"Christmas Country Ham 2014"

All of my growing up years in rural west Ky were with filled adventures and challenges that were common to life in the country. Hog killing was some of both and lots of hard work. My Pa Sutherland always wanted to kill hogs on Thanksgiving Day if the weather was right. Most years we would butcher at least six hogs sometimes more. When I turned 14, Pa presented me with a special butcher knife he had made and informed me that he and I would be the official butchers for hog killing from then on. I was so excited because one of Pa's neighbors had always helped with that chore. But he had aged to the point Pa was not comfortable with his skills. So, I got the job until I left home to go to college and later the US Navy. Pa taught me how to cut the meat and cure it for the winter.

Country ham has been a Christmas morning staple for our family until we moved to Texas in 1977 because finding real cured COUNTRY ham in Texas is a rarity. And of course none of it came even close to Pa Sutherland's carefully cured ham. I loved just sitting in his smoke house as a kid and watching him pack the hams, bacon sides and ribs in his big salt box. He was very protective of his meat and rarely agreed to part with it except to his family.

The Rose and I have some really special friends/family who live just across the Ky/Tn state line near Paris, Tn. We passed through Ky on our way home from NC just after Thanksgiving and met our friends for dinner in Murray, Ky. As we were leaving Scott Owens said, "Hold on a second I have something for you." He went to his car and came back carrying a whole Tennessee country ham. My eyes lit up and I said, "Oh wow. I haven't had one of these in a long time. My Dad always sent me one for Christmas when we moved to Texas." Actually the delivery guy always wanted to know what that was when he brought it to my home because of the aroma it radiated.

Yeah, I love country ham and this year we have just now enjoyed a really special Christmas Country Ham breakfast thanks to the Owens family of Buchanan, Tn. We waited until this morning to cut it but I'm sure we will enjoy it for many breakfasts to come.

Country ham is an acquired taste because it is very salty compared to sugar cured ham, but once you get that second taste there is nothing like it in the whole world. This morning I had to explain the real history of country ham to my grandson, who is the age I was when Pa Sutherland tapped me for a very special challenge. Hog killing will always be a ritual that I will never duplicate but will always appreciate. It usually lasted well into the night with the very last job - cooking out the pork fat in a huge iron kettle over a wood fire in the back yard to make "cracklins".

Today my family is scattered and we were weren't able to all be together this Christmas but that country ham breakfast with our son Michael, his wife Annette and his son Gabe, coupled with that beautiful Tennessee Country Ham has put my heart right again and taken me back to my Old Kentucky Home for some very special memories.

God has blessed the Rose and I over our 50 years together. We stay connected daily with all of our family of 14 thanks to computers, the internet and social media - and Country Ham! I am a very blessed husband, father and grandfather. I'm also grateful that my doctor told me last week when I went for my annual check-up that he will see me again in a year. Now that I'm knocking on the door of 74, I take nothing for granted in life. Even small blessings like breakfast with family this morning and memories that keep me connected to who I am. HALLELUJAH!

"Tidings of Comfort and Joy"

Many good people struggle with sadness during this holiday season. If you are among those please give yourself some grace and realize that you can't help how you "feel". I've never been one given to depression and dark thoughts but have walked with many through some dark days and learned to not judge them for how they feel because that is their reality. I may not understand it nor identify with it but my responsibility is to be a voice of hope. Case in point -

Jesus was challenged by a group of Sadducees (Jewish lawyers) who posed a question to him that they probably thought would paint him into a corner. Their question turned on a point of their interpretation of the Law regarding a widow who married seven brothers in succession as each previous one died. They wanted to know which of the seven would be her husband at the resurrection of the dead. In his characteristic way, Jesus ignored their legalistic question and left us a word of absolute hope:

     "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered
     worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry
     nor be given in marriage, and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They
     are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection. But in the account of the
     bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord, 'the God of Abraham,
     and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the
     living, for to him all are alive." Luke 20:27-38 NIV

Grieving isn't a bad thing, it's a healthy way of absorbing and ultimately dissipating sadness over the death of a loved one. Those Sadducees were too educated and intelligent to believe that dead folks can come back to life. I so appreciate Jesus' final comment in the above account and have shared it with thousands of grieving believers over the years - "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Please don't allow the enemy to rob you of the comfort and joy of the holiday season - celebrate the Son of God for the gift he has given to all who believe. We are "children of the resurrection" because through Jesus we are part of God's eternal family. AND to him "all are alive"! And that isn't just for this Christmas season alone but for every hour of every day of every year. HALLELUJAH!