Red Velvet Cake

So, this is the Red Velvet Cake I made for my beautiful wife's birthday. From scratch, baby. And, it is pretty delicious (patting self on back). It did turn out pretty good considering it's the first time I've ever made one. Made the icing and all. I don't really understand what people mean when they say they can't cook. I always want to say, "Can you read?" Now, some recipes are easier than others. This was a bit of a challenge, but you just have to do what it says, usually.

Now, I did get a great lesson from this wonderful cake. I stopped on the way home last night to pick up some Cake Flour, which I've found is impossible to find. No one really sells cake flour. But I found a substitute on the inter-tubes and went with it. But that was not the end of it. So, I get home from the grocery store and start on my cake. I get everything out and look at our sugar. It calls for 2 cups. We did not have 2 cups. I just assumed we had sugar. We usually do. We didn't this time. So, I head out to the store again, get my sugar and get started again. Get the eggs and sugar mixed up and get ready to mix the cocoa and red food coloring, two ounces of it. I saw we had some in the cabinet. Surely we had 2 ounces. I was wrong. Trip number three to the grocery store. By this time it is about 11 p.m. I finally finished the cake. I was proud of it, but it was an experience.

I did something great for my wife. She loves red velvet cake, but I wasn't very prepared to do something great. Often, we want to do something great for God, but we have not prepared. We have not done the grunt work that it takes to get prepared for God to move. We want to see God's glory, but we have not let God see our sweat. Being great, doing something great, being a part of something great takes preparation. God will send us through a season of preparation and we have to be willing to focus to get ready. We often get in the kitchen with God, so to speak, and expect a miracle when there are simply too many missing ingredients. We have not gotten ready for waht God wants to do. That makes the process longer and more difficult. God can't do what God wants to do if we have readied ourselves. Do you want to do something great? Is God calling you to something great? If so, chances are, it's time to prepare. Don't be running out to the grocery store for the 3rd time at 11 p.m.