Devotionals for the Heart: Life Lessons Learned from Making Banana Cake

Banana Cake
A devotional by Wade Webster

“While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.” 

– 2 Corinthians 5:4 (NLT)

My life as a truck driver is fraught with many challenges. One of the main ones is the choice on what I'll eat while out on the road for several days at a time. Truckstop food is better than it used to be but can add up quickly in costs and calories. Squeezing a big rig through a fast food drive thru is a challenge I don't even want to think about.

Growing up relatively poor made me appreciate simple solutions for my meals. Sandwiches are a great option for me. I can make enough to last a week before I leave home. The small fridge in my tractor is a fantastic tool, too. Adding some fruit and nuts makes my diet quite healthy in an occupation known for making its minions fat. I fit it all in a cooler to transport it to work.

That is when I remember to pack everything into said cooler before I exit my apartment. One week, I left my bunch of five bananas on the kitchen counter instead of bringing them along for the ride. When I returned home Friday night they were still waiting patiently for me. They just had less of a green tint and much more of a brownish yellow hue. That's the challenge with bananas, they don't have a long shelf life.

My mom did her best to keep all seven of her children well fed as we grew up. Bananas were an important part of that regimen. When she had to buy yellow ones they would go bad before we could eat them all. No, we didn't throw much food away. She always used those mushy fruits in a recipe that would change their consistency and shelf life.

Fortunately, one of my sisters made a cookbook for me that she put some of mom's favorite recipes in. I found the banana cake recipe and fired up the oven. After putting several of those pieces of cake in the freezer, I ate those bananas for several weeks.

God has a similar challenge when it comes to taking His children home to heaven after our shelf life is completed. The first 10 verses of 2 Corinthians 5 explains in detail how we groan in our current bodies but that God gives us new bodies after we die. Yeah, the older we get the more we groan.

2 Corinthians 5:9 (NLT) gives us a great summary and life goal to reach for. “So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please God.”

So, my friend, groan if you must to make it through your day. It's normal and good.

Remember that a new, pain-free body is waiting for all who accept Jesus Christ into their heart, believe in Him and follow Jesus all the way to Heaven!

Do your best to please our Heavenly Father (God) while in this decaying body here on Earth.

Let's Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for seeing me through another day. Use my aches and pains to remind me of the perfect body you have prepared for me when you bring me Home.

~*~
Author Bio:

Wade Webster is a farm boy turned city slicker, heathen turned born-again Christian, truck driver turned writer doing his best to point folks to his best friend, Jesus Christ. 

He currently lives in Plano, Texas.

Wade is the author of 100 Prayers of a Writer, a book that didn't begin as a book, just weekly prayers to a group of writer friends.

He enjoys spending time in nature, running for exercise and dark chocolate, though not necessarily in that order. Apart from driving 18-wheelers for a living he has a part-time job painting houses on the side...and the front and back and inside.

As a teenager, he told his friends he never wanted to be considered normal. So far he's done a pretty good job of living up to that aspiration.