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posted by Michael on 12/9/08

A friend of mine recently gave me the wonderful news that chocolate is a fruit! Why? Because anything that goes with chocolate is a fruit, and since chocolate goes so well with chocolate, chocolate must be a fruit. That’s good news because I like chocolate, especially dark chocolate, and always need an excuse to eat more of it. Chocolate goes with strawberries, bananas, apples, pineapple, and bananas, not to mention cherries, or even cantaloupe. Did you ever have chocolate-covered watermelon? Everyone knows chocolate-covered raisins are great. Chocolate-covered prunes couldn’t be much different. Hmm, lets see, blackberries would go well with chocolate too. Ever had chocolate with pawpaws? You know, those delicious “Hoosier bananas”? Me either, but someone must have, because they wound up in the fruit category. Same with juneberries and goji berries and goumi berries. Then there is oranges, just imagine it, and you’ve GOT to try chocolate-covered grapefruit! Everyone knows lemons and limes go with chocolate, after all, they are fruits.

I don’t think anything is quite as closely associated with chocolate as peanuts, you know, those southern legumes that G.W. Carver made famous? So peanuts are definitely a fruit. Interestingly, vanilla and coffee are two other legumes that go well with chocolate, maybe all legumes are fruits! You never know until you try it – maybe chocolate would go well with limas and peas and green beans and soy nuts! Peanuts – that reminds me of some other nuts – I mean fruits – that go with chocolate: almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, etc.

There’s one thing that rivals peanuts: milk. Chocolate-milk and milk-chocolate – you can’t get much closer than that! Chocolate in ice-cream, on ice-cream, under ice-cream… Yes, there is no doubt about it: milk is a fruit.

Might as well throw in caramel too – you wouldn’t believe how many times I have eagerly bit into a beautiful piece of dark chocolate only to discover it had a cruel, tenacious blob of caramel hiding inside waiting to stick to my teeth and glue my mouth up. Oh well, I guess someone thought caramel was a fruit. Speaking of sticky things, we all know marshmallows are fruit too – must be one of those seedless fruits – and graham crackers for that matter. Crackers. Does that mean flour is a fruit? Yeahhhh… you know, chocolate cake, chocolate [chip] cookies, brownies, even chocolate-covered pretzels. Flour and chocolate right together over and over again.

I’m starting to wonder about this whole thing. What if we just stayed with the historical definition of fruit? Changing the definition of something commonly said to be healthy for the sake of accommodating something I like and provide license for greater indulgence ends up destroying its own purpose: “edible fruit” would no longer represent such a uniformly wholesome food category. Hence, chocolate would be no better off than it was before.

Don’t forget chocolate-covered grasshoppers. I’ve never met anyone who said chocolate didn’t go with grasshoppers – of those who actually tried it that is. You never really know until you try it. Ever used chocolate as a salad dressing? If this keeps going, even lettuce might end up in the fruit category. OK, I say let fruit be fruit and enjoy it with chocolate and other things in their proper place. Health is part of happiness and “making provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof” is only part of a way that seemeth right unto a man but ends in the ways of death.

Moral to the story:

Conforming truth to personal pleasure always leads to throwing the truth out altogether. But thankfully, conforming personal pleasure to absolute truth always leads to ultimate happiness.

8 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side

posted by James on 11/17/08

November 4 marks a very special event on the IBLP calendar. It is Mr. Gothard’s birthday! The staff worked diligently to put on a very memorable birthday celebration complete with seasonal decorations, special music, and a scrumptious banquet. With over 100 guests, it was an event to remember!

“Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out” (Proverbs 20:6). Thank you Mr. Gothard for investing in the staff at Headquarters and families around the world the truths and insights you have drawn from Scripture!  

