My sister is a remarkable woman. She is the mother of six boys, works a full time job teaching high school and makes cakes as a side-hustle. As a result, her schedule is full. I get tired just thinking about all she fits in a 24 hour day. Recently, her second oldest son got married in Natchitoches. We talked about it on the blog a little while back. Jenny, in addition to being mother of the groom, took on the responsibility of making BOTH the bride's cake and the groom's cake.
She never let's anyone see her sweat. She's motivated by doing things at the very last minute. It always works out. Around noon on the day of the wedding that was to take place that afternoon, the cake-making operation went into overdrive. She got the cake put together and (surprisingly) enlisted the help of my brother and I to bedazzle the top of the cake with fresh, red raspberries. We washed our hands and began methodically placing the raspberries atop the cake, sneaking a few to eat during the process.
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| My brother, Kristian, calculating the width of a raspberry while ciphering the radius of the cake |
Before you knew it, the cake was about finished. It looked elegant and smelled delicious. There were raspberries left over and we indulged ourselves.
Jenny feverishly worked to get things finalized, piping more icing onto the cake.
Now that the cake was done, we just had to get it out to the venue of the wedding reception. This happened to be about 8 miles out of Natchitoches, in the country. Amid the rolling hills and oak trees, a big white tent was set up in the middle of a rodeo arena. That was the next mission: to get the cakes out to the reception site, a tall task, to be sure.
Everyone loaded up in their Tahoe and Jenny hopped in the very back to hold the cake. All was going well. However, once you get near the rehearsal venue, the road changes from paved road to gravel road. Unfortunately, the gravel road had what we call "corduroy" in it. Some people call this "washboard." I think you get the point. There are deep grooves in the road that will rattle the fillings out of your head. Imagine what it could do to a wedding cake!
Suddenly the cake broke into 3 pieces. Like the walls of Jericho, the cake and carefully placed raspberries tumbled. What a mess! The wedding was only a few hours away now but Jenny was unshaken, unflappable and unfazed. Here's what she did: To hold it together until the wedding reception started, she took cardboard and placed around the edges of the cake and then put a ribbon around the cardboard and cinched it up. The cake came back together. Everything worked out. Jenny bound up the broken cake. All in attendance enjoyed the delicious and beautiful cake.
I've thought about that a lot over the past several weeks. It reminded me of something. In Isaiah 61:1 Isaiah said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;"
What great news for Israel! The Prophet Isaiah was saying that one day Israel would be restored and all would work out. 700 years later, at the inauguration of Jesus Christ's public ministry, He walked to the synagogue, opened the scroll and, out of all the verses in Scripture, read that very verse, saying, "Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." The Messiah, Jesus, had come to bring salvation and... bind up the broken-hearted. Perhaps you are broken-hearted. You are crushed in spirit. You have no hope. Your dreams are unrealized. Discouragement, sadness, and depression abounds.
I have good news for you. First, you are not alone. Jesus knows what it feels like. You see, He was despised and rejected of men. They put the King of Glory on a cross and killed Him. Fortunately, that's not the end of the story. Jesus' death and then resurrection in His finished work at Calvary, gave us victory over sin and death. We deserved death and yet HE stood in our place, pardoning us and taking the full weight of punishment upon Himself. The Word tells us that He was wounded for our transgressions. By His stripes, we are healed!
Maybe we're right smack-dab in the middle of sin right now. Maybe our lives, like that raspberry-topped bride's cake, has broken into pieces. What was once beautiful and put together is now an unmitigated disaster - a mess. Our very heart is broken. Time has run out and all appears lost. Have no fear. We have an Advocate, a Friend who sticketh closer than a brother. One who has carried our burdens and has forgiven us. One who has promised to bind up the brokenhearted. Place your trust in Jesus today.
Psalm 147:3 "He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds."
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