burgers

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A Week Of Eating Out

I don’t know how single guys do it – I’d be broke and weigh about 500 pounds if I wasn’t married.  I’d never think about it though, if it wasn’t for a week like this past one.

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Reality set in Friday night. I don’t go away all that often, and Lily goes away on her own even less, but this past week we were both away … separately.

I had some meetings in the Toronto area Tuesday and Wednesday, and Lily had work meetings in Montreal Wednesday to Friday.

The hard part was figuring out our vehicle situation because number one son also needed a car for parts of the week. But once that was settled, we were all good.

… Except for the food thing.

While I was away, I was eating meals brought into our meetings and going out to restaurants. When I got home, Lily was gone so it was just eating out at restaurants for me.

Lil said something to Mike our son about checking in with Dad around dinner time and his comment was, “Ya, I guess he won’t be cooking”.

He had that right. I make a mean hot oat bran cereal in the morning, but past that my skills and desire fall pretty flat.

So over the week I had pizza twice, subs once, fajitas once, hamburgers twice, a hotdog, and of course, I had hot wings.

I almost fasted over lunch one day. I had played hockey at noon and missed lunch. I almost thought I didn’t need anything, but when I was nearing Harvey’s, I got a hankering for a hotdog.

So the craziest thing happened – the car just automatically turned into the parking lot and parked itself. It was just like one of those Ford car commercials where they let go of the steering wheel and the car takes over and parks.

I just had to go in then!

You can see that if this was a regular pattern of eating for me, my weight would skyrocket and I would be burning the strip right off my debit card.

Though I might not get that far, according to my doctor my cholesterol would soar, and my arteries would clog up like putting a drain stopper in a sink.

I have to be careful, and I’m glad that Lil’s now home and I’m getting good healthy meals … well except for tonight – it’s Saturday night and there’s a hockey game on.

You know what that means: it’s hot wings and a Dr. Pepper . . . mmm  . . .  I can feel by blood pressure on the rise just thinking about it.

I know what you’re thinking: Paul needs an intervention. But listen, it’s only one week, and I’ll be back to eating carrots, broccoli and almonds for lunches before you even get to read this.

That’s right, I’ll be back saving money and getting slim. I just have to finish off that darn candy sitting around the house from Christmas.

Here’s the thing: There are all kinds of interruptions that come into our day, our week, our life. They get us off track from taking time with God. Don’t let them permanently derail you. Don’t get down because you missed a few days. Just start today and get yourself back into the groove of taking that regular time with God. He’s waiting for you, and He’s not going to beat you up about missing some days. He’s happy to have you back spending time with Him.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What patterns do you fall into when you fall out of routine? Leave your comment below.

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I Got All Greased Up

Friday night after a very long day, my wife and I went out for dinner.  I’m not sure I consider getting fast food as going out for dinner, but, we didn’t eat at home. Normally, Friday nights is leftovers night, but this night I needed a treat.

We went to “Five Guys”, a restaurant that just opened in our neighbourhood. The burgers are good there and yes, I know it’s not healthy – you can tell by the grease soaking through the brown paper bag that the food comes in.

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I figure I can handle a little grease in my system every once in a while because I’m taking medication for that.

I don’t know the technical term for what it does, but in my understanding I picture the medication puts something like a teflon coating on your arteries so that all the crud, (triglycerides, cholesterol) or sludge, just keeps on sliding through.

That’s the way I picture it anyway … so that my conscience is clear. If you know something different, don’t tell me. I like the picture I have in my mind.

When we went into the restaurant I noticed a few things. First, there were a lot of employees. They were young; they all looked like teenagers, except for the big guy who I figured was the manager, or two of the five guys!

Second, though they call it fast food, it really wasn’t all that fast. McDonalds is fast. Wendy’s is pretty fast. But at Five Guys, they give you a number and say they will call you up when the food is ready.

With the shear volume of little people scurrying around in the kitchen, you’d think you would have your order by the time you paid for it.

Not so! We found a table and waited. I’ll admit though, the waiting was pretty enjoyable … they have free peanuts in the shell, which we availed ourselves of.

I noticed Lily was being uncharacteristically messy with the peanuts. I was putting the shells back in the tray with the unopened ones, just to keep the table neat. Lily was throwing them on the floor!

Once I figured out that everyone did that – there were peanut shells everywhere – I got right into it. By the time our food came, I think I had the most shells around my chair.

Along with the free peanuts to bide our time, were the signs all around the restaurant inviting you to read them. They were endorsements in big writing so they were easily read anywhere you sat.

They all had a similar theme. They told you how great Five Guys was. It wasn’t like they were tooting their own horn, but at the same time they were because they were using these accolades as decoration.

The only disconcerting thing about these ego-pumping posters was that most of the dates on them were from 5 or 6 years ago. As you read them, you just hoped the food wasn’t that old.

The food finally came, the burgers were delicious, and the fries were well worth the extra grease running through my veins.

Here’s the thing: We went to the restaurant for a burger and fries but we experienced a lot more. When you first come to Christ, it’s often because you have a particular need, desire, or concern. But what you find is your experience with Him is so much more.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How has your experience with God expanded from what drew you to him in the first place?  Leave a comment below.