Devotionals

Spicy Hot Italian Sausage

by PamFord Davis 
02/18/15
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Sausage, it does not rank high on my list of food favorites. I’m not maligning it; it is just not something I would normally choose from a restaurant menu. Recently, I removed a package of Italian sausage from my freezer and quickly remembered two family incidents with linked sausage.

The first involved my parents. They had moved from NY State to South TX, to distance themselves from Empire State winters. In the north, both Mom and Dad had enjoyed her home cooked Italian meals; often, she prepared spaghetti with spicy-hot sliced Italian sausage.

One day in TX, Mom answered a knock at their door… A neighbor told her about an upcoming fundraiser. He was selling tickets for the hot sausage meals. Mom had not savored Italian sausage in the Tex-Mex community and excitedly placed her order.

On the day of the scheduled community event, the neighbor delivered the sausage to their home. To their disappointment, it was not hot Italian sausage, just one familiar to locals. In referring to it as hot sausage, he was truthful. He fulfilled his promise, delivering it hot, wrapped in aluminum foil.

Sausage in Alabama did not meet my preconceived standards either. When living in the small community of Goodwater, we drove to an out of town Italian restaurant to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Remembering Mom’s carefully prepared delicious spaghetti, with Italian sausage, that is what I ordered.

We waited for our selections in romantic candle light ambiance. My mood drastically changed when the waiter placed my plate before me. A long sausage link sat atop a mound of spaghetti. Mom had always sliced the sausage thinly and mixed it with the spaghetti. Disappointment over a meal is of little importance.

To men on a journey, events of recent days were not only disappointing, but also devastating. [Luke 24:12-27]

“And He said to them, ‘What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?’ Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, ‘Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days (Luke 24:17-18 NKJ).”

The distraught travelers did not recognize Jesus and therefore detailed His ministry, crucifixion, and accounts of His resurrection. After their conversation, Jesus revealed Himself to them before vanishing. Their earlier disappointments were inconsequential; their encounter with Christ Jesus was life transforming.