PEN ART - THE LAUGHTER THAT BROUGHT US CHRISTMAS

PONDERING THE STORIES WITHIN THE STORIES
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Don't worry - I'm still on track with these weekly lessons of COME AS A CHILD, and they will always continue to be published on THURSDAYS as usual; but today I'm posting an extra lesson for the week.  It is a lesson that we studied when we were walking through the book of Genesis.  I'm posting it today simply because I consider this particular lesson to be a great Christmas Story; and it is that time of the year!  

This is my Christmas present to you my faithful readers!  Enjoy!

A SURPRISING CHRISTMAS STORY:
(THE STORIES HIDING WITHIN THE STORIES)

Wow!  We have seen so much happen in the stories of Abraham and Sarah’s life! 

Their story is really amazing, but I’ve been a bit distracted as I've been writing about them during The Christmas Season.  My thoughts are so focused on the stories of THIS season instead of their story.  

Because my mind has been totally focused on Christmas I thought it was going to be hard to write the next lesson about Abraham and Sarah.  My mind and heart were not in their time zone.  What could two people living way before the birth of Christ have to do with Christmas?  

When I began to study the lesson, I was pleasantly surprised; and you might just experience this same epiphany yourself!   Keep reading.......

Just in time for Christmas God has really opened my eyes a bit wider.  He has begun to show me just how much Abraham and Sarah’s lives and their stories (especially during the time of the Theophany of the Lord that happened in the groves at Mamre) intersect and bring forth pictures of a prophetic visitation that would forever have a future impact on all of the world concerning the gift of a Messiah.  

Now that's a Christmas message for sure!

I had never actually related to this aspect of the story before.  In past reviews I had kept my thoughts strictly focused on the facts; remembering that there was an announcement involving the birth of Isaac and that Sarah had laughed at that announcement.  Those two things are very important; but there is SO MUCH more to see.  

As it turns out, this angelic visitation to Abraham and Sarah by three heavenly visitors was actually all about the salvation of mankind!  Is this mentioned in the story?  No.  Is it an obvious fact?  Yes, but only when you start to compare the details.

It amazed me when I realized that elements of this simple little story we all have heard so often were actually the telling of the very beginning of the story that we all long to hear every year at Christmastime.   Until today I had simply not made all the connections. 

This day of the Theophany, the day that Abraham was visited by some heavenly visitors to announce the coming birth of Isaac, happened long before the birth of Christ.  Yet it is astounding for me to discover that this particular day was actually the day that God chose to begin to lay the foundation for the Messianic story!  

Have you ever noticed how God never blurts out the truth?  

Sometimes He lets us discover things gradually and on our own.  It is much more of an adventure that way.  What a surprise to find out that this Theophany that happened with Abraham outside his tents was the beginning of the time that God chose to set everything in motion that would (over years of time) bring us Messiah!  

How unexpected to find that everything that happened here with Abraham and Sarah was a marker of The Divine pointing us toward the coming of Christ.  

I have always heard that you can see the story of the salvation of Christ in EVERY old testament story.  This revelation proved true once more.  I will never hear this story the same again.

This Christmas Season, as I put up my Jesse Tree, I wondered to myself, “Why have I not seen these things before?”  

Perhaps I wasn’t waiting correctly.  

Maybe I had not been focusing on God with a whole heart.  Maybe I had to understand the main story to get to the truth of the story within the story.

Maybe....maybe....maybe.  

So, let me start at the very beginning of the first story…..……We begin with the fact that Abraham, the man who was told by God that his descendents would one day be as many as the stars of the heavens, was only so far the father of the child of an Egyptian handmaiden!  

At this point in our story Abraham has become very humble.  He has repented of some sins of the past and turned his entire focus back to God after wondering away for a short time.  In that time Abraham had heard from God, who advised him to be circumcised along with all of his household.  Abraham had also been given a change of names, and had gone back to the tent of Sarah (who also had a new name) to wait to hear more from God. So these things took place right after Abraham had changed some of his own selfish ways through repentance, had been marked as a child of God and had been given a new name by God.   

