Usually I wake up to my chubby yet handsome kitty cat 'yowing' (as my mom calls it) for me to feed him.
Well, that just goes to show how important food is. I think much of the time 70% of our thoughts are about food. This is not based on a formal survey. No, it's based on speaking to my friends and others.
So an important question might be... hey, what do missionaries eat anyways?
They probably eat a bit different than you or anyone else you know. Last week Tuesday night, I had for dinner some Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits (delicious whole grain crackers) and some french fries. I was meeting with a friend somewhere special on the last day of August and I did not really have money along to buy a good meal. Neither did she, actually! So we made do with what we had. Then I came home so late (although we did have good fun and talked about very important missionary stuffy) that I was far too exhausted to want to eat. All I wanted really to do was sleep, so I popped a few crackers in my mouth and jumped in the bed.
In contrast, the following day my dinner was quite different. On Wednesday, September 1st, I was very blessed as my home church Blessed Hope decided to take our youth out to Craig's Cruiser's, which is the local kid-friendly popping spot with go-karts, miniature golf, laser tag, arcade games, etc. As I was able to tag along I got free access to the pizza buffet. There to the amazement of all I quickly devoured five full plates of food, easily eating at least two times more than all of the teenage boys in my line of sight. Oh yeah, I can definitely throw down when it is time to eat something seriously.
That was the first time in three months that I had eaten pizza. Oh, the joys of cheese. Nothing quite matches the ooey gooiness of warm, greasy, cheese. I feel inspired to write a poem about it, my friends...
So don't be surprised if your local missionary eats some strange things. The missionary you know may be 1) fasting for a special time of prayer, 2) not have much time to eat because she has a deadline to try to raise financial support, so she eats whatever is in arm's length and will take no longer than five minutes to devour before she leaves out the door to her next event/appointment, or 3) just not be able to afford a good meal at that time. Things get even more complicated when you are speaking to a vegetarian, like me.
A word about fasting- I wish that more Christians in America would practice this more. The giants of the faith in the past- from the people I know like John Wesley and Mr. Whitfield (famous for his sermon, 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God') all made fasting part of their faith practice. Fasting can help us to forget about the flesh and our everyday cravings to concentrate more on our relationship with God and what is eternal and lasting. However, amid the decadence and slavery of modern American society to our twin idols of materialism and entertainment, there are serious, devoted Christians out there who have never heard their pastor or anyone else for that matter even discuss fasting! Ah, the shame of it all!
I spoke with a Christian near the start of summer who honestly had no idea what fasting was or why anybody would want to do it.
Jesus said his disciples would fast.
14Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
15And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
Matthew 9:14,15.
There are also many Biblical examples of people who followed God and fasted: Hannah, (I Samuel 1:6-8, 17-18), Paul (Acts 9:9,17-19), Daniel (Daniel 10:3-13) and many others. I don't have the space to devote to a full study here, but here is a great site for more info: http://www.dianedew.com/fasting.htm
I also wish more Christians out there would consider doing the Daniel Fast. It can truly help you clear your thoughts and help you to clear your mind of the crap that the world around us is constantly pushing on us, so that you can focus on the still, small voice of God and what He would have you to do. God is always speaking, but are we always listening? Many times, the answer is no.
Here is a great site about the Daniel Fast: http://daniel-fast.com/about.html.
There are many good books about the Daniel Fast, you can poke around on Amazon.com or my personal favorite bookseller site www.abebooks.com and find one of those for detailed info.
Please consider making a special time to devote to fasting and prayer. Prayer changes things. Sometimes God does not answer our prayers how we want to. However, we still must trust Him. God reserves the best for those who allow Him to make the choices in our lives. God also chooses the same thing for us that we would choose for ourselves, if we knew all of the facts and circumstances of the situation. He knows what is best.
So... hope this blesses you. I'm praying for everyone who reads this. Please pray for me, too! We all need to seek to listen more to God's voice, and not our own or anyone else's.
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