Boil The Sauce… Good morning Hump Day readers. You may be thinking that our Arizona 90-degree weather in March (ugh) could be a part of this devotion’s caption and you aren’t too far off. This story has a lot to say about ‘heat’ but in many ways. So buckle up, fill a cup of ‘Jo’ or maybe better, a cold cup of water filled with ice…cause the boiling is coming! In this somewhat funny story below, which is a true story from my friend from many years ago. I had found it while purging my ever-growing stacks of quotes, ideas, and yes, friendship oops. This is an oops so get ready to laugh and then get out the ice…

A friend of mine was preparing a pasta dish for a dinner party she was giving for her friends that were a part of the community outreach program. She was kind of frazzled because at the last minute, more calls came in letting her know they could now come. So, trying to write down the guests and what more was needed for the dinner, she forgot to refrigerate the spaghetti sauce. She didn’t even realize that it sat on the counter all day until it was time to take everything over to the center and she was worried about spoilage. She smelled it and thought it seemed good and certainly she didn’t have time to cook up another batch! Worried about it though, she decided to call the local Poison Control Center and voiced her concern. They advised her to simply boil the sauce again…and she did.

Several hours later when everyone gathered and enjoyed the pasta meal, good conversations and the fun banter of good friends, the phone rang. One of her helpers said “I’ll get it, you have enough on your hands to get the dessert out on the table.” The helper went over to the phone and didn’t see that she had clicked on the button that everyone could hear what the caller said, loud and clear: “Hello, this is the Poison Control Center. We wanted to know how the spaghetti sauce turned out.”

Yep, we’ve all had those moments—those times when we just want to crawl in a hole so we don’t have to face embarrassment. My friend was literally frozen for a second, and she did something that we could learn from, she said, “Well, it seems you are all fine with the food so let’s have dessert”—and then she went on to tell her story. Instead of crawling in the hole, she handled her ‘oops’ and had them laughing. In fact, on the way out everyone was saying, “yep, we’re gonna boil the sauce” and the laughter and joy continued.

What I liked about the way she handled her ‘oops’ is this: She didn’t get mad, she didn’t get flustered, she didn’t cry or apologize because she knew there was no need to do so. Instead she chose to stand in her faith and her convictions that she was always committed to and her people knew that, that’s why her people respected her. No one shouted out about bad food or trash-talked about her, they knew she was a woman of faith and she cared deeply about each and every one of them.

Do people know you that way? If we are ashamed to hide our faith and try to fit-in with our society to keep away those who laugh at Christianity, we have lost our convictions and the respect from others. In Romans 1:16 [ERV] the Apostle Paul encouraged people, especially those new to Christianity, saying “I am proud of the good news! It is God’s powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.”

Let’s wear the banner of Christ with joy and hold fast to our spiritual convictions. Let’s live out our faith in an authentic way. When we do, we won’t have to worry about those times of embarrassment because we know we are living for the truth of God who lives in us! We all have our oops so let’s remember my friend’s story that tells us we can ‘boil the sauce’ and keep on keeping on! AMEN.