“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” 2 Corinthians 11: 24-27
My husband and I are reading a good book together. Actually, it is a great book, given to us by friends we traveled to Israel with several years ago. Plot wise, When the Stones Speak, by Doron Spielman, is the story of the unearthing of The City of David in Jerusalem. The heart of the story, however, is the unearthing of the heart of Doron Spielman.
Mr. Spielman grew up in the US and in his own words was “living a nice, safe life in the United States–going from high school, to college to law school”. (When the Stones Speak, pg. 41) But God was speaking to him and less than three pages later he was living in Israel, in Jerusalem, about to get married and telling his fiance’ that he felt called to do something ‘bigger’.
That something bigger became clear to him after a meeting with those in charge of the dig site now known as The City of David. The site archaeologists had refuted and struggled to find for years lay buried beneath a parking lot just beyond the old city walls, an incredibly important find for Israel, Jewish nationalism. and Biblical archaeology.
Early in his career with The City of David. a tunnel was discovered. Too excited to wait a moment, he and several others deemed losing a set of clothes a small price to pay to explore the wet, muddy tunnel right away. Last in the line of men squeezing through the confined space, Mr. Spielman hit a tight spot in the tunnel and literally got stuck.
“Then, as I moved forward, the roof of the tunnel was pressing down on my lower back until I simply couldn’t move forward. I reached out with my hands and tried to grasp something to hold on to to pull myself forward, but I couldn’t get a good grip on anything. My face was now skimming just inches from the water. A sense of fear rushed through me. Even in the dank underground conditions, I could feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead: I was stuck in the tunnel.” (When the Stones Speak, pg. 83)
I could feel a cold sweat break out on my forehead just reading about his experience! Doing something ‘bigger’ often requires tight spaces, tough circumstances, and hard work. It requires sacrificing the safe and secure, setting out to find new territory, and risking rejection.
The Apostle Paul understood what it meant to give your life for something bigger. Of a zealous nature to begin with, his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus only deepened his need to act and speak. Scripture makes it clear that Paul would suffer for the cause of Christ, and Paul did not shy away from the task. In fact he records that he felt compelled to share the gospel, regardless of the personal cost, “For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” 1 Corinthians 9:16
The Apostle Paul and Mr Spielman both challenge my faith and my life. While I do not feel called to crawl through tunnels as an archaeologist or travel dangerous roads and seas as an evangelist, I do feel called to follow Christ and share the gospel, and I should be willing, even compelled, to follow through with that even when it feels hard. or scary. or inconvenient. or unlikely that the person I am trying to show love to will find Jesus or even accept my love.
The challenge is to find a zealousness to live for something greater, something bigger, even when it is hard and complicated. Even when it would be easier to stay home, or not speak up, or not write the letter, email, text. An old friend once told me that God did not call us to be comfortable, and I didn’t want to hear that because I love to be comfortable!
Give me a soft, warm blanket and cup of hot tea and I will choose that above crawling through a muddy tunnel any day! And yet there is something in my spirit that longs to be a part of discovering Biblical truth, seeing peoples lives changed and going to bed at night exhausted from running the race for Christ and finishing well.
There is truly nothing more comforting and exhilarating than actively participating in building the kingdom of God. The Holy Spirit enables believers to do extraordinary things as well as ordinary things that yield extraordinary results. Like Paul, I cannot boast, only beg you to believe that the times I have leaned into the Holy Spirit, following his lead, speaking the hard truth or attempting the daunting task, have been the most fulfilling moments of my life.
In truth, often my comfortable times lead to feeling stuck; fun but meaningless repetitions of moments yielding no eternal value. Before you write me off as a complete killjoy and harsh taskmaster, let me reiterate the idea of living to build the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is people! relationship! Comfortable and uncomfortable moments spent sharing the love of God are eternally valuable. Comfortable moments feeding my own selfishness, staying safe, avoiding difficulty, those are worthless. What kind of moments will you choose to fill your days?
In choosing your moments, it is often not the what but the why that matters. I can choose to play a game alone on my computer, or I can choose to visit someone in the hospital to play a game with them. The game is not the issue. I can bake cookies and eat them all; or I can bake cookies and share them with others. The cookies are not the issue. The issue is our desire to live for something bigger than ourselves. The issue is not just living a good life, but a great life, empowered by the Holy Spirit to do things we never imagined we could.
I have shared my Best Chocolate Cake Ever recipe before, but I am sharing it again now to illustrate the concept of going from good to great. I love this cake in basic form, but my husband loves it dressed up as Black Forest Cake. For him, this takes the recipe from good to great. It certainly looks inviting! If you like cherries, give it a try.
Black Forest Cake
Best Chocolate Cake Ever
- 1 3/4 cups Gold Medal flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup baking cocoa
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup boiling water
Heat oven to 350*. Grease two 9″ round cake pans. Line each pan with parchment paper if you want the cake to come out cleanly. This is a very moist cake and the parchment paper is a must. You can purchase pre-cut parchment rounds or simply draw around your cake pan and cut a circle of parchment.
Whisk dry ingredients together in a large bowl until mixture is very fine. It is not necessary to use a stand mixer for this recipe. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Stir well, batter will be slightly thick. Add hot, boiling water and stir carefully, batter will be very thin. Pour batter into prepared pans, equally. Bake for 30-35 minutes until center is set. Cool and remove from pans.
Place bottom layer of cake on a serving plate. Remove parchment paper.
To create the Black Forest cake, you will need the following:
- 1 can of cherry pie filling
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2-3 Tbsp confectionary sugar
Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, pour heavy whipping cream into stand mixer bowl. Whisk slowly at first, but eventually on high, until mixture forms soft ridges. Add vanilla and confectionary sugar, resume whisking until firm ridges appear. Whipped cream is done when you can lift the beater and the cream does not fall off the whisk.
Using a piping bag or just a spoon, place dollops of whipped cream around the edge of the bottom layer of cake. Spoon half of the cherry pie filling into the center of the whipped cream ring. These fillings will spurt out between the layers, so don’t overfill or place whipped cream to close to the edge of the cake.
Place top layer of cake over bottom, repeat whipped cream and pie filling instructions. Chill and serve.
My husband loves this cake as is, but I miss the frosting. It is possible to base frost this cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, then add the whipped cream and cherry pie filling. You can also drizzle each piece with hot fudge sauce.
For any of you interested in reading Mr. Spielman’s book, here is a link to When the Stones Speak.