Abraham's sins had been about moving ahead of God's plan for his life with his own plans instead of God's plan.  It was a terrible mistake!  He had repented and made a concerted effort to change his ways.  His moving back to the tent of Sarah emphasized that he had seen and understood that he was to focus solely on the pruposes that God had blessed him with and nothing else.  He was to let God make the circumstances instead of moving ahead of God.  Sarah and Abraham had taken matters into their own hands and made a mess instead of bringing about God's will.  This had caused detours in their lives that they might not have had to face had they consulted God first.  It wasn't the first time either.  Abraham finally realized his error and he turned to God and cried out that he would be willing to change.  Abraham submitted himself completely to God's soverign authority.  He did this with his whole heart.    

Finally!  

Abraham had learned to wait on God and he was on the right track and things suddenly began to happen!  

That very thought was the subject on my mind and in my heart as I was going through Advent this year.  I was pondering how to wait on God.  

Waiting isn’t always easy and Abraham had learned the hard way that it never pays to jump ahead or try to change the circumstances of God’s destiny for your life.   He must have really pondered that statement from God when God had told him: “as many as the stars from heaven.”  Over and over Abraham must have considered what that REALLY meant to him NOW. 

During this Advent season I too have caught myself waiting and thinking about the stars from heaven, just like Abraham.  I’ve especially been thinking about one special star; that brilliant star that stood shining out over Bethlehem which had led the wise men to Christ. 

God always seems to show wise men the way!  

God often uses light to show people who He is.  

I have been thinking about light a lot too, especially the miracle of the light of Hanukkah, and how that story points to Christ as The Light of The World.

What a coincidence; in this story about Abraham and Sarah, Abraham too is being visited by three wise men!

They APPEARED to be men anyway.  

Abraham looked up from the doorway of his tent where he sat under the Terrebinth trees and he saw three men approaching.  

Immediately he knew; just like the other wise men in the story that came later, that He was encountering The Presence of The Lord!  

Abraham jumped up and ran out to meet them.  

He bowed low to the ground to honor them.  

He offered them gifts of hospitality.

Hmmmmmm…….this all sounds so familiar!  The wise men visiting Jesus also came with special gifts.  

The shepherds and the angels offered their hospitality.  

These stories have many parallels!  

We hear of the stories of the wise men and the shepherds and the angels at Christmas and we learn to welcome Christ.  We can also learn how to welcome Him from this story of Our Father Abraham.  

When was the last time you knew you were in the Presence of God?   

Did you look up and see Him and run to meet Him?  

Did you bow low to honor Him?  

Abraham had been humbled!  He had learned the proper way to honor God.  We must follow and do the same in our own lives. 

Abraham brought fresh, clean water to wash their feet.  He offered them rest in the shade under the big old trees of Mamre.  He gave them his choice seats at his own table.  He told Sarah to quickly bake them three cakes of bread and to use three measures of their finest flour.  He ran to where his finest, most tender, young calves were kept and he prepared meat for them himself instead of commanding a servant to do this.  He and Sarah did all of the work for these three special guest.  They did not delegate it to their servants, although Abraham had a house full of trusted servants, and Sarah had Hagar and many others to command to help if she needed.  They wanted to prepare this feast personally.  It was their gift of hospitality.  They wanted to be personally involved in this service.

Abraham  brought milk and curds and placed them on the table before his guests.    He served them the huge helpings of hot, freshly baked bread and very tasty meat portions, cooked just the right way.  

This would have been similar in nature to the feast you might serve to your family as you celebrate Christmas Day.  It was no ordinary feast!  It was a very special time of fellowship.

It was the best and the most well prepared food that Abraham had to offer. 

As his guest ate and rested and relaxed, Abraham waited nearby under the shade of the old tree.  He desired to be close by so he could be available to tend to their every need should something arise that needed attention.  

Have you ever spent time waiting near a tree in order to serve some very special guest?

