“Oh, my. I can’t believe it.” Grace pulled a crumpled envelope from the folder. “This is part two of the application for the Minneapolis Institute of Culinary Arts.” She opened it. “When did I get this?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s an invitation to send in a unique recipe.” She looked at the postmark. “It came right during all the rush of mail from Darek and Ivy’s wedding. It must have gotten mixed up with it and then set aside. But . . .” Grace set the application on the table.
“So are you going to create a unique recipe?”
The Blue Ox took the ice. A close-up of Max showed his game face. Determination. Fierceness.
The face of courage.
The face she loved.
“I think I already have,” she said and reached for the dip. “Now it’s time to eat.”
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
FOR BETTER OR WORSE. Richer or poorer. In sickness and in health. . . . I’ll be celebrating twenty-five years with my amazing husband this summer, and as I look back, it feels like time is but a blink. Just yesterday, I was walking down the aisle to his smile, wondering how I got so lucky. And life has been generous to me—four amazing children, a rich landscape of faith-building experiences.
It’s not been without challenges, however. Many a day, as I lived in Siberia, I thought, What did I get myself into? And we’ve changed, become different people. Life and romance didn’t always measure up to what I imagined. Thankfully, we’ve had a long-term view of the game. But what if I’d been promised only five years or less? Or what if my husband had a terrible disease that required me to care for him all our days? Would I have said yes to this adventure? It’s one thing to pledge yourself to love and then endure through the unexpected challenges . . . completely another to look at life knowing that darkness is ahead.
I came upon the idea for this book a few ways. First, I had a friend who married her sweetheart, knowing he had incurable brain cancer. He died three years later, and she said it was the best three years of her life.
Then I had another friend who married young, and just a few years into her marriage, her husband came down with early onset Alzheimer’s. She nursed him until she couldn’t care for him any longer, then fell in love with someone else and, although it was painful, divorced her first husband and married the other man. It haunted her.
I wonder if it was the perspective of knowing what lay ahead that helped the first woman rejoice, while the second felt robbed. Knowing her days might be few, my first friend feasted on every moment and ended well nourished, the taste of hope in her heart.
So often, in this Christian life, when things don’t turn out as we hope or expect, we feel robbed. As if our promise to follow God, like our promise at the altar, guarantees happiness. Frankly, God promises us challenges, so we shouldn’t be surprised when they happen. But how, then, do we cope?
Psalm 84:5-7 offers answers:
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
Pilgrimage. The journey . . . through life, toward heaven. God offers us refreshment in the desert and places of strength along the way. What if our happiness isn’t only in what is ahead of us but in embracing the now? In enjoying the moments God has given us, even in the midst of suffering? What if we lived with a mind-set of rejoicing in the strength and the springs of today . . . in order to bear the desert of tomorrow? Perhaps the annoying vices of our loved ones might not be so frustrating. Perhaps our faith wouldn’t seem so starved.
I wanted to write a cooking story because we love food around the Warren house. My husband is a fantastic cook—he loves to follow recipes and create gourmet food on the weekends. I’m more of an “open the fridge and see what I can create” kind of gal. We could drive each other crazy. Max and Grace’s story shows me that perhaps we are, instead, a winning team, if we’re willing to embrace the moment, the current ingredients before us, and enjoy the mess we make together.
Enjoy—no, feast—on the journey, one meal, one day at a time.
Thank you for reading Max and Grace’s story. There are more Christiansen family adventures ahead! We still need to rescue poor Casper, and what about Raina? Then there’s Owen . . . oh, frustrating, angry, broken Owen. And don’t forget Amelia—she has a few surprises in store for her.
God bless you on the journey,
Susan May Warren