Creative Salad

       Let’s get creative and praise the LORD! God has given us so many prime ingredients. The creative salad is a process to find new combinations with them and get your thinking cap on for Him. Started by my friend Ben Ingalls and I, this salad had always been a fun experimental project. We would enjoy a unique combination such as: avocados (a very necessary ingredient), strawberries, apples, lots of red onions, bell peppers and greens. We would often add dry-roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds, or slivered almonds for variation, and use olive oil and citrus for dressings. Nowadays, this salad has grown in appreciation within my own family. My mom really likes fetta cheese, so that usually finds it’s way as a garnish (the potassium in the avocados helps to cancel out the sodium in the cheese, but always watch cheese intake with low-sodium diets). For your next salad or meal, whatever the ingredients, get creative and approach it as an opportunity to use inventiveness for Him. God loves it when we do and share with others, because His creativity is magnified! 

       “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” (Psalm 100:4). The reason that this salad, cookbook, food, or anything should exist is to praise the LORD! For it is said, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD” (Psalm 150:6). Psalm 100’s cantation begins by entering His gates with thanksgiving, and the last Psalm in the book of Psalms ends with thanksgiving as well. This tells us that praising and thanking God is important. That is why the dedication page (the first page of this book) and the last page thank God, for nothing is possible without Him!^t28 Thanking God for just existing, for making such fine ingredients, or for anything, though, is not to flatter Him. Rather, by worshiping God, we come to know Him more and realize how good He is! It helps us follow Him and realize the joy that He freely gives.^t29 And thanking God and worshiping Him can be done in other ways besides singing. It is a very common way, but Romans 12:1-8 speaks about how anything God gives us can be used for Him. Paul, the writer of Romans, elaborates in verses 6-8, “We have different gifts according to the grace given to us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently, if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” God openly offers grace to us all through His Son Jesus Christ, who paid the price for our sins. Thank God for His kindness in whatever gifts He has given you, believe in His work, and remember to metaphorically, “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy” (Psalm 33:3).


♥   Footnotes

^t28 White, Josh, narr. "A Theology of Singing." Spirit and Truth. Door of Hope, under God's direction, Portland, 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

<http://www.doorofhopepdx.org/media/teachings/category/spirit-truth.html>.
^t29 "White, Josh, narr. "A Theology of Worship." Spirit and Truth. Door of Hope, under God's direction, Portland, 16 Aug. 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.
<http://www.doorofhopepdx.org/media/teachings/category/spirit-truth.html>.
See also, A "Theology of Posture":
http://www.doorofhopepdx.org/media/teachings/category/spirit-truth.html


♥   Praise the Lord! 'He Art cooking' the cookbook is done! Here is a sneak peak of what you can order (if you please, order here!). God Bless your cooking and enjoy the recipes (Scripture) from the LORD as well!