us with open arms and eternal life with Him. This is also the story of our forgetting..."when a thief lifts up his eyes, that his pardoned soul is worthy of a place in paradise", of forgetting... that "we can do all things through Christ, which strengthens us, that we belong to a merciful and gracious God even when our "Jonah side" refuses to go to the evil, sinful Ninevites to save them from eternal destruction, when we refuse to reach across racial, social, political, gender lines in the name of Jesus...for their soul's sakes. This is the story of our "Gideon" view of self and circumstances (I am nothing; I can't do this, everything is hopeless) - as well as the Jacob within us. "All is against us." When we pause and consider...remember...as we look back, we see our Providential and Sovereign God engineering our circumstances for our good and His glory, sending His Spirit to enable and empower us to be "more than conquerors through Him who loves us." The key then and now is our obedience to His commands, regardless of our circumstances and regardless of the "common sense" of the command. This is faith...keeping our eyes on Jesus...knowing and trusting the God we serve.
BUT GOD...will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. Selah
Psalm 49:15
* From the poem, The Touch of the Master's Hand by Myra Brooks Welch
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