restaurants

Eating Out

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment

April and I like to try a different restaurant whenever we can. Picking one that April has never been to so she can get a taste of American establishments and also so she can make suggestions if out with her friends. It can be kind of fun and exciting but disappointing as well.

Recently, we have started praying and seeking God concerning going to a different church. Unlike trying a new place to eat, I don’t like going to a new place and meeting new people. A lot of people feel the same way, I think, and they stay in their current church.

Where you attend a church service is essential. It is a source of spiritual food. One part of the spiritual nutrition pyramid. Some of the others would be praying and reading your Bible. Part of a balanced diet in your relationship with God. Hopefully, the minister seeks God every week to see what he should be feeding his flock from the whole word of God.

April and I have discovered the use of modern technology to check out churches. There is one church near our house that we were considering. The other day, we found their services online and proceeded to watch. The minister wasn’t very engaging and seemed to talk about whatever Bible verse popped into his head. It seemed as if he had no outline and central subject to his sermon. I looked at April and said, “I’m not getting spiritually fed. Are you?” She agreed this wasn’t the place for us.

Now, there certainly isn’t anything wrong with the messages from our current church, except they are a bit basic. We like the pastor and what the church practices. We understand why the sermons are for new Christians; the church leads a lot of people to God. Perhaps we are hungry for more. The other issue is the people aren’t all that friendly. They come in late and rush out as soon as the service is over, so it is hard to make connections. We tried last summer to join a home group, but the leader never called us. I guess he liked his home group the way it was. I don’t know to him! (A Filipino phrase April taught me.)

Where you attend church is very important. You should find a place where you get a good balanced diet of the word of God and how to apply it to your life so you can grow spiritually and in your relationship with God. You should find a place with people similar to you (like precious faith) so you can connect with them and do life together. Supporting each other. Rejoicing when they rejoice and weeping when they weep. Don’t get so comfortable, like in an old pair of jeans, where you are going, that you don’t notice if you are getting fat on the word or if you are starving.

1 From Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, have been granted a faith just as precious as ours. 2 May grace and peace be lavished on you as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!
2 Ptr. 1:1-2 (NET)

Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.
Rom 12:15 (MSG)

Copyright © 2025 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

No Plain ‘O Blessing

/ Mark Brady / 2 Comments

April was feeling homesick and was desiring to go to the Philippines for the Memorial Day Weekend. I said, “Baby, that’s too far and expensive for a weekend trip. How about we drive to Plano, TX., and you can eat at Jollibee?” She thought for a moment and said, “That will do.” Jollibee is the Philippines’ national fast food chain.

We drove straight there from our home. It took three hours and thirty-nine minutes of driving time.

After the first meal, we went to our hotel one block away (I’m a great planner). While checking in, I asked for a room on the top floor so it would be quieter by not having someone walking above us. I’m a light sleeper sometimes.

The man looked at his computer and said, “I’ll do ya one better. I’ll put you on the third floor at the end of the hall in a suite with no extra charge.” I was very surprised. When April saw the room, she couldn’t stop smiling. “What’s with you?” I asked. “I have never stayed in a suite at a hotel before. She loved it.

Later that evening, we were reliving the highlights of the day, and she brought up the man putting us in the suite and that I hadn’t even asked for it. I thought momentarily and then reminded her that we are blessed and highly favored as God’s children who strive daily to walk with God.

For the Lord God is a Sun and Shield; the Lord bestows [present] grace and favor and [future] glory (honor, splendor, and heavenly bliss)! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly. Ps. 84:11 (AMPC)

Getting something extra for free always feels good. We thanked God for adding some sprinkles on top of our day. He also kept us safe as we traveled, and we had a great Memorial Day getaway. God loves to give good gifts to his children even when you don’t ask!

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Mat. 7:11 (KJV)

Walk with God every day. Walk upright. Always do the right thing no matter the cost, and do it with love.

and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Eph. 5:2 (NIV)

Copyright © 2023 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

Drive-Thru God

/ Mark Brady / Leave a comment
Photo by: Jonathan Borba

Have you ever sat at a fast food establishment and watched how people interact with the staff? I have. In fact, I am doing it now. I’m writing some blogs here while eating breakfast and waiting for April’s women’s Bible study to finish up. The first thing I have noticed is who comes in. It’s the young and the old among us. The young are enticed by the toys that come with their meals. The seniors come in for convenience. Another meal they do not have to cook and no dishes to clean afterward.

