Boy does that taste good!
“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9 KJV
After a long hard day of work one of the last things you sometimes want to do is to come home and make supper. When both spouses work it is even harder. Even when the energy is mustered to throw something together, the creative process is usually not there. But you have to eat something. Right?
My wife is a school teacher. In the summer she is not “off.” “She doesn’t work (those are her words, not mine)” in the summer time. That is a big bonus for someone like me, who likes to eat. When I get home and open the door, my nose is usually treated to a fragrant aroma coming from the kitchen. If I’m really lucky there are some cookies or brownies contributing to the cause. When you like to eat as much as I do, that is one of the best pleasures in life.
Sometimes, though, you can go out to eat or even pull something out of the refrigerator and it will taste so good. Then a few hours later, it disagrees with you and you start to have some side effects. No matter how good that food was it is a long time, if ever, that you want to eat that same thing again.
Sir George Cockburn was the second son of Sir James Cockburn, 8th Baronet. He would rise up through the ranks of the Royal Navy. In 1813, he was second in command, just under Admiral Sir John Warren, on the mission he was assigned to. His task was to disrupt the enemies shipping in their waters. He would do this by traveling up and down their rivers and bays. He would siege their ships. This would cripple their economy and keep them from a counter attack.
Admiral Sir George Cockburn would be asked to join forces with General Robert Ross as they started their ground campaign against the enemy. They would land in a little town called Benedict, which sat on the Patuxent River. Their 9000 troops disembarked. My guess is that they headed up Route 231. When they came to Route 5, they headed north on that road. Then they headed west on Pennsylvania Avenue. They took the loop off of Pennsylvania Avenue and headed north on the Anacostia Freeway, which turns into Kenilworth Avenue. Shortly, they arrived in the town of Bladensburg. No one really did anything to stand in their way.
Well, the President was starting to get a little nervous. He sent another future President out to scout out the British movements. Sometimes this future President would report back twice a day. We were not ready for war and the treasury was almost empty. They gathered about 18,000 people together and called this rag tag group a militia. Even though this militia had twice as many people they were routed and scattered in every direction. Without any money in the treasury and very little defenses, the President, himself, headed out to check on the enemy. Seeing his forces fleeing probably didn’t leave a good feeling in his stomach.
The Bible is full of stories of good times and of bad times. Sometimes the length of time between the two is not very long. This is one such story.
Have you ever had one of those weeks where you were on top of the world? It feels like you can do no wrong. Those weeks don’t come around very often, so you enjoy them while you can. His friends and he had such a week. It seemed like everywhere they went everything went right. They were on top of the world. But through all the excitement, they probably just needed a little break from it all. That is exactly what they decided to do.
President James Madison saw the British sitting just a few miles from the Capitol. Washington DC was not a very big town at that time, so he was probably thinking they were heading further north to somewhere like Baltimore. But he was a little concerned that they may be headed to DC. Madison sent word back to his wife, Dolley, to gather the important belongings in the White House and head to Virginia, where, hopefully, she would be safe. She really liked the painting Gilbert Stuart had painted of George Washington, so she took that, too. Before she left, though, she fixed her husband his dinner and set it out on the table for him. I’m sure she thought he would be hungry after a long day of worrying and riding through the Washington traffic to get back to the White House.
When President Madison traveled back into DC, it was deserted. That made traffic especially light, but it also gave Washington an eerie feeling. He headed to the White House. No one was at the door so he yelled inside. No one answered. He walked through the halls and could find no one. He reached the dining room and saw his meal. He probably thought, “At least I can sit down and get a bite to eat,” because we all know, no one cooks like Dolley Madison. But someone walked in and told him that he needed to leave because the British were just 16 blocks away burning the Capitol and it looked like they might have enough matches left and they were headed toward the White House. So he left his dinner and escaped across the Potomac River into Virginia.
The leader of our Bible group gathered with his friends to celebrate their week. They decided to have a dinner. As they were sitting around eating that supper, Jesus stood up among his twelve disciples and announced that their great week was about to come to a dramatic close. I don’t think His disciples had a clue of what was about to happen. “What?” they might say, “This is the best dinner ever. I don’t think we should ever let this end.” After the His Last Supper, Jesus invited the disciples, at least the eleven that were left, because Judas was in the middle of betraying Him, for a walk to an Olive garden. He asked His friends to pray for Him while he went a little deeper into the garden to pray by Himself. The disciples proudly proclaimed that praying was exactly what they were going to do and then they just fell asleep once He was gone for a little while. Then when the soldiers came, without a prayer or courage, they did what most of us do, they fled.
British Admiral Sir George Cockburn entered the empty White House. When he arrived at the dining room, he sat down at the table where President Madison’s food still sat. He lifted the glass and gave a toast to “Jemmy’s health (as one Washingtonian stated was the only epithet he ever spoke when referring to President Madison).” He then grabbed one of Madison’s hats and a cushion off of one of Dolley’s chairs. As he left, he told his soldiers to, “burn it down.” They surrounded the building and set it on fire. All that remained of the White House was the outside walls as the fire gutted the entire inside of the building. Thus goes the story of the British burning Washington in the War of 1812.
Sitting down to a good meal can have many benefits, but they can also cause heartburn later. I have learned to watch how long something has sat in the refrigerator. The disciples learned if they really listened to the conversation they would have been a little more prepared for what was ahead of them. President Madison learned that no matter how much he hated taxes, they do serve very important purposes, like having enough money to pay a prepared army to defend the country. Then he might have been able to finish his dinner.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, As I have had many bouts with food that haven’t agreed with me, please keep me away from those plates that cause me pain. Likewise, in my conversations with others, please let me spend more time listening and learning than on turning the conversation toward myself. Finally, let me see the function of government as a whole rather than how it affects my individual crusade. Amen.
