April 24, 2015

God and Blue Bell Ice Cream

I’m sure you've heard by now that Blue Bell ice cream was pulled from all grocery stores and production is shut down because of the contamination with Listeria. “Listeria is the name of a bacteria found in soil and water and some animals, including poultry and cattle. It can be present in raw milk and foods made from raw milk. It can also live in food processing plants...”1. The symptoms include “fever, stiff neck, confusion, weakness, vomiting, and sometimes preceded by diarrhea”2 and you can die from it. It’s tragic for Blue Bell and those individuals who contracted the Listeria disease, and a huge concern and disappointment for those of us who love Blue Bell ice scream. It created a huge panic and rightly so, but I didn’t respond by saying I will never buy Blue Bell again. No, I can’t wait for them to fix the issue and make more Blue Bell ice cream. Sure, there’s other ice creams out there and some of them are really good, but they’re just not Blue Bell.

This is like our relationship with God. We contaminate ourselves with sin, but God doesn’t say “Ewwww, I won’t have anything to do with him”. No, He can’t wait for me to “fix” my issue and find my way back to Him (Matt. 28:20 “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”). In fact, He doesn’t even wait, but guides me in “fixing” the issue and back to him (John 16:13, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will quide you into all truth...”). And sure, there’s other gods out there, but they’re just not The God (1Ch. 16:25, “For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise, He is more awesome than all gods.”).

 God is better and sweeter than Blue Bell ice cream …and that’s saying a lot ;) (Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”).

Love Ya,
Dad

1,2www.foodsafety.gov