If there’s one thing the food blogging world can be known for, it’s taking something simple and making it complicated. Like the grilled cheese. This grilled cheese requires preparation! Isn’t that absurd? But it’s also one of Adam’s favorite meals. But life really does not need to be made more complicated. It’s complicated enough.

For instance, politics are complicated.

Consider this: There are Americans whose only experience with Christians is through politics.

And, from a book I read recently, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davison Hunter, another thought-provoking thing to consider: “[The] state cannot…provide fully satisfying solutions to the problem of values in our society. There are no comprehensive political solutions to the deterioration of ‘family values,’ the desire for equity, or the challenge of achieving consensus and solidarity in a cultural context of fragmentation and polarization. There are no real political solutions to the absence of decency or the spread of vulgarity. But because the state is a clumsy instrument and finally rooted in coercion, it will always fail to adequately or directly address the human elements of these problems; the elements that make them poignant in the first place. As a rule, when the state does become involved in such matters, its actions can often create more problems through unintended consequences, not fewer” (171).

The public nature and limits of politics mean that we should tread carefully during this season. Political campaigns flatten problems to make them solvable to appeal to as many people as possible, but real life and real change is difficult and long-suffering.

If determining my own choices (should I put Ava in preschool, should we buy organic, should we buy a house and where, do I need to shower every day or should we be saving water during this drought season, how should I be spending my time, what should I be thinking about, do I read too much or too little and do I read the right things…) is so very difficult, it is no wonder at all that determining the future and direction of our country is something divisive and contentious. Compromise and disappointment are certain in the political arena.

So please. Please. My fellow Christians. Be humble. If you post something political, try to be understanding of opposing viewpoints. Act and speak in love, especially in this political season where it is so rare.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese
Yield: 2 Sandwiches
Ingredients
4 Slices of Bread, Buttered
4 Jalapenos
4 Slices of Bacon, Cooked
4 Slices of Cheddar Cheese
2 Ounces of Cream Cheese, Softened
Method
Broil the jalapenos for ten to fifteen minutes, flipping halfway through until they are partly blackened.
Put the jalapenos in a ziplock bag and let them cool.
Peel the skin off the jalapenos and deseed them.
Spread half the cream cheese on each sandwich.
Put a pan over medium heat.
Layer the skinned and deseeded jalapenos, bacon, and cheddar on the cream cheese and top with the other slice of buttered bread.
Place the sandwiches on the heated pan and fry until golden brown.

Mostly unrelated, but here’s a Studies in the Sermon on the Mount thought of the day:”If you want to avoid terrible disillusionment at the day of judgment, face scripture as it is. Do not argue with it, do not try to manipulate it, do not twist it; face it, receive it and submit to it whatever the cost” (Lloyd-Jones 533).