Chocolate cake is good, but God’s Word is sweeter

By David L. Chancey
Pastor

I love this time of year! Spring means warmer temperatures, baseball season, pretty flowers and the celebration of Easter. Easter is a big time for us pastor types! I love to see the church full.

Spring also means the annual birthday run at our house. Three family birthdays fall March 15, March 30 and April 15, so we celebrate back-to-back-to-back. And that means birthday cake.

I don’t know who invented birthday cake, but it certainly puts icing on the celebration. I normally order the usual: yellow cake with homemade chocolate frosting. No pre-made, store-bought frosting in little cans for us. This frosting is from scratch. That means there are beaters to lick and a bowl of leftover frosting to scrape.

When I was growing up we had four boys in the house and three sources of leftover chocolate frosting. One beater each for two brothers and the bowl to be split between the other two. Sharing the bowl was tricky. If there was a lot of frosting leftover, we were fine. But sometimes there wasn’t and we’d rake and scrape the bowl for all it was worth. But you had to be careful not to scrape across the imaginary center line and get into someone else’s territory, or you’d have some serious squabbling. Don’t mess with my frosting.

But there was always the cake, delicious, moist and popular. Sometimes my mom’s cakes would fall apart. There was never a rhyme or reason to why one cake split and another didn’t, but usually the ones that split were the ones she was planning to take to the “dinner on the grounds,” the class party or some other social function. Mom would work hard to bake a cake, but then would be embarrassed to have it split. So sometimes she had no other choice but to let us boys have it and to try another one.

The cake falling apart usually started as she put into place the last layer. She’d frost the first layer, then stack and frost the second, and finally top it off with the third. Then the crumbling would begin and with great exasperation, she’d reach for toothpicks and poke the cake in strategic places, holding it together the best she could.

Despite what she viewed as a disaster, the cake would taste the same. We’d devour it, and she’d say, “I guess that cake wasn’t any good after all.” In fact, we’d secretly hope for a split.

My Granny Harris used to bake a peanut-butter cake. The layers would alternate yellow, pink, yellow, and would be covered with cooked, sweet peanut butter frosting. Getting the correct consistency with the frosting was somewhat tricky, but usually it was just right. Fortunately, her recipe was passed down to my mother and then to my wife. And now my kids usually get a peanut butter cake when they go to their grandmother’s house.

Back to our birthdays, we departed from our standard yellow cake with chocolate frosting this year. I ventured out and asked for a “chocolate on chocolate” cake. Same homemade frosting, but a fudge mix. It was great! Another daughter asked for an ice cream cake, and the other birthday girl requested frosted pound cake. Change is good, and all were delicious! We’re not so much baking cakes as we are building memories and keeping family traditions.

As sweet and enjoyable as these birthday cakes are, there is something even sweeter and better for you. In Psalm 119, the writer meditates on the wonderful benefits of the Word of God, and writes in 119:103, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

God’s Word is like a lamp that lights our path, directs our steps, and keeps us on the right track if only we’d read it and apply it to our lives. And it’s not as fattening as birthday cake.

(Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor of McDonough Road Baptist Church in Fayetteville. The church family meets at 352 McDonough Road and invites you to join them for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m. and 6 p.m.)