 Need I remind you?  That is exactly what most of us do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  We welcome our family in to sit under our tree and we serve them from the best that we have to offer.

Little did Abraham know that this waiting he was participating in was the very first step in the plan to bring about a bloodline of mankind from which a Savior would be born.  Abraham was simply acting in faith, giving the best he had for the God that he loved.  He knew nothing of the holy mission of these heavenly men yet.  Still we see that Abraham stayed close, under the tree, in order to make sure they had everything they needed or desired. He was simply honored to have heavenly guests in his presence and abiding at his home.  For Abraham, this would have been enough, even without all the blessings to come.  He considered it a pleasure and a privilege to serve such a Holy God. 

Do you have a heart like Abraham?  

Are you welcoming the three special guests (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) into your home during this special season?

It is easy to see that all of the things Abraham offered to his guest in this story are so symbolic of God’s relationship with His Church.  

The milk and the meat are so indicative of The Word of God.  

The three loaves of bread made from three measures of fine flour bring to mind the parable that Jesus told in Matthew Chapter 13 where a woman hid leaven in three measures of meal.  The scripture reads “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used making bread.”   Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.  This makes us think of the apostles and prophets preaching and teaching the gospel story that is just coming to life right here at the table of Abraham as he serves bread to his special guests from heaven.  

We realize that this very humble beginning  of the gospel story (like the leaven hidden in the dough) will begin to grow and spread throughout the whole earth bringing salvation to all of mankind.  You see; the stories all started right back there in the tents of Abraham and Sarah.  That is how they first went out into the world.  They proclaimed the coming of Messiah even before there WAS Messiah.  They lived and breathed the definition of true faith.  They knew and believed the message about Emmanuel even BEFORE He came to be One of us!  You could truly say that Abraham and Sarah were the very first disciples of Jesus.
 

There is one slight difference in this story though, the dough that Abraham had Sarah prepare was not leavened.  Sarah wasn't expecting these guests and she did not have time to let the dough rise in order to get it to the table of her guests for their special meal.  It was unleavened bread that she served, and that unleavened bread represented the purity of the gospel and the truth of salvation.  It stood for the very humble beginnings of God's Kingdom on this earth, the word of God that came to humble men, those who were not proud or puffed up with the superficial ways of the world.  

This feast of Abraham and Sarah was a foretaste of what God would later give to the descendants of Abraham in the wilderness.  Abraham's descendants would later come to share in this feast of unleavened bread that would be called Manna, or The Bread from Heaven.  

This heavenly bread was the same as the unleavened bread that would be given by Christ to his disciples at The Lord’s Supper at the Passover meal just before He died for our sins on a cross.

It was the same as the bread that the Israelites ate as they crossed the wilderness in flight from Pharaoh because they did not have time for their dough to rise.  In order to fulfil their destiny the Israelites had to act in haste; and it was the same with Sarah.

Do we ever act in haste when we know we have a mission from God?  

Do we hurry to fulfill our calling to the things that are holy and true?

Sarah and Abraham did.  They received their guests with the hospitality that comes from a heart full and overflowing with love.  

Do you ever think about this when your special guests are arriving at Christmas time?  Can you show them the heart of Abraham in your own home?

This unleavened bread served by Abraham and Sarah stood for all the Passovers of all times, throughout the history of the story of God and mankind.  It was the foretelling symbolism of many, many miracles of God that were to come.

This hardly even noticed unleavened bread was so very significant to the beginning foundations of the gospel as it was being laid down in honor and respect for the guests from Heaven there at the table of Abraham. 

So we see that Abraham, after he had become humble and allowed God to circumcise his heart was approached by The Lord and angels and that they walked right up to his door.  It reminds us of a scripture passage found in Revelation 3:20 where God says:  “Behold I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with Me. “  

This time of fellowship, of a man having a meal with God, is a picture of The Lord as He uses the gifts and talents of human beings in His kingdom.  Any time we are able to partake of a meal with God we are given the gift of entering into fellowship with The Heart of Christ. 

