A Tale of Two Trees...and a Horse

Thanksgiving Day in the Dougherty house has been interesting to say the least. Definitely not what I had planned...or at least the way I planned it. A friend of mine and I were just talking yesterday about flexibility and making plans.  You never know what's going to happen.

  My wife has a friend who fell on some hard times and she's been doing all she can to help her get back on her feet by getting her hair styling equipment and cosmetics, clothes, and other essentials, and has been inviting her over to the house to show her love and hospitality.  I'm so proud of my wife taking seriously the things Jesus values most in the Kingdom, and that is showing love to those who have been thrust to the margins, even if it is of their own making (which is where most of our problems originate if we're honest).  That is truly taking seriously the mandate to create spaces where humans can flourish, and helping remove the barriers.

My wife invited that friend over to watch mushy Christmas shows with her (for which I'm forever grateful!), and to start to experience the holidays with the decorations, and to share a nice home cooked Thanksgiving meal with us. 

Yesterday I spent hours smoking a ham to have pulled ham with a cherry bourbon glaze which turned out fantastic I might say.  I had a turkey breast sitting in brine in the fridge for a couple of days, pulled it out of the brine and put it back in the fridge last night.  When I got up this morning, I knew I needed to get the turkey breast ready for the smoker because it's a good 3 1/2 hour job to prepare the way I like and it needed to be injected first.  My wife is really good at that part so she prepped her special injection concoction and went to work.  I prepped the outside afterward with a binder so the seasonings would adhere through the cook.

Bear (my big black dog and grilling buddy) and I went out to start the smoker, and set the temperature for 225 degrees.  It was chilly out this morning so I knew the cold weather start would take a bit.  The turkey lay in a pan on the counter awaiting it's smokey destination when the lights started flickering. We breathed a sigh of relief until they flickered again, and again, and again...until they went out completely.  I was a bit frustrated because I knew I'd have to refire the smoker and wait again, but surely it wouldn't be long.  The clock read around 8:30am.

It wasn't weather related because the sky was a beautiful blue and the sun was shining against the leaf bare trees behind the back fence.  I knew I had paid the electric bill, so that was checked off of the possible cause list.  I opened the power company app on my phone because typically there is a time frame estimate given for restoration of power.  Nothing.  

We check our neighborhood Facebook page where everyone typically reports the obvious to the rest of the hood, "Anybody else's power go out?".  Um, yeah.  Then we start getting estimates from the electric company.  9:15am.  Ok that's not bad.  We'll still have plenty of time to get the turkey finished in time for a noonish meal.  Then we see an update saying 10:00am.  Ok, so a late thanksgiving lunch.  Around 9:45, we get the update that says noon.  Oh man!  Not long after, we see 2:00pm.  Well, that means dinner.

We all load up in the truck in search of something to tide us over until the evening Thanksgiving meal.  We know the local cafe is giving away free Thanksgiving meals to the town, not just for some but for everyone. Wow! But we knew we were going to have a pretty large meal later.  We drove past the new McDonalds which was clearly open to drive up the street toward Tulsa in search of something not McDonalds.  Well, as it turns out a lot of places are actually allowing employees to spend time with their families on Thanksgiving.  Except McDonalds.  So back to McDonalds we go.  I'm not a fan. Especially for Thanksgiving lunch.

Thankfully the value meal is still intact mostly because I'm cheap.  I just needed something to tame the beast in my belly which may not last until evening otherwise.  Just after we get the food, with the clock reading around noon, we got the notification that the electric service was restored!   

There was a time in my life, and I'll admit it wasn't really that terribly long ago, that this turn of events would have somewhat unraveled me.  I mean, I have things planned out.  They're mapped out in my mind, some steps even written down. The recipes all lined out, and everything I need lined up.  I planned on doing all of the cooking because I enjoy it, so I had the sequence of preparation lined out and scheduled so they would all be ready about the same time.  Kind of hard to do all of that without electricity. 

In Genesis 2 we learn about two trees that the Creator put in the garden he made for the first couple.  One was the tree of life.  Presumably eating from that tree meant for them life that continued on and on.  The other was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Another way of translating is the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.  That tree was off limits to the couple.  Eating from it would result in death.  It was a test.  Would they trust God or not.  Would they trust God to define what is good and what is bad by His definition, or would they choose to begin to make that evaluation of people, circumstances, and events on their own terms?  We all know how that ended. 

Most of my life when the electricity suddenly went out (or any number of possible unexpected or unpleasant events took place), I'd rant and rail about how 'bad' it was.  Depending on the circumstances, I'm embarrassed to admit I'd let it ruin my day, and sometimes ruin the day of those around me.  

I was faced with that test again this morning when the power went out.  Who would qualify and define the events of the morning?  

There's an old story about a farmer and his son that comes to mind:

A farmer gets a horse, which soon runs away. A neighbor says, "That's bad news." The farmer replies, "Good news, bad news, who can say?"

The horse comes back and brings another horse with him. Good news, you might say.

The farmer gives the second horse to his son, who rides it, then is thrown and badly breaks his leg.

"So sorry for your bad news," says the concerned neighbor. "Good news, bad news, who can say?" the farmer replies.

In a week or so, his country's men come and take every able-bodied young man to fight in a war. The farmer's son is spared because of his broken leg.  Good news, you might say?

My old standby was to judge the morning as bad, and rant and rail while adjusting my original plans (control problem much?) and probably let some of that slip outside of my head and make things unpleasant for those around me.

We tend to be very quick with our own evaluation of circumstances in our strange need to judge things as either 'good' or 'bad'.  We're smart that way, you see?  We KNOW! We've eaten from that tree. The problem is that we're way too short sighted for those kinds of determinations.  Does that mean everything that happens is pleasant?  Of course not!  There may be a reason you didn't wake up to your alarm and you were late.  Perhaps something unpleasant was avoided during the normal time of your drive.  Is cancer good or bad?  I know what I have always said before, and know what most would say given the same scenario.  However, I learned some incredibly wonderful things through that whole process that I never would have without that diagnosis.  My faith grew in ways that I believe would have only been possible through that circumstance.  Good or bad?

I'm learning that when the unexpected, unpleasant, or unplanned happens not to quickly label the think as 'good' or 'bad'.  I just say, this is neither good nor bad, it just *is*.  So now, Lord, how do you want me to respond?  I'm starting to see many things as a test just like the first couple was when confronted with the existence of the two trees.  Am I going to trust God to define the circumstance from his wisdom, or am I (the Genius) going to define it all on my own terms.  I don't like the consequences of the wrong choice, it separates me from the one who loves me more than I can ever comprehend.  Through life's circumstances he's trying to chisel away from me the stuff that isn't helpful and in fact is harmful and keeping me from the good life.  At the same time, he's trying to build in me the kind of stuff that makes me the image bearer he desires me to be through other events and circumstances.  Are they good or bad??  Yep.  FG

PS The turkey turned out great!!