Joanna: When I saw the loaf, my goodness! It looked like it came out of a gourmet cooking magazine!

Bryan: Ah yes, well, I wouldn't know about that, but, I can say with confidence, it smelled like it came out of a gourmet cooking magazine. Ha!

Now, we will jump to one of our final conclusions: We believe, dear Judy, you should open up your own bakery!

Bryan: Back to the beginning: As our door opened, the very first sound was Judy's sweet, happy, laughing voice.
Then, as I reached out to her, the warmth of that personality seemed to be transmitted into the large bag she put into my hands, warm, hard yet soft, big, and with a smell angels would wish to partake of.
As we shared a few minutes of love and life together, I just wanted to keep holding that warm bag, imagining what might be hidden inside, yet, not wanting this moment of sweet fellowship to end!

Joanna: Well, I finally got Bryan to bring the scrumptious-smelling bread into the house, and let Judy, who was freezing talking to us from our doorway, be able to get in her warm car and go home.
This loaf just has a beautiful look and color, and its crustiness is exactly, I mean exactly, what Bryan likes most in his bread, that texture, that taste.

Bryan: After Joanna took pictures of this delectable delight, making me wait with a watering mouth, (my job during the picture-taking was to keep my nose as close as propriety would allow, and sniff! Sniff! Sniff! in ecstasy)!
I begged her to "hurry, please" and cut us each a piece!
I thought of the verse, in the Bible, "man shall not live by bread alone". I then asked Joanna to put a good portion of butter on half my piece, and then contrast it with pecan honey-butter on the other half! What a contrast!

Here are my taste conclusions:
The bread eaten by itself, warm, crispy crust, soft middle, was marvelous!
The bread, eaten with a generous portion of butter, was more marvelous!
The bread, when Joanna spread pecan honey-butter on it, was, well, almost indescribable!
..But, I would not want to have the honey on it most of the time, just occasionally as a special treat.

Joanna: But, we weren't finished yet! An hour later, Bryan came with his sweet, begging expression on his face, and I knew he wanted something more.
And so, we each then ate another wonderful piece of slightly warm, fresh bread, with a small slice of cheddar cheese on it! After that, neither of us needed lunch!

Bryan: O how the afternoon dragged on slowly, as I waited for my hunger to again grow. Finally, by supper time, it was back. How grand the bread fit with the Thai coconut-curry soup! I must confess, I ate 2 bowls, so I could have 2 pieces of our Judy-bread.

We did keep 4 or 5 more slices out, and froze the rest for a later date, a wonderful date with destiny, when we will be giving thanks to God and to Judy once again.

Bryan: So, what thoughts has the delectable bread inspired to this point?
My very first thought, beyond the sheer joy of thinking how great the bread tasted, was to contrast the hard outer crust with the soft inner, and reflect how, as a last-year undergrad studying in France, I was exposed to the life-transforming person and teachings of Jesus. I could be so hard, crusty, unyielding, resistant, but as Jesus won over my heart, my affections, my soul, my very life, I watched Him transform that crust into a much softer, more pliable, more tender person, a transformation that took place mainly on the inside, but then inexorably, and over time, changed the outside as well.

Joanna watched some of those changes take place, and maybe some time, she can share more of our story and God's wonderful working. And, o please, may she do it over a piece of Judy's bread!