The Background Of Peanut Butter

Last Friday, I made my weekly excursion to the WAL-MART market near my school. I was trying out my new mask, graciously made by the grandmother of Jordyn, one of my former basketball players. (Sadly, no one seemed to notice!) As I lift weights regularly, I need a reasonably healthy and inexpensive source of protein for my post workout snack. I gave up protein bars which tasted great but cost an arm and a leg. A little googling and I came to a simpler, less expensive regimen; hard boiled eggs and peanut butter which I put on bananas or apples or sometimes rice cakes. A bit more online sleuthing and advice from a healthy friend narrowed my selection to Laura Scudder's All Natural Peanut Butter over the more well known Jif, Skippy, or Peter Pan brands. Like most men, I prefer chunky. (Most women favor creamy, according to polls!) But as soon as the quarantine began, Laura Scudder's went AWOL from the WAL-MART shelves...... until last Friday.

Three days ago, I checked the PBJ aisle but I wasn't hopeful- my last purchase had been Peter Pan. But there on the top shelf were several jars of Laura Scudder's crunchy! Being a non-hoarder, I only picked up one as I know there are others of like mind. At home, I posted a FACEBOOK picture, rejoicing in finding something that's been elusive. Don't get me wrong- I haven't done without and I didn't go to look for it but it was a little bright spot in my day. Lots of people, more than eighty, liked the post and there were comments like Teresa's who was thrilled when she found Gold Medal Flour! But there were comments that caught me off guard but it didn't have to do with Laura Scudder. It had to do with Autumn and Dave. You see, I took the picture on a coffee table which holds, as coffee tables do, pictures and magazines. I got a message from Autumn who spotted herself as a 7th grader with her teammates right behind the peanut butter in the Lady Wildcats shot from the FBBA tournament. And there were those who instantly recognized my brother, Dave, on the magazine cover on the shelf below the jar! Dave's response was I need to get some new reading material! Here's some bragging about those two- Dave is the winningest high school tennis coach in the US and Autumn is, Lord willing, going to begin medical school in May! What I don't know is their peanut butter preferences. I should have asked them when I had the chance.

Here's what I think is fascinating- we  see what we want to see. Most people saw the big picture but some absorbed the more minute details as well. If you don't know Dave, you wouldn't have recognized his likeness on the East Wichita News. And if you didn't play on that 2010-2011 team, you would have no clue about that basketball photo. There's something to be said about both groups of my Facebook friends. It's obvious what I was trying to say. Most of my students grasp the main points of a Bible story. Today, we are studying the Parable of the Minas from Luke 19. Some of the kids won't get past the facts of this teaching but some have a deeper level of understanding and make an application. The more I teach, the more I see what I never saw before. Jesus several times made references to prophecies from Isaiah to this point. In Matthew 13:13, He says, "Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand."
My thought is that He means there are those who simply don't want to fathom  the teachings of God. It may be easier for us to decipher the scriptures two thousand years later with the Bible on our phones and commentaries an Internet link away. Of course, this has nothing to do with Laura Scudder Peanut Butter. But I only knew it hadn't been there because I was looking for it. There are seekers out there looking for Him. Maybe they see Him in us when the world just sees another stranger. People were looking for Autumn and Dave; they found them.

Applicable quote of the day:
The trouble with remakes is that people fall in love with the original. It's like peanut butter. If you try to change the taste of peanut butter, you're in trouble. 
Sylvester Stallone


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
E-mail me at shawley@westburychristian.org