I made a very big mistake three years ago when I bought my last barbecue. It came with a cast iron grate.

At the time, I didn’t know the difference between the cooking surfaces. I just thought I got ripped off with a cheap grate that wouldn’t last long. My grate needed some help, and by that I mean some oil (not 10W30) spread on the surface to keep it from rusting.

I wished I had a stainless steel grate, or porcelain-covered grate – nothing sticks to those surfaces. As for my cast iron, everything stuck to it.

And this year when I popped the top on my BBQ, the grate was all rusty. I figured it needed to be thrown out.

But not so fast … I learned something that not only saved my BBQ, but may save yours as well.

You see, you can’t just go out and buy a new grate for your BBQ. No – the manufacturers have plotted together –  the best you can do is get an adjustable, fit-all-sizes-of-cooking-areas grate. … They are useless; don’t bother buying them.

The manufacturers just want you to buy a whole new barbecue. We should all be buying stocks in Weber, Napoleon or Broil King – it’s a good racket.

Actually, I found out cast iron grates are arguably the best. But wouldn’t you know it, the guy who doesn’t like maintenance gets the grill that needs the most maintenance.

The instructions called for my grate to be seasoned. My first thought was to sprinkle Montreal steak spice all over it. But that’s not what they meant.

I found a youtube video from Ballistic BBQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8sRDwbYra8) that showed me what to do and why. The video is 13 minutes long but worth it for me.

I found out the oil needs to bake on to the grill like a protective coating. And to get that coating, you have to apply the oil many times.

So I scraped, washed and towel-dried my grate. Then I started to apply the oil. I used peanut oil like the guy in the video suggested, but you can use canola oil another high heat oil.

It took me two and a half hours, keeping my BBQ on low heat and applying the oil every half hour. When I was done that grate was black and looked totally coated.

… Except I’m not really done. I now have to keep it up! When I finish cooking on my grill, I have to put some oil on it. And when I go to grill the next time, I have to burn off the stuff I put on last time and put a fresh coating on again.

The nice thing is the meat doesn’t stick. It’s like trying to catch a greased pig; the surface is all slippery-like. For a guy like me with an aversion to maintenance, this is a challenge but one that I think I will try to maintain, if you know what I mean.

Here’s the thing: There may be times when you think that you have failed so badly that God would have no recourse but to get rid of you, like a rusty grate. But God can recondition you and season you for ministry, if you’ll let Him. Why not allow Him to apply His treatment to you?

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has kept you from letting God recondition your life?

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