[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":90},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fblackberry-cobbler":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fblackberry-cobbler-surround":79},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":61,"date":62,"description":5,"extension":63,"image":64,"meta":65,"minRead":66,"navigation":67,"path":68,"postType":69,"publication":70,"publicationUrl":64,"seo":71,"stem":72,"topics":73,"__hash__":78},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fblackberry-cobbler.md","Blackberry Cobbler",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":58},"minimark",[13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46,49,52,55],[14,15,5],"p",{},[14,17,18],{},"Publication: The Lookout",[14,20,21],{},"Date: July 6, 2008",[14,23,24],{},"Column: First Look",[14,26,27],{},"Category: Parenting; Mother; Farm; Children",[14,29,30],{},"If the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, it's no wonder I love my mom so much. I grew up on a farm where I enjoyed the blessings of her cooking skill every day.",[14,32,33],{},"Mom wasn't a gourmet chef, but she knew how to make an ordinary dish like macaroni and cheese taste unusually good. We didn't have a lot of money, but we ate like kings when she pulled out her cast-iron skillet and made fried steak and gravy. Or when she got out the deep fryer and made donuts the old fashioned way and covered them with powdered sugar.",[14,35,36],{},"To make homemade noodles she didn't need a recipe, just plenty of eggs and flour. She rolled the noodles out by hand, cut them into uniform widths, and tossed them into a big pot with tender chunks of chicken. It was Comfort food with a capital C. And the C could also stand for cholesterol once you piled the chicken and noodles onto a mound of mashed potatoes and consumed it with rolls and butter on the side.",[14,38,39],{},"Nothing, though, could surpass her blackberry cobbler. She made it with tart, fresh-picked berries covered with sweet biscuit topping and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.",[14,41,42],{},"The only trouble was, the cobbler took a lot of work before it could be enjoyed. The blackberries grew wild in the woods on our farm. Picking them required my brothers and me to put on long-sleeved shirts so we wouldn't scratch our arms as we pushed our way through the thick briars. Comfort food? I don't think so. Picking blackberries wasn't a comfortable job on a hot July afternoon. We would emerge from the woods scratched and sweaty, tired and hungry. Yet somehow the discomfort didn't matter because we held buckets full of blackberries in our hands waiting for Mom to work her magic.",[14,44,45],{},"Looking back, I think picking the berries was nearly as fun as eating them.",[14,47,48],{},"One responsibility of parenthood is to instill a sense of adventure in our children. They need to get some scratches on their arms in pursuit of sweet rewards. Yes, we should protect our kids, keep them safe, provide them with comfort and joy. But some joys are better appreciated when they come at the end of a long hard day; and a child who's always protected from long hard days will never experience those joys. Some lessons can only be learned through hard work and perseverance.",[14,50,51],{},"Kids are actually drawn to a challenge, and wise parents allow their kids to take some reasonable risks. In fact, wise parents do adventurous things with their children. They go on mission trips or work on community service projects together. They run together in mini-marathons or hike steep trails in the mountains. They clean up an elderly neighbor's yard or volunteer at a nursing home. They memorize a lengthy section of Scripture together.",[14,53,54],{},"The other day I bought some blackberries I discovered in the frozen food section at the supermarket. I found a recipe and made some cobbler. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't nearly as good as the ones I remember eating years ago.",[14,56,57],{},"Was the missing ingredient my mother's loving hands? Yes, but I also missed the sense of adventure that went with the whole experience when I was a boy. Some things simply taste better when you have to wade through a briar patch to get them.",{"title":9,"searchDepth":59,"depth":59,"links":60},2,[],"First Look","2008-07-06","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fblackberry-cobbler","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":5},"articles\u002Fblackberry-cobbler",[74,75,76,77],"Intergenerational Ministry","Christian Unity","Biblical Theology","Perseverance in Suffering","QnLBpcry1pO8_6B6Vd4HB0y7_J_QRJeLphs_RoNraYs",[80,85],{"title":81,"path":82,"stem":83,"description":84,"children":-1},"Big Dreams in a Little Town","\u002Farticles\u002Fbig-dreams-in-a-little-town","articles\u002Fbig-dreams-in-a-little-town","The first time Bethlehem is mentioned in the Bible, it's not a birthplace but a burial place. According to Genesis 35:17-19, Jacob's beloved wife Rachel died while giving birth to their son Benjamin, \"and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).\" For Jacob, Bethlehem was a place of tears.",{"title":86,"path":87,"stem":88,"description":89,"children":-1},"Blessed Rest","\u002Farticles\u002Fblessed-rest","articles\u002Fblessed-rest","We are, indeed, a restless generation.",1790466139423]