Homemade Tomato Soup - Dalen Keys

“For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:13b (NIV)

For years, I have been my wife’s right-hand man in her homemade tomato soup sweatshop (it’s not really that bad – but I can’t let her know). I love her homemade tomato soup; it’s the only tomato soup I eat. So, late in the summer each year, we drive to our favorite farm and buy bushels of tomatoes. I have to admit that it can be rather demoralizing when we are just getting started and we have 15 to 20 bushels of tomatoes sitting in front of us – but, I love the results! In my opinion, there is nothing better than pulling out one of those jars of homemade tomato soup on a cold winter’s day. It’s just plain comforting – it tastes like a hug.

The first step in the preparation of the soup is washing and sorting the tomatoes. After so many years of washing and sorting tomatoes, probably thousands of them, I consider myself as somewhat of an expert on tomatoes. Tomatoes fall into three categories for me; the unblemished – those that have the right color and have not been damaged; the damaged – those that have been scarred by the handling or their surroundings but are still usable; and then finally, the rotten – they are good for nothing but the trash (and they usually stink too!).

It occurred to me that maybe those tomatoes are a lot like us and the choices we make in our lives. Maybe Jesus sees us somewhat like I see those tomatoes. Some of us are unblemished and walking a pure life in Christ. Some of us are damaged by the choices we have made, almost spoiled through and through. But we can turn things around with God’s help. And, sadly, some of us have chosen a life that is rotting us – setting us apart from God’s love. Thank God he loves each one of us and does not give up on people as easily as I do on those rotting tomatoes.

Dalen Keys proclaimed firmly that he would never write a children’s book and certainly nothing about quilting. But, God had other intensions. His first book, a children’s picture book titled, Just A Quilt? was published in February, 2009. Dalen thrives in the creative environment of science and technology and he loves being a technology manager at DuPont. He lives in Landenberg, PA with his quilter wife who often smirks as they travel to quilting events that he has scheduled. They have three children, one grandchild, three dogs and far too much fabric around the house. Dalen can be contacted at dkeystone@comcast.net


Publisher: Fruitbearer Publishing
ISBN-10: 1886068348
ISBN-13: 978-1886068346