Today's Menu ...

This morning, after a breakfast of a whole wheat bagel with cheez whiz, washed down with a cup of fair trade Kicking Horse's 454 Horse Power coffee, I headed out the door to the pulpit supply gig I had been asked to do months ago ...

The service was wonderful ... being back in a storied OLD building for the first time in two and a half years felt good ... the nervousness that is very much a part of my pulpit presence was still there, but the care and acceptance of the congregation made me feel very much at home ...

After the service ended, the coffee time following was marked with conversation and numerous invitations to consider coming back to lead them in worship in the future ... with an invitation like that I would be honoured to come back ...

I headed off down the highway buoyed by the warmth and best wishes of a congregation that had so graciously welcomed me in ...I had time to reflect on my sermon topic, and consider how it relates to myself in ways I had hitherto not considered ... and as I drove, I thought about the journey that has lead me here ...

I stopped for lunch of a Big Mac (sans the fries) before heading down the road chuckling to myself as I thought about some food related memories tied up with comfort foods that are important in my life ...

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Peanut butter, cheez whiz and popcorn have been three of my comfort foods throughout life ... in University an ample supply of each was tucked in my room, or in the kitchen cupboard ... even now, close to two decades later, PB, Cheez whiz and popcorn remain staples in my diet ... toast with pb or cheez whiz is a morning meal, or an evening snack, and no video is complete without popcorn (with or without butter and salt) ... today though, my mind wandered to Cheez Whiz and an afternoon many years ago when a friend and I sat at our dining room table in Bella Coola, drinking coffee and eating baking powder biscuits that I had just taken out of the oven ...

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By the end of the afternoon Ger, a friend I have grown to love like a brother, had managed to consume the lions' share of a 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) jar of Cheeze Whiz, one knife full at a time ... The whole experience was prefaced on Ger announcing that Cheez Whiz wasn't allowed in his house for his boys because of the preservatives. He then spun the jar, read the ingredients and announced - "there's NOTHING really that bad in here ..." and proceeded to slather a thick layer of Cheez Whiz on each of many biscuits that were consumed as we chatted away the afternoon ...

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As he got up to leave, Ger noted the empty jar and muttered something about the TWO of us having eaten a lot of Cheez Whiz ... (I think I had one bisquit with cheez whiz - the rest I had with pb ... the emptying of the jar was NOT a community effort)

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Since then Ger has become a friend with whom I have laughed uproariously, I have drank with, I have wept with, and I have shared many more wonderful moments as a friend ... my life has been enriched by his presence, and he always seems to pop up in my life at the very moments I need him ... lately it has been a phone call at just the right moment ... and each time the ensuing conversation has reaffirmed a friendship that has seen us wander through much over the last decade and a half that we've known each other ... even if half of it has been spent half a country apart ...

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Today as I continue packing up the house that has been home for the last 8 years, I know that there are many moments and memories that will simply NOT fit in any box, but are amongst the most precious things I will carry forward with me ...

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as a parting thought ... I also recall two of the jokes Ms H used to delight in telling ...

Question: What do you call an empty jar of Cheez Whiz??

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answer: Cheez WAS!
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and

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Question: What do you call the beginning of the Cheez Whiz production line??

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Answer: Cheez WILL Be!

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