Muddy Buddies...

Muddy Buddies

Theology in the Trenches

by Kathleen Kjolhaug

Chatting away with a friend who lives several states away, I mentioned that I had just made a batch of “Puppy Chow.”

“What is that? I’ve never heard of it!” she responded.

“What? You’ve never heard of Puppy Chow?”

For those of you who do not know, it is a mean mixture of crunch and munch in one bite. The Corn-Chex cereal smothered with a chocolate peanut butter melt, topped off with powdered sugar satisfies the taste buds. Mid-winter, it’s a must. When under stress, there simply isn’t anything better. When arriving home after a full day of work, grabbing the tub of treats from the freezer makes anything that wasn’t quite up to snuff seem, quite frankly, unimportant.

Telling my friend of the delectable treats was one thing, but rattling off the recipe brought pure joy as I knew I was introducing her to one of life’s finest treats. She paused once she saw it on paper, and said, “Oh! This sounds like Muddy Buddies. That’s what we call it out here.”

Once the situation was clarified, I was able to ask if she had ever made her very own batch. With much delight, I learned that she had not.

A few days later, the call came announcing that she was just polishing off her first batch of homemade Puppy Chow or Muddy Buddies, whichever you prefer. I needn’t have asked how it tasted cause I could hear her smile amidst the crunching. She was now a fan!

Soon after, I found myself roaming the isles of a convenient store and noticed “Muddy Buddies” upon a rack amidst the munchies section. They had been in my midst masking as a make-shift “Puppy Chow” sort of treat for quite some time. Sort of, was the key. It was sort of like “Puppy Chow,” but not really. It sort of reminded me of a few other “sort ofs”:

I sort of believe in God, but not really the part that Jesus was the son of God.

“I am the way the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

I sort of believe in the Bible, but not that it is the Word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

I sort of think I’m a Christian, after all, I believe in something.

 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47).

I sort of like John’s book. Look him up, and enjoy the process.  Amen.