God Doesn’t play practical jokes

I’m not sure who got the idea. My sisters, myself, or Mother, BUT whomever it was, it was my Mother that pulled it off.

We were at the “Northern Camp Meeting,” as we called it. The camp meeting was fun. Songs, stories, visiting with old friends and making new ones—but one thing I looked forward to most was the food! 

Days leading up Mom would be busy in the kitchen preparing for the weekend. This camp meeting was no exception. In true Mom fashion, she baked multiple sheet cakes for strawberry shortcakes. Every meal ended with a big bowl of cake and strawberries topped with whipped cream from a can.

This particular camp meeting took place on country fairgrounds. People camped in stables and some events took place in barns. Evidently in years past the caretakers had used spray foam in an attempt to fill cracks between the roof and the walls of the main barn. Some of this foam had made it to the ground. Weathered by the sun, select pieces could easily be mistaken for Mom’s cake. I can’t recall who did it, but one of us brought a piece of the foam back to where we were camping with a devious plan. Our victim, yes OUR, as by that time we were all in on it, was a young man who had boarded with us several years before, and still called my parents Ma and Pa. It had been a long time since we had seen him, and as any young man would, he eagerly accepted Mom’s invitation to stop by for strawberries and cake.

We giggled and laughed as Dad took the piece of foam and topped it with strawberries and whipped cream. As planned our friend arrived. Mom promptly handed him the large bowl of dessert. You would think he would have noticed when his fork went into the deceptive cake but NOPE! My eyes popped wide open as I watched him take a large forkful of “cake” put it into his mouth and began chewing! I was horrified, he couldn’t have fallen to the deception any better. I remember Mom reaching out towards him and loudly telling him to STOP over the sound of his crunching on the brittle foam. I remember thinking at the time “I hope he didn’t swallow!”

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Psalm 34:8 

Unlike the deliciously deceptive looking dessert, what God offers doesn’t only LOOK good– it IS good! It’s easy to listen to stories of miracles and answers to prayers. For a time we get an emotional boost reminding us that God is good, but God didn’t just say “see that the Lord is good!” He said “taste and see” that He is good. Like the old adage goes, the proof is in the pudding! The best way to find out if something is good or real is to test it yourself. … the proof of the pudding is in the eating. 

God wants us to be as trusting as our friend was with my mother and take a big “bite” and try Him for ourselves. Yes, “Taste and see that the Lord is good!”

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8 thoughts on “God Doesn’t Play Practical Jokes”

    1. Leslie Lynn Gore

      I love this,reminds me when our church used to have a strawberry festival every year someone had rubber strawberries in a dish with whipped creme on top it disappeared and no one said what happened to it.
      Yes God is great .Yes I love when I hear taste and see so load up and come back for more. God’s word no calories and so gratifying.
      How much is the picture in the story above?
      Leslie Lynn Gore if you want my address to tell me write me back if you have time I used to have yours you sent me a beautiful picture I have it hanging in my kitchen God Bless you.

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