Corn Pudding

Last week our church youth group and church went to the Hope Lodge to prepare and serve a meal to the residents. The people living there are dealing with cancer and all its fallout and aftermath. This place provides a home while the patients and their families go through and endure the rigorous treatments of radiation and chemotherapy.

We have a precious couple there now, Dan and June Redding, and our church wanted to bless them in any way we could. Our church still loves potlucks! A meal is always a good place for the Body of Christ to gather and to fellowship. So, Christ Church took this philosophy on the road.

My husband and two of my daughters went. Sadly I didn’t get to go because of my work schedule, but I prepared a potluck dish. One of my old standbys. I decided on one thing and then changed my mind. I fiddled with my recipe—attempting to triple maybe even quadruple it. You have to understand numbers and measurements boggle my mind. After much debate I made the dish anyway and prayed that it would taste as it should. I asked the Lord to bless and make it stretch.

I wanted to go and hug Dan and kiss June. They have become very important to our family—much like surrogate grandparents in many ways. Dan and June have prayed for my husband and me. They have prayed for our daughters. They have prayed for my grandsons.

Dan is battling cancer. And he’s fighting hard. He’s weary. June’s tired. It’s a hard, hard battle. Please pray for them. Please.

When I got home that evening my husband and youngest daughter told me all about the night. About all the wonderful people, the beautiful facility and the all the food. My husband told me I needed to call my older daughter and ask her about the corn pudding—that’s the dish I made. I grimaced and thought I had left something out in all my attempts to increase my recipe.

One of the sons of a woman battling cancer and staying in the Hope Lodge was talking to my daughter. During their conversation he asked her who made the corn pudding. My daughter laughed a little and said, “That would be my mom.”

The man, I do not know his name and wish I did, told my daughter he was so grateful and thankful to see corn pudding on the table. It tasted just like his mother’s. Their family had not had a family gathering in a long time because of his mother’s illness and corn pudding was one of his favorites she always prepared for him. Seeing and then eating the corn pudding at this potluck brought back memories and was such a blessing for him. Having this one dish made his day; he took leftovers to his room.
I was overwhelmed.

I seriously considered preparing something else that day. I was even planning to go back to the store and get different ingredients, but I just kept thinking I needed to make corn pudding.

Listen my friends, God can and does use whatever is available. Be it a kind word, a gentle gesture or a pan of corn pudding.

We need to listen to the nudgings and promptings of the Holy Spirit. We need to be sensitive to his leadings and obey even when they seem as benign and inconsequential as what dish to make for a potluck meal. We don’t know what our God  will orchestrate. We don’t know what the needs are, but he does. And he knew there would be someone staying in that lodge who needed a taste of home, who relished a thread of tradition and who wanted a reminder of his mama.

Make your own corn pudding today. Mix up your recipe, put it in a pan and bake it. Then deliver it with a smile and a prayer. We tend to think and act as if the only way to bless others and glorify God is in the huge things, in the notable things or in the important things.

God determines the definition of all of these.





Jiffy Corn Pudding

1 can of cream style corn
1 can of whole kernel corn (drained well)
1 box of Jiffy Corn Muffin mix
1 stick of butter, melted (I use real unsalted butter)
½ cup sour cream (I use light)
1 egg
2-3 tbs. of sugar

Mix all ingredients well. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until lightly browned on top and toothpick comes out fairly dry.