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| Kairos Cream of Potato Soup |
What’s up guys,
I hope your week is starting off beautifully. There are lots
of buzzes going on around Kairos Kafe this week. We are excited that we are
being featured in a New York Times article and The Birmingham News! Thank you
to all of you who came out on Wednesday for the photo shoot! It was an
incredible day. I think my favorite part was being able to walk through the
Dining Room and meet many of you that I’ve known for a while and to also meet
new folks. The best part of the day for me was when a young lady came up and
asked if I was James. When I told her yes, she exclaimed how much she loved the
food and asked if I could give her a hug. That actually made my whole week! We
are also putting our finishing touches on our Valentine’s Dinner, which is
going to be incredibly special this year. We are featuring live jazz music,
photos, and I had an idea for a singles table for those of you who may not have
a Valentine this year and still want to join in the celebration. We are looking
forward to a definite “Kairos” evening!
The Specials this week are full of comforting Delicious
Goodness. This past week I added a daily Kobbler to The D.G. Express and it has
went over beautifully! This week I’ve decided to add a few homemade soups. I
think that will be a neat addition since all the cold weather is supposed to be
returning to us. I’m having so much fun with being able to do something
different and unique everyday, but sometimes it’s the things that I grew up
with that cause the most fanfare from you guys. For instance, last week I made
some collard greens that were so good it almost made me cry. My Mee-Maw would
be so proud. In my younger years she made every effort to get me to eat greens
because she loved them and though they were healthy for a growing boy. I loved
my Mee-Maw and I sure did try but I never could bring myself to eat them. I’ve
learned to love them now, and I am so glad I watched her cook them! This week
I’m planning on making my Granny’s Chicken and Dumplings, which are a Southern
Culinary Masterpiece of Delicious Goodness. I hope you guys will come see me
this week! Or call Denise Nolen and have us come see you! We are cooking with
love at Kairos!
I really don’t know how to get this started so let me say it
this way.
I. Hate. Religion.
Pretty strong words I know, and I know this was made popular
about a year ago in a YouTube video but it has really hit home with me this
week. I’ve encountered a lot of this with family issues I am dealing with, with
friends, with people that are trying to get help, and with some devastating
events that happened in my community. When I say I hate religion that doesn’t
mean I’m talking about people or churches in general or about anybody. What I
hate is the “system” of religion, and the devastation that it causes. And when
I read the scriptures I am totally convinced that Jesus did not come to us to
establish a new religion. He was crystal clear why He came. His mission was to
show us The Father, and take us to The Father. Pretty simple stuff, and yet
somehow we have gotten His simple message so cluttered up with rules,
regulations, and self-righteousness that it barely even resembles the Faith of
the early followers of Jesus. I’m not saying this to point a finger at anyone either.
I’m speaking from my own experience and from my own shortcomings and failures
that hinder me from experiencing His Peace and His Presence. Did you know that
the early Church wasn’t even called Christian? It was simply called “The Way” Jesus
is the way to everything we need if we would surrender our lives to Him.
But what do we do instead? We go to Church, we follow the
rules, we say all the right things, we monitor our behaviors and white-knuckle
it through anything that doesn’t fit the mold and we hold it all in until we
explode. I’ve done all that and I can honestly say that it is misery. Recently
I visited a church and heard these words in the opening statements of the
sermon “We all have battles. But I don’t need to be telling you about my
battles, and I don’t want to hear about your battles.” I was shaking my head.
Really? It sounds good and religious and fine and upstanding to say all that
but is that real? That has not been my experience in life or in following
Jesus. If I don’t tell folks about the things I struggle with and trust some
people to walk alongside me in life then I am in trouble. Why keep our
struggles a secret? To save face? To look good to others? To keep our
positions? All that to me is religious nonsense. Why? Because I have learned
that the Enemy is referred to by Jesus as “the Prince of Darkness” and anything
that I choose to keep in the darkness is where he has power to rule and reign
over my life. In those secret places, the dark places. Jesus doesn’t want us to
hide all that stuff! Guess what? He already knows its there. He wants to shine
His Light on it and get rid of it! But how do we do that? We have to be
vulnerable. We have to be real. In my opinion the closer I learn to follow
Jesus the more vulnerable I am able to make myself to others. We all struggle.
All of us. I know I do. We all have had things happen to us, and we have all
done things we shouldn’t have. The Amazing thing about the Grace of God is that
He covers all of us and is calling all of us to follow Him. He is The Way. The
Truth. And The Life.
My prayer for all of us... my family, my friends, my
community, and all of you is not so much that we would learn how to do battle
with the devil. But that we would make ourselves vulnerable to each other and
surrender to Jesus, who already overcame the Evil One and this Jesus desires to
live His Life in us and through us and among us. God Bless You. Thank You for supporting Kairos,
and have a wonderful week!!
James K Jones
P.S. Roll Tide! J
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