So we see The Lord came to Abraham in answer to the promise of God, to start the process of fulfilling His desire to be what He was always meant to be – A Savior!  The Savior seeking to save that which had been lost had come to begin to give and show compassion to all human needs. 

Miracle of miracles, He allows Abraham to minister to Him, and we know that Abraham by the witness of his actions, had at least a glimpse of how HUGE this was.  Just as Christ allowed Abraham to serve him in this story; He also allows us to do the same.  His very words when hearing Abraham's greeting were “Do as you say.” 

These mysterious guests were The Lord and two angels.  They had no real need for food, or rest, or refreshing, but they said to Abraham “Do as you say.”  They welcomed his service to them. 

Do those words sound even faintly familiar as we go through this Christmas season and ponder all the miracles that happened to The Holy Family at the birth of Christ?  

These words have the same ring, the same tone, the same likeness of the answer that Mary gave to Gabriel as he greeted her with the glad tidings that she would carry The Son of God in her womb.  Her words were “Let it be done unto me as you have said.”   With these much the same words Mary, like Abraham, came to know the destiny that God had planned for her life.  She joyfully accepted it and allowed God to use her as a servant to His will. 

How could a man like Abraham have possibly known the wonder of all of this?  

How can we as mere human beings even begin to conceive all that is hidden in this Theophany?  

You can read it a million times and see something new every time.  And it was just the beginning of so many, many wonderful miracles that God would do. 

So the guest enjoyed their meal.  They ate and did not ask for more.  Then one of them looked up and inquired about Sarah.  

“Where is she?”

Abraham told them she was inside the tent.  Then the greatest words ever came from the guest from Heaven:  “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.”

Once again this beautiful story of Abraham parallels the wonderful story of the birth of Christ.  Abraham was told by an angel that Sarah would have a son.  It seems a heavenly pattern that when a woman is married and a miracle is about to happen, her husband will be spoken to first by an angel and she will learn the news from him after the angel delivers it.  This was the case with Zachariah and Elizabeth.  They too, like Abraham and Sarah were old and past the age of bearing children when the angel came to the temple and told Zechariah he would have a son.  In the case of Mary, she was just engaged to Joseph, not yet officially married and not living with him yet when she received the glad tidings; even though in the Hebrew way of thinking when a girl accepts engagement, she is considered at that point to be legally married. 

In this incident from the stories of Abraham, Sarah was more like Zachariah than Mary.  She was hiding behind the tent and listening to the conversations.  When she heard what the angel said she laughed out loud; thinking that she and Abraham were much too old to be bearing children.

That laughter of Sarah was the laughter that eventually brought the miracle of Christmas to us!  

Just like the story of Zechariah that would happen later, the angel confronted Sarah with her lack of respect.  She lied and said she did not laugh.  She did this out of fear.  The angel corrected her statement and repeated the fact that she DID laugh.  She was not punished as Zechariah would be later, perhaps because she had regretted the laughing and had showed a holy fear for the one bearing the announcement.  

Mary, however; many years later was the one who responded so well with the most pleasing answer of all:  “Let it be done to me as you have said.”

And all of these women from each of the stories went on to fulfill their destiny determined by God; to give birth and bring salvation to the world.  

Sarah by giving birth to Isaac brought the beginning of The Nation of Israel from which would come John the Baptist, who would herald the coming of Messiah, and then; Mary would give birth to Jesus – the greatest gift ever given to all of mankind.

Consider the fact that each of these births were a miracle of God!

In each situation the birth of a child seemed totally impossible, but with God all things are possible.

And this Theophany which took place so many years ago at the tents of Abraham around his table and under the tree at Mamre was just the beginning of God’s pouring out His heart to save mankind. 

May we be ever grateful for this miracle!  May we never forget how God brought about a son who would bring about a nation who would bring about The Messiah!   

As we approach the wonder of Christmas let us remember ALL of the stories and all the stories within the stories.  

Let us consider with wonder just how many years of miracles God granted to us in bringing the Child of God to earth!  

