November 4, 2018

I remember my first experience with fast food.

Dad drove the six of us in his new 1960 Chevy Bel-Air to the new Griff’s Hamburger joint in Lochwood shopping center.

15 cent hamburgers.

Six hamburgers for ninety cents.

For some time now, my oldest brother’s favorite food was my mom’s spaghetti.

I liked it, too, but, apparently, the rules were, I had to come up with my own favorite food.

When he chose apple pie, I chose cherry pie.

So, when he chose spaghetti…

Yep. I chose hamburgers.

And now, if Dad could only come up with fifteen cents, I could eat hamburgers any time I wanted.

So we took dinner home in a paper sack, and ate these hamburgers at the dinner table.

I guess, in theory, it was a hamburger, but really, thin meat, bun, pickle, mustard, and ketchup somehow just didn’t seem to fit into the “favorite food” category.

Then, Hardee’s came along with “flame broiled” hamburgers…also for 15 cents.

Much better…, well maybe a little.

But, they still wouldn’t stand the test of “favorite food”.

But, that was my introduction to the fast food industry, and, that industry became a part of my generation’s culture.

“It takes two hands to handle a Whopper “

“Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun”

“Where’s the beef?”

But, when it got right down to it, the convenience and the price point never quite brought you to the place of saying, “Man, that is one great burger!”

We were studying the sermon on the mount in our Sunday morning Bible Study. (Matthew 5)

“God blesses those who…”

The thing is, the blessings from God come from a long term lifestyle… An immersion into a state of being…

Being poor in spirit, and realizing your need for Him…

Mourning a loss…

Living a life without selfish pride…

Looking for justice…

Offering mercy…

Keeping your heart pure toward God…

Making peace…

Being teased and persecuted and bullied for being a follower of Jesus…

Apparently, the blessings that God gives don’t come in a paper bag at a drive through.

But, they taste so good.