Monthly Thought

January 2009

I have a confession to make... I am an addict...

Before you all start to panic and arrange lots of pastoral visits, let me assure you. It's not drugs or alcohol, or even cigarettes... It's junk food. Burgers, pizza, fried chicken... Mmmmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I'm a junk food junkie... I look forward to when I have a long journey to make (like from home in Newbury to York) where I'll stop off at a services and enjoy some chicken or a burger meal... But my absolute favourite is a burger from my local burger joint, Rio's. They make the best flame grilled burgers in the world, and although they have a board full of different types of burgers and fillings to choose from, I always go for the same one: The Taz; 6oz flame grilled beef, bacon, cheese, BBQ sauce & salad, with a special garlic mayonnaise to top it off. With chips it all comes to much less than buying a meal deal from Burger King or McDonalds, and is far far tastier to boot!

There. It's out. I've confessed my dark secret addiction. But although I know having such foods is ultimately bad for me and liable to make me fat (if I have too much and too often), I'm not going to obsess over it because I recall what Jesus Christ said: "No one is defiled by what goes into their mouths, but by what comes OUT of it". We are NOT what we eat, we are much more than that.

To guard against the wrong things coming out of our mouths we need to fill our heads with the right things. For instance, if we watch too many films that a filled with bad language then the chances are that that way of speaking and thinking will take a hold of our lives. However, if we read the Bible regularly, hang out with our Christian friends a bit more and pray to God in our quiet times then our attitudes and our thoughts will be changed for the better, and maybe we can start influencing other people. Our behaviour can become infectious! Let’s try and be a good infection upon the world.

And if you are ever with me in Newbury, let me take you out for the best burger you'll ever have!

If you want to talk about this or anything else then you can contact me at email@philrawlings.com

Phil