Let us ponder how important the faith of one man and one woman played into this story, and let us go carefully about God's business in fulfilling our own destiny in His Kingdom.  Each man and each woman will have their own special part to play.  We are all a part of HIS story!

Let us all be humble servants of the LORD, welcoming Him joyfully into our hearts and our homes with the same great hospitality and honor that Abraham showed to his heavenly visitors on that great day so long ago.

May your heart be filled with the stories and joy of Christmas this season!

For unto us a child is born!  

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 148 THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

The eighth commandment should be pretty cut and dry, right? 

“Thou shalt not steal.” 

Easy to understand; isn’t it? 

Or is it? 

This is the commandment that God gave to Moses while up there on the mountain that protects our personal property.  It keeps us from being robbed.

To “steal” is to take something that does not belong to you.  God doesn’t wish for this to happen among His people, or anywhere for that matter.  To steal is an unrighteous act and it is considered a sin in the eyes of God.

The world operates on a system that says “GET” but God operates on a system that says “GIVE.”  If something is not given to you; you are NOT to take it.  Period.   If something belongs to someone else; it is not yours to take. 

So; this commandment is the place where God begins to teach us not to be selfish.  A selfish person thinks only of himself and his own needs; a self-LESS person considers the needs of others first.  Learning to appreciate the needs and rights of others means respecting their property and their rights as a human being.

There are a million forms of theft. 

You can take someone’s personal possessions for yourself; and that is the most common form of theft; but there is also the theft of using deceptive advertising and taking the hard earned money of other people by using a con-game to make yourself an easy living. 

Some manufacturer’s cheat their customers by making a substandard product and selling it for a top of the standard price.  This is another form of stealing.  

Some companies steal through different means of bookkeeping methods where they bill their clients for more hours than they actually spent on a job; some employees do not actually work all of the hours they mark down on their timesheets; this is another form of stealing. 

A form of stealing can happen through corrupt government actions.  People can be overtaxed to the point that they have nothing to show for their labor.  Causes can be misrepresented by officials that are greedy and taking money underneath the table. 

There are those who are perfectly able to work and those who COULD find jobs to support their families that live off of government subsidies; this is stealing.  It would be taking from those who truly need these subsidies who are actually entitled to such funds.  Living with a sense of entitlement and always feeling like the world owes you a living is stealing.

Have you ever taken a few office supplies from the office just because they were readily available?  It wasn’t much; but it was stealing.  Don’t tell me you could not afford to go out and buy them for yourself, it was laziness as well as stealing!

We could go on forever giving examples of unobvious, yet true ways of stealing.  These things go on constantly under the sun as the world turns around  and around on its axis; but God does not approve of them. 

In God’s economy each person is required to provide for their own needs as much as possible and to share with those who do not have what they need.  It is a culture of giving not a culture of being greedy and taking. 

Just like in the other commandments we have already studied; Jesus had a lot to add later on to those basic words that God gave Moses up on the mountain about stealing.  You might say that God laid the foundation with Moses and Jesus put the finishing work on the building.  

Jesus had much to say about theft.

One of the most famous examples is a parable that He told to his disciples.  He speaks in Matthew 25 of a Master who entrusted his servants with different amounts of talents.  They were to invest them and use them while he was away.  One day the Master returned and inquired as to how each had invested their talents.  Two of them invested wisely, but the third had nothing to show for all the time that his master had entrusted him with his wealth.  Because the servant did not take care of the master’s wealth and at least TRY to increase it and make it grow in some way; the Master was displeased and this servant was considered no greater than a common thief.  

How are we caring for our world while our Master is away?  He WILL return, you know?  Our wastefulness and carelessness with the things of the earth will be frowned upon.  It will be yet another form of theft from unwise servants.  

You can steal from God by being like this lazy, worthless servant and deciding to do absolutely nothing with the life God has given you, or the talents He bestowed upon you.  This would be the same as stealing from heaven.

Oh, come on!  Can you really steal from heaven?  

I believe you can!

