Mission, Spirituality, Connecting
  

You may remember the February 2010 editorial titled "Brussels Sprouts and Pizza." While there was clarity on my dislike of Brussels sprouts, there was an admission that I really like pizza. Believe it or not, I did not like pizza immediately.

Sight-eaters are gifted, they (we) can identify good and bad food from a great distance. Sight-eaters are usually traditional, believing (knowing) that good food must always be similar to already acceptable foods. Anything outside this previously accepted list is instinctively rejected.

As a young boy, pizza pie was making inroads into the culinary experience of our country. I quickly decided that anything called "pie" but looked like that could not be a good thing. My dad, on the other hand, saw pizza and decided he liked it. I still remember Dad bringing a flat, square box to the car, sliding onto the front seat, opening the box and, with great delight, consuming this new, strange food. Every time Dad or Mom offered a slice to me, I refused — because I knew better. None of that stuff for me!

I remember the night everything changed. Dad returned to the car with a pizza, and it became clear to me, on that occasion, I would either have a bite of pizza or starve. With great emotion, I objected to this abuse. With tears running down my face, I took a very small bite off the tip of a slice.

"So," they asked, "isn't that good?"

My answer was a definitive "No!" My mouth said one thing, but my palate said quite another. In my heart, I knew I was hooked.

There is a phrase in the business world, attributed to Peter Drucker and popularized in 2006 by Mark Fields, president of Ford Motor Company: "Culture eats strategy plans for breakfast." In other words, who we are and how we have always done things becomes our normative point of view. We assume something's right and is the way things should be. This culturally normative way of thinking can even affect the way we interpret Scripture. That's exactly what Christ faced in His time. The norms and traditions were all ingrained in the minds of leadership and the nation of that time. Jesus did not focus on tradition; He focused on true meaning of Scripture. The real Kingdom of God was not a dominate nation of Israel; it was connecting with and following the Father. Read More