Hallelujah! That was what I wanted to burst into song with after last week’s Homefront Show. Not because the show was over, but because we had steak for breakfast. I’m going to talk about that during the show tomorrow (Wednesday the 27th) – about basic, timeless good things, such as breakfast, and steak, and conversation during breakfast while eating steak. You think steak is for rich people. Think again. I’m going to talk about how expensive that kind of thinking really is.
We’ll consider the expense of a poverty mentality. And we’ll look at Gary Keesee’s 10 Steps to Posture Yourself for Opportunity, and share insights from Tommy Newberry’s 40 Days to a Joy-Filled Life, and excellent thoughts from two excellent men – John Parker and John Dunlap.
So, if you know anyone who could use a bit of excellence, good ideas, joy, and other good stuff, call them now and tell them to join us on the Home Front Show (Wednesday, March 27 at 8:00 AM Mountain), on http://1360khnc.com where we’ll also talk about the organization Transform Our World, and the joy of transforming our world.
Joy. Did you know joy doesn’t mix with fear. Fear is the devil’s currency, and you can’t buy a single good thing with it. In her book Time Alive, Alexandra Stoddard has a chapter entitled JOY ACCOMPANIES A COURAGEOUS LIFE, and the title is followed by this Winston Churchill quote: “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities . . . It is the quality which guarantees all others.”
Fear, as I said, is the devil’s currency. Fear is what causes people to succumb to evil without even knowing it. It makes people irrational so that they behave in ways at odds with their actual beliefs. Fear makes us unsound of mind, and knocks the hero right out of us.
I like to talk about hero moms on the Homefront Show, and one of those was my grandmother, “Grannimother”, who did her laundry in Mountain Fork River near Hochatown, Oklahoma. I remember not only what God has done for me in days past, but what my ancestors have done for me, what all our ancestors have done for us in building this country, in things large such as coast to coast railroads and highways, and in things a bit smaller such as running water and washing machines.
It may have been recalling bathing in the river as Grannimother did the wash that prompted my dad’s response to a group of women complaining about keeping up with the laundry. He grinned and said, “Yeah, it sure is hard pouring in that soup and pushing those buttons.”
I remember one of my favorite things ever was Grannimother peeling her garden-scorched, best-in-the-entire-world tomatoes, and slicing big thick slices to share with me. Just tomatoes and salt. Who could ask for more?
That’s wealth, and it’s not expensive. Here’s what’s expensive: Putting a sugar/processed grain death concoction in front of your family every single day, as a way to start their day.
Then maybe it’s hot dogs for lunch. “That just blows my mind” was John’s response the other day when he asked me if I wanted steak or chili dogs I said, “Steak is better and steak is cheaper.”
We bought round steak at Ridley’s in Wellington for $2.99 a pound (hot dogs were considerably more), marinated it for three days, then grilled it after the show last Wednesday morning. Oh, my goodness, was it wonderful! I gently fried eggs (dippies) and made Dave’s Killer Bread toast and pot of tea to go along with it.
Of course you can add all sorts of things to this: I really like to saute spinach with garlic and mushrooms for breakfast, and I’m a big believer in homemade applesauce, or just a can of peaches (always get them in juice, not syrup) with cinnamon.
Now back to dippies: The point of dippies is the runny yolk so you can dip your bread into it and say “Yum” right after you sing Hallelujah over the steak.
So, let’s talk about that. What is it, in fact, about steak? We actually asked each other that question last Wednesday. “What is it about steak?” I suggested the B vitamin found only in red meat. Seth suggested we should eat it in honor of our ancestors, who might not have had as much of it as they wanted. Wealth being measured not by goats or pigs or tofu, but by the cattle on a thousand hills was mentioned. And then there was the crux of the matter in Seth’s question: What is better than steak? We couldn’t think of anything. There is a delicious sense of well-being experienced in the first bite of a juicy steak, and in every subsequent bite as well, especially if it’s been a bit since you’ve had beef.
I say the whole anti-meat thing is from Hell. Ever since the campaign against red meat and the assertion that it causes heart disease, heart disease has been on the rise. Hmm. It’s just another example of the dangers of being one of the crowd, of fitting in, going along, keeping your head down and your mind docile – doing the socially acceptable thing. But here’s the big problem Satan and all his deceived have, in particular about meat. It’s really hard to convince people something so good is so bad.
We once worked with several young women who were vegetarians, vegans, and other variations of labels which in many cases were simply sad attempts at that “defining sense of self”. And then one day we invited some of them over for steaks – “that’s what we’re having, you’re welcome if you want to come” was the casual group invite. Three of them came over and they practically inhaled those steaks. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
Well, you may think this is much ado about nothing, or very close to nothing, but I’m after a larger picture. I’m after our taking a look at the gifts of God and participating.
And lest you’ve been victimized by that “can’t eat it if it has a face” let me help you with that. I was raised on a farm and I can tell you there are no retirement facilities for cows, there are no nursing homes for deer. If man does not obey God’s directive to steward the earth, animals such as cows and game will overpopulate and die of starvation and disease. Failing that, they will die miserably of old age. You are being singularly unkind when you suggest no one should eat meat. Most of all to your own self.
Meat makes people strong. In days of old meat was only for royalty, and starving peasants were shot or publicly strung up for poaching so much as a rabbit to feed their children. It was no secret that when people are well fed, particularly on meat, they become very difficult to control.
Well, things are better in that regard, and yet we return to a peasant’s mentality when we say we don’t want meat. It is a weakling mentality. We are royalty and we need to act like it, and eat like it.
Royalty – we’re going to have royalty on the show tomorrow, so if you haven’t already done so, give that someone you’re thinking of a call. Reach out, be brave. You can do it – just act like you had steak for breakfast.
Thanks for joining me, and if you’re out of the 1360 listening area, you can go to the website – http://1360khnc.com
Thanks again.