“My country girl mindset still has a hard time grasping the ancient hospitality’s shelter protocol of protecting guests at the cost of the host’s own life and/or the lives of his family. I mean, in that ancient culture the person or persons you take in for a night or two could be total strangers one minute, but they become ‘friends’ as long as they are your guests. This gets me that Jesus said that there’s not a stronger commitment than to lay down your life for a friend (someone with whom you are in covenant).

Jesus told His disciples to accept a hospitality offer from a trustworthy person then bless their host home with peace if their host also welcomed their Kingdom power message. He went on to say that whoever welcomes a prophet gets a share of a prophet’s reward and the same went for welcoming someone who observes and practices Torah. No one will lose his reward if he gives one of His humble followers a drink of water simply for the fact they belong to Jesus. This hospitality drink oblation is pretty important for anyone wanting to hang on to his reward. When Jesus returns, He will cull the go-off-in-their-own-direction inhospitable goats from the Truth-following-hospitable sheep.

If anyone ignored His disciples by giving the double cold shoulder of refusing to offer ‘Hospitality 101’ plus not listening to the Lord’s message they carried, His taught ones were to leave that place taking their peace with them. Jesus said that the ancient pits of inhospitality, Sodom and Gomorrah, would fare better on judgment day than the townspeople who ignored His disciples and refused to listen to the prophetic Word. (StT Matthew 10:5-15, 40-42; Mark 9:41; Matthew 25:31-46)

With all the notions for the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, who would’ve thought their lack of hospitality was a big part of it? Just to be on the safe side, I started repenting of any missed hospitality opportunities. Among others, the one in 1995 came up.

My sister Kay had asked me to help with her idea of a book to organize favorite or clipped recipes. Customers could potentially create a treasured heirloom for future generations to enjoy the unique flavor of their ancestry simply by filling The Farmhouse Collection pages with their family’s secret recipes.

Of course we had to include a few farm themed recipes of our own like Homestead Rolls and Oklahoma Cow Patties (Chocolate No-Bake Cookies). An untested garlic bean recipe was added to the printed collection as Skunk Beans. After preparing them for her family, Kay discovered the beans were befitting their new name; they stunk in smell and taste.

A trade show for a televised home shopping network gave us the opportunity to showcase our recipe collection. Being 4-H Club demonstration alumni and the first to arrive, Kay and I were undaunted by the large open room filled with 400 empty tables. As the room filled with the other entrepreneurs, we noticed that all of them were keeping the two chairs at each table for themselves. We had assumed the chairs were for the judges.

Instead of swapping our display’s orientation to match the rest of the herd, I wish we had remembered our raisin’ and thought to bring a sample of the Oklahoma Cow Patties to offer the judges along with our chairs. It might not have swayed them from their decision not to select our book for the show, but possibly we would’ve given them the feeling they were glad they stopped by.

Oh well, at least the predicament about the ‘stinker’ recipe included in the already printed books was simplified. As each book was sold, we would cross out the Skunk Beans recipe with a black permanent marker “X” then write, “These Stink!” Some people thought it was intentionally done for humor on our part. Okay, we’ll go with that.

Of course the Bible is the real treasured heirloom collection where the Lord tells His secrets to and makes friends through covenant with those who honor Him. The ancient Hebrew ‘family foibles’ were written and passed down so we could learn from their recipes for disaster so as to not cook up any of our own. (StT Psalm 25:14; 1 Corinthians 10:11) 

We can’t take a permanent marker ‘X’ to the Skunk Beans’ biographies of the liars, cowards, drunkards, adulterers, murderers, etc, recorded in scripture because most of those ‘stinkers’ are considered the Heroes of Faith. This list of people, who made lamentable life choices, gives well grounded hope that no matter what our stories all of us have a chance of being inducted into The Faith Hall of Fame too. We just need to believe, like they did, that God can and will do the impossible in our situation. (StT Hebrews 11; Luke 18:27)

Getting caught up in the ‘everyone’s doing it so they must be right’ mentality caused Kay and I to switch from being the lone-renegade-table-setter-upper in that large trade show room. Yet, the flood, the twelve spies, and the Golden Calf stories sort of substantiate that the ignorance or indifference of the herd cannot change Truth. (StT Genesis 7:1; Numbers 12; Exodus 31:32)

It turns out Noah’s carpentry skills were better than his preaching since the only converts that were saved after all those years building the ark were his family of eight. 

Guess the majority should have clipped and saved the two good reports while discarding the ten spies’ fearful ones if they ever wanted to whip up any recipes from some of that ‘flowing milk and honey’ available in their God Promised Land. But the Hebrews fear and unbelief got them forty years of desert instead of dessert.

There is a tendency to get caught up in the Golden Calf herd mentality if we fear being wrong, ostracized or ridiculed. Sacred Cow worship will continue if we don’t get God’s opinion on any interpretation based solely on the premise it is a widely held standard issue belief.” (Something Stewing in a Cracked Pot, pg. 28-29)

Men in the Bible erected stone memorials to remember what God has done. Men still erect stone statutes to remember history that needs to be repeated or to never let happen again.