In this place, the music is loud, and the air is cold, but that is probably how the workers like it. The average customer doesn’t seem to mind because they did not come here for the atmosphere! They want to place their order and get what they ordered fast! Very fast!

When I was in the Philippines, We went t what they consider “fast food.” There was nothing fast about the place! On one such visit, it took them twenty-five minutes to make and serve me my breakfast sandwich. The lines were typically long, and the service needed improvement. As I began to observe their process intently, I saw the flaws. This was certainly not a place of “best practices!” As I learned a popular phrase while living there, “What can I do about it?” If they had known me, they would remember that I hate waiting.

This order now and receive in 22.495 seconds attitude has transferred into our relationship with God. Fast food places added drive-trus to speed up service and convenience. This doesn’t help us either. I think most believers of God would love it if He added a drive-thru. He tells us in his word to make our request known. Most of us would love to pray from a menu board too.

“God, I’ll take a number 5 to go. Oh, and I want fries with that!

Wouldn’t it be fast and convenient? God knows me and knows I don’t like waiting but answering prayers quickly or quicker might improve his service rating, but He is not concerned about that. He doesn’t care about any reviews believers might post on Yelp, either! God will do what is best for his children when it is best. Nothing changes that. Complaining doesn’t work, or asking to speak to the manager either. Nor does threatening to go somewhere else.

If you are going to be in a relationship with God, and you should, you have to accept the way He chooses to do things. Like in the Philippines, “What can I do about it?” Know that He does care, and He wants us to trust him. We have to acknowledge that his ways are “best practices.”

God isn’t going to install a drive-thru anytime soon or a menu board. We must learn to trust and wait in a loving relationship with him. Your prayer request will be served up prepared his way and in his time, so please, don’t go anywhere else. You may think you are getting what you want, fast, but I assure you it will leave a bad taste in your mouth for a long time. Perhaps even for eternity.

9 The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
2 Pt. 3:9 (NET)

6 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 (NET)

Copyright © 2023 Mark Brady. All rights reserved.

The Cook Was Sick

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The other day, while at a restaurant, I commented, to my wife how the beef and broccoli wasn’t as good as it normally is.  She replied, “Well, maybe the cook is sick.”  I laughed and thought she was just being silly.  She’s often funny like that, but she went on to explain how that phrase was a real thing in the Philippines.

I was intrigued and thought about this.  So what she was saying was. The food wasn’t at its best, because of sickness.  Isn’t that like us at times, servants of God?  When we allow sin into our life we are not at our best.  We do things, small perhaps, but they allow sin into our lives, and sin, is sickness, which can, if ignored, lead to death, spiritual and even physical. We miss opportunities to speak of the love of God.  To testify of his glory.  We miss experiences with others that can lift someone up, or encourage them.

A “diet” is defined as: the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats, or a special course of food to which one restricts oneself, either to lose weight or for medical reasons. 

It seems as if some people restrict God from their life, and boy, do they ever pay for it.

Those who live by their own rules, not God’s, can expect nothing but trouble,
    and the longer they live, the worse it gets.
Every little sound terrifies them.
    Just when they think they have it made, disaster strikes.
They despair of things ever getting better—
    they’re on the list of people for whom things always turn out for the worst.
They wander here and there,
    never knowing where the next meal is coming from—
    every day is doomsday!
They live in constant terror,
    always with their backs up against the wall
Because they insist on shaking their fists at God,
    defying God Almighty to his face,
Always and ever at odds with God,
    always on the defensive. Job 15:18-26 (MSG)

Even though they may look fine on the outside, things are not healthy on the inside, and just like your body, it will manifest.

As God can be restricted, so can sin, but it’s a choice.  When we encounter an opportunity to sin we can call out to God to help, for when we are weak, He is strong, therefore we are strong. (2 Cor. 12:9)

Just as maintaining a healthy diet and saying, “No” to things we shouldn’t partake of helps us continue to be strong, we should maintain a healthy balanced diet built on God.  A diet of prayer, reading God’s word, and taking action to serve God as he directs.

It would be a shame for someone to encounter us, and leave with a bad taste in their mouth, because we were not at our best.  Remember this; as children of God, we are always reflections of our Heavenly Father.  And people do watch us constantly, looking for a reason to not accept God.  Their favorite excuse is this, “If they are a so called Christian, then that’s not for me, because I don’t want to be like them.”  Yes, it’s true we are forgiven, but they do not understand such things yet, for they have not experienced that forgiveness for themselves.  So be careful, every day.  Stay healthy, and stay good.

Copyright © 2021 Mark Brady.  All rights reserved.