More Than You Bargained For...

I grew up in a very small town about seven miles west of South Bend, in northern Indiana.

I was born in 1945.

In the 1950s and early '60s, when I was growing through childhood and my teen-age years, Lydick was the world I knew.

My parent's home was on a gravel road...as I remember, there were only two main paved roads in town: Edison and Quince.  There was a four-way stop where those two roads intersected.  No stop lights, no street lights, no police department.

Lydick had one grocery store, one gas station, one tavern, one Gleaner's Hall, one barber shop, one volunteer fire department, one grade school, one middle school (no high school...we went to New Carlisle for that adventure), one brick church, and one Ice Cream Parlor.

The Lydick Ice Cream Parlor served up hamburgers, french fries, soda fountain drinks...and great malts.  I loved the chocolate malts.

Those malts always arrived on the soda fountain counter just as pictured above.  A glass full of cold malted milk and ice cream...and more in the metal container in which the delicious drink was mixed.  How great is that?  More than enough.  More than you would expect.  More than you bargained for!

Fast forward.

I now live in Bloomington, in central southern Indiana.

I think every street in town is paved.  We have four-way stops, but we have way more stop lights...heck, we even got roundabouts.  There's not just one of anything...so far as I can tell.  Two institutions of higher learning, we got.

I eat lunch at 5 Guys probably once a week...on average.  I always order the same thing: Single hamburger (ketchup only), regular order of fries, and a small soft drink.

Look down into that bag.  That's how my lunch order at 5 Guys arrives.  See that container of fries?  And do you also see all the other fries that come with the order but will not fit into the paper cup designed to hold the fries?  How great is that?  More than enough.  More than you would expect.  More than you bargained for!

Truth is like that, I think.  Love is like that, I think.  And God is like that, I think.

Like those malts served up at the Lydick Ice Cream Parlor. And like those fries served up at 5 Guys.

There's always more to truth, and love, and God than fits neatly into a single container.  There's always truth, and love, and God that spills over and needs more space than what is allotted.

Anybody...or any group...or any institution...serving up "all there is to know" about truth...about love...about God...ain't worth your time. 

Hold out for the people, groups, or institutions that offer up servings like the ones in the pictures above.