Not only do we steal from each other; sometimes we also rob God of His tithes and offerings.  This is yet another form of stealing. 

In thinking about all of these many ways one can become a thief, one begins to realize that this commandment about stealing isn’t just about taking from others; but it is about learning to be responsible for our part in the overall operation of the world. 

I’ll let you in on a little known secret.  God doesn’t need your tithes and offerings!  He already owns everything and can do with it all whatever He pleases.  He simply gives us the OPPORTUNITY to tithe in order to teach us how to be responsible. 

I’ve heard a lot of people say that the tithe was done away with in the Old Testament because it isn’t spoken of again in the New Testament.  I once heard this statement directly from the mouth of a priest!  I’m sorry to disappoint those of you who quit believing in tithing because of such rumors; I guess everyone just totally forgot about reading  2 Corinthians 9:7, or the story of the widow’s mite found in Luke Chapter 21, or Matthew 23:23, or Acts 20:35, 1 Corinthians 16:2, Matthew 6:1-4, Luke 11:42 (note the last few words), Acts 2:44-47, and I could go on but I won’t. 

The old legal system of using animal sacrifices has been done away with because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, but he FULFILLED the law and he didn’t ABOLISH the law.  Adam to Abraham and beyond all show examples of God’s people bringing the firstfruits of their labor as offerings to God.  Jesus did more.  He gave EVERYTHING.  He is our best example.  This act of bringing offerings to God STILL honors God.  I laugh everytime I hear people say that Jesus never tithed.  He GAVE EVERYTHING, all that he had and he had no sins to pay for.  He gave it ALL for us.  Don’t tell me He never tithed  He set the perfect example in this arena too.

The New Testament readings put a firm emphasis on the act of giving, cheerfully and wisely and with your whole heart.  

My brothers and sisters; you CAN rob God.  Be careful to give back to Him from the blessings He has showered down from Heaven on you.

We must not rob God and we must not rob our fellow man. 

If you are a true child of God your heart will not rest until you stop being a thief; both to God and to mankind.   

But what if you, like all the rest of us, have already broken this commandment in a million and one ways? 

 I give you the example of the cross where on each side of Jesus at the crucifixion hung a thief.  One thief believed and repented.  To him it was given to be with Christ in paradise for eternity.  Be like that thief, the one who repented; and go and sin no more.  

OH THE PLACES WE SHOULD GO - CLASSIC ON NOBLE

Classic On Noble

(Written By Sheila Gail Landgraf)

 I wanted to tell you about a very special restaurant I discovered once upon a time as we were traveling through Anniston, Alabama.   It is called Classic On Noble, and it is located, just as the name implies, on Noble Street in Anniston, Alabama.

You will never find a more cozy and quaint dining experience.  This has become a place to go on special occasions for my family.  

We’ve always been for dinner in the evenings, but I’m told that their brunches are amazing, delicious and well attended.  I’ve had the brunch idea marked on my bucket list for awhile, and I know I will find it worth the drive when I get around to it.  Brunch seems to be the rave with the locals for sure. 

 In the meantime, my dinner experiences there have certainly been excellent. 

David and Cathy Mashburn are the restaurant owners.  It seems they were well established in the catering business when they noticed that the old Levy and Clark Building in Anniston’s historic district was for sale.  

The building was constructed in 1894, and had been boarded up and closed off since 1919.  When they first toured the dusty old building full of cobwebs, Cathy thought it was a hopeless case, but David thought it was “perfect.”  David won the disagreement.  Classic On Noble soon became a key element toward the revitalization of historic downtown Noble Street.  Cathy now openly admits that David had the vision from the start, and it has come together just as he imagined; “perfectly.”   

You enter the restaurant from the main street and step into an elegant fresh flowered entrance way that will either lead you back to many beautiful rooms of white linen covered antique tables graced by a lovely grand piano, or you can turn left and go upstairs via a winding stairwell to The Green Olive Room.  The downstairs interior has hardwood floors and is beautifully decorated in an elegant upbeat yet traditional style that compliments the building.  This is where brunch, lunch and some special receptions are held.  There is a station at the foot of the stairway where your hostess will greet you.  You may sign a guest book that is kept there if you like, and you will soon find yourself led to a pretty table and very comfortably seated and pampered by excellent service.

