By Hannah Azevedo

Nine months ago, my husband and I pledged to share our lives, our hearts, and our bed (no I Love Lucy twin beds allowed). Slipped into the invisible fine print at the bottom of the document was an unspoken agreement to share dinner entrees too.

Seattle is filled to the rafters with great restaurants, in case any of you are unaware or moved here yesterday. My husband and I have similar taste, so most of the time, splitting meals means we get to explore more flavors, discover more favorites, and be more daring. It was the definition of a win-win. This happy arrangement broke down a few months into our marriage when we chose to do date night at one of our favorite Thai restaurants, however. Let me explain.

We love Thai food. Perry grew up in Texas, where I swear they mix Tabasco sauce in the baby food. In Thai language, he loves stars, lots of them. I am a lame two-and-a-half star on an extremely good day with a conservative chef. We order my way, and he refuses to call it Thai. We order his way, and I look like Old Yeller just died. We are also both firstborns, so this presented a bit of a problem and a small trial of sorts. Why not just each get our own meals? Because. That’s not the issue.

After several unsuccessful attempts to solve our little conflict, and a few prayers for patience, we mentioned it to a wise and neutral third party. They pondered it, nodded thoughtfully and suggested the spice rack. What is a spice rack, you may ask? It’s an invention designed to bring harmony and unity to the table. You order a dish with only a few stars (think mild), mention the code (spice rack) and then a gracious server brings out this little tray with different spices of varying heat with your meal so the partner with the tolerant palette can doctor up his portion to his heart’s desire. Brilliant! We tested it at Orrapin Thai on Queen Anne, a current favorite, and it became an example of love working itself out in the practical.

In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church.

-Ephesians 5:28-29

On the grand scale of “trials” our dinner dilemma may seem ridiculously miniature, but in a small way, it communicated the intimacy Christ desires to have in the details of our lives. Even in the small trials we face on a daily basis, Jesus walks beside us. Pastor Mark preached a sermon that touched on this point this past Sunday on 1st Peter 1:3-9. For those of you who missed it, I recommend catching up.

The past nine months have brought several little trials and a few larger ones as Jesus teaches us how to love each other more than we love ourselves and rank each other’s needs at a higher priority than our own, even when love means sharing our Panang Curry.

Mars Hill Church Downtown lives for Jesus as a city within the city of Seattle: knowing culture, loving people, and seeing lives transformed to live for Jesus. For more information, visit us HERE. For information on community groups and other ministries go HERE. For general questions, you may email us at downtown@marshillchurch.org.