Wow, I’m The Richest Man In The World!

 That’s because I had broken into weeping, literally crying tears of Godly jealousy. Wow! I wanted my life to be full of challenges like Ted Turner’s! but God had called me to be a pastor of a church. “How could I ever experience such momentous accomplishments,” I wondered. In quick succession Ted Turner launched CNN News, won one of America’s most prestigious horse races, was the victor of America’s Cup boat race, secured the use MGM’s massive film library, and launched the TCM Movie Channel. And to top it off, during this same period of time he was lost at sea in a storm during a boat race, and was drowned. Wow, what a way to live!

The truth of the matter is, I was being challenged, not just by Ted Turner’s life, but by Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Airlines, and Steven Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computer. My passion was not the coveting of money, but for the excitement of the chase, the desire to do and live for something greater than myself. My problem was that I was trying to accomplish it through my own human wisdom and reasoning power. Believe me, I was a Christian and I knew the Bible well, having been raised in a household with a wonderful woman of God who taught me much wisdom from my youth up.

But in my journey I discovered that, “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be.” Paul goes on to say that those who try to reason their way to God are in the flesh and so cannot please God. The thing that really blew me away was the discovery that pleasing God is in effect making yourself the happiest and richest person in the world, because in Him is ” fullness of joy.” This is totally crazy and wonderful because God actually wants you to be the richest person in the world. Do you know how I know this? Because I am the richest person in the world!

God has placed in front of me the most incredible list of challenges that match my personality and make-up perfectly. They summon my courage mentally, physically, and artistically. And in areas that I need to be completely child-like, they make me feel silly to even try to take the dare. Some of the challenges that God has given me this year were so detailed in the skills they required of me, that I felt exasperation cloud my mental capabilities. But in those situations I just meditated for a few days on the problem, and it’s immensity of complexities, and then God would show me a little light at the end of what appeared to be a long tunnel. Suddenly a new vista of understanding unfolded before me and I found myself walking at a new level of accomplishment that I never before believed I could achieve. One small example of what I am talking about is in the area of cooking.

I have always admired the great master chefs. I recently was able to attend a cooking class where the master chef from the famous San Francisco restaurant, The Stinking Rose, was teaching. At the end of the class we hit it off in our conversation and he disclosed to me the hints to an incredible way of cooking turkey. He called it his “400 garlic clove turkey.” When Christmas came along I decided to attempt this culinary feat. But then the Lord gave me a dream about it, and it seemed to take the famous chef’s entree up a couple of notches. But this week God completed the final recipe and I began making my “transformed turkey” for the prophets that were visiting San Francisco for the California Prayer Summit at A Place To Meet Jesus.

Here is the recipe for my “511 Garlic Clove Turkey. Beware: it takes two days to prepare.

Fresh turkey

511 cloves of garlic

6 small bottles of dark lager Belgium beer

4 oz. sesame seed oil plus (11 teaspoons)

injector

1 cube of butter

11 stems rosemary

turkey bag for baking

Marinate:

All garlic

11 teaspoons of sesame seed oil

Belgium beer

Place the fresh turkey in a large pot for marinating. In a food processor (it will need to be done in batches because there is so much garlic!) add garlic and sesame seed oil. Mix garlic mixture and beer in a large bowl. Pour mixture over turkey and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Remove turkey from refrigerator. Save all marinade for baking. Remove turkey from marinade, wiping off garlic mixture from the outside of turkey. Place 7 stems of rosemary in cavity of turkey. Inject with injector small amounts of sesame seed oil 1 inch apart. Coat entire turkey with butter. In baking pan place turkey in cooking bag, pour marinade on top of turkey, and place remainder of rosemary stems on top of turkey. Seal turkey bag. With tip of knife place seven small slits on top of the turkey bag. Bake for appropriate time for the size of the turkey.

When God first gave me this recipe it was very exasperating because I knew absolutely nothing about cooking. But with the Lord’s help (and my beautiful wife Sandy) I am learning the complete wonderful joy of serving up something that is uniquely delicious, and brings happiness and pleasure to my family and friends. I hope sometime you and your friends can share a meal like this one. Then you, too, will become the richest person in the world!