Classic Catering creates wonderful food art for a wedding reception, or any other special occasion.  

They have catered to small and large crowds for offices, events, and special occassions in homes around the Southeast, regularly delivering excellent services to people in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee.   

They are willing to travel to you, or you may rent the space of their restaurant for your event.   

The last time my husband and I came for dinner a wedding party was just leaving their reception from the front door.  People threw rose buds at the bride and groom as they escaped to the outside sidewalk.  Once the wedding crowd cleared, we were able to enter the restaurant ourselves, walking in over a fresh trail of pink, yellow and red rose petals that had been left behind.  I felt like God had planned the time out for us to arrive just when we did.  It added a bit of whimsy to the time we were anticipating, and made for a great beginning to a wonderful dining experience.

Our table was reserved in The Green Olive, the upstairs upscale bar area that is full of unique original art, antique furniture, vintage chandeliers and beautiful woodwork.    There is an amazing antique chess set in one area, and some of the former wedding party I mentioned earlier, were having a mixed drink and playing a game of chess while waiting on their meal.  

Our cozy table by the window was all very quite though, and that is one of the things I like so much about the place, you can actually have a conversation and hear what the other people at your table are saying. 

The Green Olive Room proclaims selections from a well stocked wine cellar.  The atmosphere of the bar area might remind you of the fact that once there was a time in the early history of the building during the Prohibition era, when the Green Olive Room’s floors were covertly being used to sell alcohol.  There was also live dancing and music back in those days.  Often there were raids by the local law enforcement.  However, no such commotion is happening now.   It is quite the opposite, and there is such a peaceful, elegant, “living-room feeling” in the Green Olive Room.   

We chose an excellent wine from the wine list, although you may also order mixed drinks.   We sipped our wine in the comfort of the pleasant surroundings as our waiter took our order from the delicious choices found on the menu.  I was amused that the waiters have to carry the food up to everyone from the other floors of the building.   The building is three stories high, so I guess this means that every time they bring food they must navigate three flights of stairs.   In spite of this fact, our waiter was very accommodating and didn’t mind making extra trips for our requests.    

There are several menu choices available, and we have tried all of them on different trips.  I’ve found them all to be quite delicious.  The Chef here is wonderful, and adds an elegant, yet southern flair to everything.  I love that.  This girl is not ashamed of being Southern.  

The Nobel Salad is famous, and so is The Wedge, but my favorite salad is the Fried Green Tomato Salad.  It is very tasty, and the presentation is very pretty and unique.    

There are many excellent choices for entrée’s.  My favorites were the Shrimp and Grits, The Stuffed Pork Tenderloin and the Jumbo Lump Maryland Crab Cakes.

Dessert is never the same and changes each time we go.  I especially remember sharing some fried ice cream once that was” to die for.”  Whatever they are offering for dessert is always excellent and there are always plenty of special choices. 
   

I was not surprised to learn that Classic On Noble has been featured in Southern Living, Historical Restaurants of the South, 100 Places to Eat Before You Die, The Anniston Star, The Birmingham News and many other well known publications.  

Nor was I surprised to learn that many famous and well known personalities have enjoyed their fine food.  The list includes former President Jimmy Carter, US Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, Congressman, Mike Rogers, former and present Governors from Alabama and otherwise, Amy Grant, the band called Alabama, among many others.  We added some more people to that impressive list by bringing our daughter and son-in-law with us the last time we went.  They loved the restaurant too.

So what are you waiting for?  It is well worth the drive.  

Go for brunch, or an elegant dinner.  

Call them up for your next special catering occasion.   

Check out their website, it has excellent driving directions from anywhere. 

I'm told this is the perfect restaurant to visit during Christmas holidays, because it is always decorated like a winter wonderland. 

Bon Appétit!