*This is a guest post by Tim Gillen, husband, father, City Group leader and lawyer.
Like any good, red-blooded American college student, I was all too familiar with the local Chinese food takeout places. For $5, I could get a Styrofoam container full of fried rice with some kind of fried meat and some barely recognizable vegetable drenched in a brown sauce. I saw Chinese food as a way to eat fried, salty food cheaply.
Sammy’s Flipped my World Upside-down
That all changed the first time I went to a place called “Sammy’s” in New York City. The first time I ate at Sammy’s I had just finished finals. and went out with classmates to celebrate. I walked in expecting Chinese food as I had always experienced it, but instead. my entire world was flipped upside down. The food was… good! Not just Chinese food good, but honest to goodness good.
At Sammy’s things were made from scratch. There was a care and craftsmanship that went into how the meat was sautéed and how the vegetables were crisp.  The best part was that Sammy’s wasn’t some gourmet Chinese place. It was just as cheap as those places I had always known, only better. To this day, I don’t know the nuts and bolts of how Sammy’s makes superior dishes, but I am incredibly grateful that they do. In fact, after moving away from walking distance to Sammy’s. I swore off Chinese food for a long time. Why? Because I knew no other place could compare to Sammy’s.
Why Cooking is my Passion
I love to cook. I’ve always had some aptitude for it, but over the last half dozen years or so it has evolved into a passion, my main hobby. I am hardly alone in this, and people love to cook for a variety of reasons. Some love to experiment and try new flavor combinations. Some love to experience different cultures through food.
What I love most about cooking is the cooking techniques and food science behind a great taste. I have a very ordinary palette. My passion lies in taking dishes people are familiar with, and by putting in time, love, and effort, with a dose of technical know-how, elevating the familiar to the superior.
This drives me to learn words like “chiffonads”and “Maillard reaction”, and it is why I buy most of my spices whole, heat them, and grind them. I love making brownies for people used to eating box-made brownies, or spaghetti for people used to eating dried pasta and jarred sauce, and having those people incredulous that my version can taste so much better than what they had accepted as normal or good.
When I cook, I pay close attention to each small detail that goes into elevating a dish, dispite the fact that who ever eats it will not be able to discern what I did to make it taste superior. If all goes according to plan, the diner will know the end product is good in totality, but won’t know and appreciate all the steps andspecial touches it required.
God the Cook
I think about God as all-knowing cook and myself as the unaware diner.
As I cook, I am often reminded of God’s character. I think about as the all-knowing cook and myself as the unaware diner. God acts, provides, and works for me in ways that I am often not aware of. When I am at my best, I have a vague awareness and appreciation for what God does for me. At no time, however, am I able to discern and give appropriate thanks and praise for the infinite number of small ways God cares for me.
The marvelous thing is that God knows this. He knows that I am blissfully unaware of His loving steps and touches, but He does them anyway. He does them because He loves me and not because he needs or requires my praise. Because of this, I am able to put my touches on a dish, not to be recognized and praised for my skill, but to joyfully reflect God.
When I elevate dishes from ordinary to extraordinary, I am reminded how God is always elevating us through the gospel. He takes a rough approximation of forgiveness and evaluates it to permanent, enduring forgiveness at the cross of Christ.
Just like I had no idea Chinese food could be truly good until I experienced Sammy’s, I now realize in-part that God is always at work in profound ways, one of which is elevating, redeeming, ordering and fullfilling my desires through the gospel of Christ.