June 03rd, 2020

What is your favorite way to eat cheese?
Macaroni and cheese?
Cheese pizza?
Cheese ball with crackers?
Cheesy potatoes?
Cheesy Quesadillas?
Grilled cheese sandwich?
Egg and cheese omelet?
Cheeseburger?
Ham and cheese sandwich?
Cheese balls at the fair?

Wow! I didn't know this list was going to get so long!  There are so many ways to eat cheese.  Did you know that on June 4, 1964 the largest cheese was put on display at the New York World's Fair.  It weighed over 34,000 pounds!  Cheese is one of those foods that you can enjoy just plain, or you can put it in something to make it taste even better.  There are over 900 varieties of cheese. What's your favorite?  I like Swiss cheese because it reminds me of my dad. (That's a different story.)

Cheese is mentioned only four times in the Bible, twice in 1 Samuel and twice in Job. The familiar story in 1 Samuel 17 is when David takes food to his brothers who are fighting the Philistines.  David's father, Jesse,  sent David with food and TEN kinds of cheese to feed and encourage his brothers.  Of course you remember that when David got there he heard a giant making fun of the God of the Hebrew army.  David took 5 smooth stones and a sling and with the first stone he killed the giant!  (Maybe he was extra smart and brave because he had just eaten TEN kinds of cheese!?)

I don't really think of cheese as "comfort food", but that's what Jesse used to encourage his sons in battle.  I do think of a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup on a cold wintry day as food to warm up a person.  Grilled cheese sandwiches were really first introduced after processed cheese was patented by James Kraft in about 1914. It was called "rattrap cheese" by the English who took great pride in their un-processed cheese.  During WWII there were lots of grilled cheese sandwiches served to the soldiers (usually with just one piece of bread).

So, the lesson today is that God can use many different things to encourage us. Maybe it is a pile of cheese sent to the battle from your father.  Maybe it is a grilled cheese sandwich served to soldiers. God uses the little things, insignificant things, to encourage.  Look around today. What is he using to encourage / comfort you today? For me, yesterday it was a puppy.  Today it might be cheese.  God knows what  you need.
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