Reflections: Taking God's love over the pleasures of a hot dog

Who knew that eating hot dogs could “shave” 36 minutes off one’s life? That’s according to a study done by researchers at the University of Michigan’s school of public health that ran in the Daily Commercial on Sept. 1.

This is just one more reason I don’t like Michigan. Jim Harbaugh, coach of the University of Michigan Wolverines, is another big one.

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Anyway, for those of us who like hot dogs, I have only one word.

Nuts.

No, I’m not writing about Gen. Anthony McAuliffe’s reply when the Germans asked him to surrender the city of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.

I’m telling you what to eat if you want to offset all the hot dogs we will consume during this football season.

And actually, there are several words I could have said.

In addition to nuts I could have said, like legumes, field-grown fruits and vegetables, and low-environment-impact seafood, whatever that means, according to the story in the Commercial.

But I’m guessing it’s not lobster with tons of butter on it.

One of my favorite columnists, David Whitley of the Gainesville Sun, also commented on the “hot dog” story.

“If that’s true, Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating champ Joey Chestnut would have died in 2007,” wrote Whitley.

He was commenting on things to ponder while waiting in the concession line.

This isn’t meant to belittle health food research. 

It just gave me something to start this column with.

Now I have to find something spiritual to tie it all together. Usually, I try to find if the word is used in the Bible. While I seriously doubt if hot dog is used, I am looking it up.

Just as I thought, hot dog isn’t used in the Bible. But I did look up dog(s) and found it used 41 times in the New International Version of the Bible.

I also found that Caleb is a masculine Hebrew name, that according to the New American Standard Exhaustive Concordance, is related to the word for dog.

It can also mean “wholehearted” or “loyalty.”

Finally, something I can use.

I wrote several years ago about the last Christmas gift my wife Nancy gave me.

It’s kind of hard for me to write about this. I first wrote about her gift to me on Feb. 11, 2017. I didn’t realize it at the time but it would be the last Christmas gift, or any gift, to me. I wrote it two weeks and one day before she died.

But even then, I cried.

I’ve felt I never loved Nancy deeply enough but the tears I shed that day told otherwise. 

They certainly fell on my way home from work that day. I remembered to stop at the Village Framer to pick up something for Nancy. Sometime before Dec. 20 she had our caregiver Liz, take her to frame a Christmas gift for me.

It had been forgotten during the hospital stay, though Nancy did mention it to me once. We were reminded by a call from the shop a few days earlier.

I felt compelled to get it before it was forgotten again. Becca gave Nancy a book of poster-like pictures she could write on and give as gifts. 

The picture she used was a cross section of a tree with its concentric circles. On it she wrote in all caps, “God’s love for us – Loyal.”

A little background. I came across the Hebrew word “chesed,” while studying the Bible. The “C” is silent, and it’s pronounced with a hard “H” sound.

I can’t remember why I investigated the word but I’m glad I did. It’s the type of encouraging word or verse I’ve tried to share with Nancy during those tough times, usually printed on a single sheet of hard stock paper with the largest font size I could use.

This is some of what I found and printed for Nancy: CHESED can sometimes refer to kindness or mercy. It can also refer to faithfulness or loyalty. Most often it is translated as “steadfast love.” 

The word loyal was the definition Nancy liked best, “God’s love for us – loyal.”

I’ve placed the framed poster in the center of a living room wall where I can see it and be reminded of both God’s and Nancy’s chesed love for me.

Little did I know that day it would be the last gift she would ever give me.

It was the perfect gift.

We started this column thinking about hot dogs.

Now, I like a good hot dog, but God’s love, His loyal love, tops any list.

Rick Reed is a columnist who lives in Mount Dora. To reach him call (352) 383-1458 or email him at RICOH007@aol.com. If you can’t get enough of Rick Reed see his blog at rickreed.co.