In 2004 we were shopping for a new house, and I am including two photos we took in one of the houses that we considered.  Sadly, this one was not the one that we ultimately bought…

In the photo above you can see one of the modern kitchen conveniences that it contained… it is for cooling baked goods such as bread, pies, cakes and cookies.  It is located adjacent to the “ice box” which is an insulated box that contains ice.  (Go figure) Next to that on the left is an awesome kitchen convenience, shown below…

This little wonder, located just above the radiator is a bread rising box.  You place your bread dough in this nice warm box to rise…  Isn’t that awesome?

OK, full disclosure:  I bake bread every week.  In the cold months, which in this part of the world includes most months, I have to heat (slightly) an oven to rise bread… unless I can wait 2 or 3 hours for each rise.  Normally, “sandwich bread” has three rises, you can do the math!

I can’t tell you how much I’d like to have these modern kitchen conveniences that modern kitchens don’t have.  As you might have guessed this particular home was built-in 1895.  Just to make me a little more envious, the house I live in now is literally around the corner and was built the same year, but along the way some joker “modernized” my kitchen and ripped all of this stuff out!  Urgh. I have a 21st century kitchen… and that means more work for me…  OK, sort of.

It’s funny how our modern age of technology has squeezed some things out.  I realize that most people buy their bread at the store, along with most of the rest of their food.  It’s canned, frozen and already prepared… and those who buy it that way are really missing out not only on nutrition but taste… and spend more for food in the process!

Our modern age has also squeezed some other things out like manners, courtesy and often Christ.  We’ve replaced conversation and friendship with social media and TV… well, I’ll spare you the entire rant.

I hope, however that all of us can find a little time to squeeze Christ into our modern life of total convenience, you know what I mean, these days of leisure time and effortless living in which we all run around like chickens with their heads cut off full of stress and pressure from every side. We need to find ways to fit Him in…

Ironic isn’t it?  We do everything to save time, and most of us are saving so much time that we don’t have a second to catch our breath!