Booming Beans

Have you ever been humbled?

My family and I had gone camping. I enjoyed “roughing” it. The smell of the campfire, the fresh air and family time was relaxing. I was thrilling my boys about my tales of being a Boy Scout when we began to cook our afternoon meal. I told them how we used to cook our meals as scouts. That day we were fixing baked beans for lunch. I regaled with how we used to just place the can of beans in the fire and let them pressure cook. I was not a baked beans fan, but I really enjoyed those that we ate with the Boy Scouts.

As we prepared our meal, I decided I would cook our beans just like we used to in the scouts. We rolled the can into our roaring fire. I excitedly told my boys how great these beans were going to be. They would be steam and pressure-cooked. In my excitement, I forgot one little detail about cooking baked beans over the fire. We always poked a little hole in the top of the baked beans can before we rolled it into the fire.

KABOOM! Beans flew everywhere. The can was blown 15 feet into the air. The fire was blown completely out. And my son and I were covered with freshly steam cooked baked beans.

There was a couple strolling by our campsite just as the beans exploded. I certainly did not want them to think I had done anything foolish. Yet, do you know how difficult it is to look nonchalant with baked beans dripping out of your hair?

Why did this happen to me? I was proud of the fact that I had been a Boy Scout and knew some things about how to cook out in the open. I just knew that I could remember all that we had done to cook beans over an open fire. I wanted to impress my family with these facts. Pride, self sufficiency, the desire to succeed, and ignoring the truth has a way of making beans blow up in our faces.

God has ways of humbling us. He shows us that being self-sufficient and ignoring what he tells us will make the beans blow up in our faces.

Peter tells us: “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:5-7 NIV

How many lessons will it take before I, we all, learn to walk humbly before our God?