Jesus and Wine

OK.....I will admit it right here, I drink wine. Yep, the real thing, not grape juice. Over the years of living in different cultures, Northern California, London, England, Texas, and Missouri, I grew to appreciate various wineries across the country. The Napa Valley has a myriad of wineries that are world renowned. While living in London and traveling in Europe, I tasted Italian wines for the first time and love the taste of Lambrusco (a cheap table wine actually!). In my two visits to Paris, I sampled wines from Frances' many wine regions. Did you know that Champagne, Bordeaux and Burgundy, are names of three of Frances wine regions?? Obviously, that's were the names are derived. Texas has wineries; as well as Eastern Missouri where I grew up. If you want to visit an area steeped in tradition, visit St. Genevieve, Missouri. This area was settled by the French and still contains the largest group of French Colonial homes in the country. In fact, my Dad's friend was from here, Pierre Charbonnay.....a French descendant and storyteller to the tourist in the area. He gave me a gold ring when I was born. I still have it. Also, my grandmother's people were French from this same region. St. Gene (as it's called) has a host of wineries in its historical region. Many are made from fruit, as the weather is harsher here than in France to make the standard French wines. Apple, Pears, Blueberries and Blackberries are not only made into wines, but are quite good. Quite frankly, I had not had wine in some time, but while we were home visiting my Dad over Memorial Day, I sampled some of the local wines. My Dad had very low platelets, and was drinking a glass of elderberry wine once a day for his blood. After a few months of Elderberry wine, his platelets went from 62 to 109!! Yeah!! No wonder Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy to take a little wine for his "stomachs sake." (It is not clear what was ailing Timothy). When we got home from our trip, I had an apt. with my doctor. You see, my iron has been very low for some time. I had had my blood taken before our trip and went to find out the results. My iron was even lower. If I can't get them to come up in a few months, I am having an iron transfusion. Yikes!! So, I figured, if the wine helped Dad with the platelets, maybe it could help me!! I recently found an article about this, it says: "Red wine in particular is often directly prescribed for patients suffering with anemia. The beneficial vitamins and nutrients in red wine, empowered by that small serving of alcohol, can help reduce the incidence of anemic blood cells and make your blood richer and more able to do it’s job in your body." Well, that was enough for me. So, coupled with vitamins, spinach, greens and nuts, I am having a glass "for my blood." It reminds me of a funny story: my great-great aunt who lived in MO was also anemic. This was back in the day, mind you....she wore a long black dress down to her feet and black work boots. Her long hair was pulled back in a bun and she smoked a pipe. Yep. Well, when the doctor told her to drink a glass of wine once a day, she had to go in her house, close up the door and turn out the lights so no one would see her. Then she would go back out on the porch and smoke her pipe. She was a God-fearing Missionary Baptist after all!

***(By the way, some may find it interesting that I speak of wine after yesterdays post......in my opinion, wine consumption and alcoholism is to each other as food and gluttony are. Both are an abuse and both as wrong as the other. In no way am I condoning abuse or alcoholism.)