I was born and raised in the state of Maryland and if there’s anything I love about my state, it’s Maryland crab cakes. My mother had the best recipe for the best-ever cakes made with jumbo lump crab… a little sautéed celery and onion… just a hint of dry mustard… lots of Bay seasoning… (I don’t mean seasoning with bay leaves, I mean Chesapeake Bay seasoning)… a little mayonnaise, some bread crumbs, broil them lightly, serve them hot along side hot-buttered corn on the cob and chilled applesauce – and, oh my goodness – I can almost taste them now.
Even though it’s near the close of summer, my husband Ken is still asking for me to cook my mom’s crab cakes… (although out here in Southern California it’s a little hard to get jumbo lump crab, and you’re not going to get good corn on the cob this far at the end of summer).
But Ken is so funny. We’ll be out at a restaurant – any old restaurant, no matter what the time of year – and if he sees Maryland crab on the menu, he’ll order it. I'll say, “Ken, you know you’re not going to like those crab cakes. They’re not the real thing… they’ll probably even have pimento – yuck – in them.” And I'm right. I used to do the same thing at restaurants. Believe me, over the years I’ve put every so-called Maryland crab cake on every menu to the Joni taste test. And they all come up short, except for a few select restaurants I know serve great crab cakes in Maryland.
You can call me Taste Test Tada because I know the real thing when it comes to crab cakes. I'm a woman of cultivated taste. And I'll tell you something else. I know a fantastic recipe for cultivating your taste for something far better than food. It’s a never-fail recipe for cultivating trust in God. My Lord Jesus is the bread of heaven, real spiritual food, he is… and he invites me – he invites you – to put him to the taste test every time you come up against doubt or fear, every time you face a trial or a scary circumstance. Psalm 34:8 says, “Happy is the man who puts his trust in the Lord… oh, [won’t you please] taste and see that the Lord is good!” You will never come up short of God's grace when you partake – oh, and that’s really the best word for it – not just give God a tip of the hat, “Yes, I trust you in the middle of this frightening situation,” but in it, please then taste him, partake of him, ingest him, feed on him, be nourished in him… may Jesus be your very food and drink… go ahead and put your Savior to the taste-test in the middle of some trail and your confidence and trust in him can’t help but increase… and when it happens, you will have cultivated a whole new appetite for the deeper things of God.
Happy are you when you cultivate trust in the Lord. And it happens when you put God to the taste test. Today taste and see how good the Lord really is…
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
P.O. Box 3333
Agoura Hills, CA 93176
© Joni and Friends