Different Kinds of Pickles

What's the best kind of pickle?

I love a crunchy dill - sour dills are even better. My husband, on the other hand, could eat kosher dills all day. And my mom swears by sweet pickles. Which is best?

As I've canned dozens of pickles this year, I'm coming to understand how many varieties are out there -- and I appreciate the uniqueness of each one. When you can homemade pickles, you have the added pleasure of creativity - no two batches are alike. We've made kosher dills, dills, pepper dills, and even "non-dills" (made by forgetting to put the dill in the jars) out of the same basic ingredients - cucumbers, water, and vinegar.

As I work I've thought about how my pickle-making illustrates an important truth about the body of Christ. There are so many ways that our worship and Christian community can look -- and if you are on the field, you have personally experienced that. We start with the same basic ingredients - faith in Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit, relationship with God - and turn out some pretty different-looking results.

And that's the beauty of it. God doesn't want assembly-line churches. He is personally involved in each one, for His glory. John could tell the ethnic distinctions in his vision of heaven (Rev. 5) and so we know that those differences transcend earth's boundaries.

On the field, you are one of God's instruments for creating a unique batch of Christians - a unique church. As He adds the ingredients that will make this body distinct from others, sit back and enjoy the process. Because at the end of the day, you will have a new variety on the shelf, and God will be glorified in His creativity.