6 Comments » | posted in The Bright Side

posted by Donald on 09/18/08

While we’re already into our third week, we’re actually only beginning to “take off” with a full-fledged teaching schedule.
Yesterday and today students from Nan Jung (our host school–pronounced Non Rong) came for a total of seven 45-minute periods and next Monday students from an elementary school will be the first regular outside guests to come through. It promises to be another good year and I’m reminded of Psalm 19:5, a verse that came to mind during a jog earlier this week: “[The rising sun is] as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.” There’s a long flight ahead but the Lord has been our strength giving us cause to rejoice at the beginning of the race as well as afterwards.
Though Austin had only taught the airport classroom a few times before, he enjoyed “taking the stick” for today and conducted four successful flights in the Airport this morning. I’m really looking forward to doing the Market class with him some day. I feel our Fashion Store lesson plan is at last where it ought to be as well. Today I practiced some different things for the peerless Mr. Brown Cafe and of course it brings a particular degree of satisfaction seeing satisfied students walk out of the newly opened branch of Mega International Commercial Bank.
As our small crew flies on into and above the clouds, through day and night over uncharted territory, we rejoice that the Lord has seen fit to bless our efforts so far and we return the credit both to Him and those He is using through their tremendous encouragement and prayers. Thank you all!
Praise the Lord

3 Comments » | posted in Family News, Ministry Reports, The Bright Side

posted by Michael on 07/1/08

There have been so many things going on here at the Staddon house that it has been impossible for me to get anything posted for a while. It seems too bad because those things would make great blog posts. We’ve been splitting bee hives, planting trees, harvesting honey, chipping branches, and all kinds of other interesting projects. I even had my first try at welding. It has been a lot of hard, sweat-dripping work. But what deserves a blog post the most is what our family read in Psalm 118 this morning, especially verses 19 through 23:

Verses 19-20: “Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and will praise the Lord: this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter.” Question:Who is “the door of the sheep” through which they enter into the fold?

Verse 21: “I will praise Thee: for Thou has heard me, and art become my Salvation.” Question: Who is our Salvation?

Verses 22-23: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Question: Who is the Head that the builders rejected?

Verse 24: “This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Key question: What is “this” Day that the Lord has made?

Read the verses again. Verse 24 is just a continuation of the other verses. The gate, the salvation, and the stone are speaking of Christ. The Day in verse 24 is not ultimately speaking of any 12-hour or 24-hour period! This is speaking of Christ, the Eternal Day in which I will rejoice, beginning the moment that I made peace with God through the sacrifice of His Son. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” 1 Jn. 5:12. The water Christ gives is a well of water springing up unto everlasting life (Jn. 4:14). “For God, Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” 2 Cor. 4:6. “The Lord is my light and my salvation” Ps. 27:1, “a light to lighten the gentiles” Luke 2:32, Is. 9:2, and Is. 49:6. According to Hebrews 4:8-10 this eternal day that lives within me is the Sabbath, the Day of rest. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Mt. 11:28. My temporal body may work and sweat, but how glorious it is to abide in the Rest of Jesus Christ forever! Woe to me if I attempt the labor of iniquity on this Day! Question: “And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not  profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest” Heb. 3:18 – 4:3a.

5 Comments » | posted in Politics, Recipes, The Bright Side, Tidbits

posted by James on 06/28/08

Ever since late spring, when you can expect things to stay hot and muggy and there is no fear of it ever getting cold again (or at least for a while), I have always wanted to get a bike and explore the surrounding area. I’ve always enjoyed biking, whether it was racing through neighborhoods playing "Bible Runners" or cruising through the West Virginia hills on old rails-to-trails biking paths. So, after a month or so, I was finally able to obtain a nice mountain bike. Ever since, I’ve been enjoying the many side roads, neighborhoods, and forest preserves full of biking opportunities. 

Beside enjoyment, transportation is another blessing of having a bike. Yesterday, instead of having to wait for a ride to a nearby park where activities were planned, I was able to ride there by myself and get the benefit of the exercise. However, bikes can also be dangerous.

It was growing dark as Robert and I headed for the exit of the forest preserve we had explored that evening. Because night was coming on, we were traveling rather quickly. This was a mistake because unknown to us, the entrance and exit had been chained off at dusk. Just before I reached the invisible chain, I followed a seemingly useless prompting to slow down. Suddenly, my bike came to an abrupt halt as it came in contact with the chain across the road. I probably would have flown off the bike, but thankfully, I had slowed down enough to lessen the effects of the impact. Later, Robert told me that he was overwhelmed with the urge to ask God for safety just seconds before I hit the chain. I think that prompting to slow down was from the Lord!

But anyway, the pros outweigh the cons. From experiences like the one above, I am getting to know the area around here pretty well and can serve as a sort of "tour guide." I enjoy taking people who have been busy sitting at a desk doing office work all day for short, refreshing biking ventures. Praise the Lord for bikes!

4 Comments » | posted in Family News, The Bright Side