There are some things that I have to do now that I would’ve never imagined would be a normal way of life for me, ever. Things as small as having to shave with cold water all the time because none of our sinks have hot water (which is painful). That’s right, none of them. Even the water we use to wash our dishes with is cold (gross, I know). Or the fact that I’ve had worms 3 times in 6 months (yes, I said worms) because of our water. Or the fact that I don’t mind telling you that I’ve had worm 3 times! haha! It’s crazy.
But the other night it hit me, that my way of life and the way I think has totally changed and it’s changed so much that certain things don’t even phase me anymore, which is a good thing. Here, let me tell you what happened:
The other night I decided to cook dinner for MJ and the kids so that my wife could get a break from the monotony that is “her life.” And I decided to make spaghetti with 2 different types of meat sauces. One sauce was with beef and the other was with sausage. I went to the little grocery store at the base of the mountain and bought all the ingredients I needed and started making it early in the afternoon (from scratch) so that we could have it for dinner. Then, as dinnertime approached, I went ahead and started getting ready to cook the noodles. We have to make so much food (because of the size of our family) that even boiling water takes longer than normal. The pot is huge and it takes about 30-45 minutes just for the water to start boiling. So, I filled the pan up with water, added my oil and salt, turned the gas up all the way and waited. And waited, and waited. Then the water finally started boiling so I poured in the noodles. But after a minute or so I noticed that there were these little black things floating on top of the water in my big pot full of noodles (the pot that I had just waited 30 minutes to start boiling). “Huh?... That’s weird,” I thought to myself. It looked like someone had dumped a big pile of course pepper into the pot. Then as I looked closer I could tell that it wasn’t pepper, it was a bunch of dead bugs! Yes, dead bugs! They were a little bit bigger than fleas but smaller than flies. I guess they were in the package of noodles that I had purchased and as soon as they hit the boiling water, Bam! They were dead. So, now what? What to do, what to do? Hmmm...? They were all dead, right? And they were all floating on top so I could see all of them. So, rather than having to wait for the water to start boiling all over again I just skimmed them all off the top and continued with cooking the noodles. I mean, I had to feed the family and if they had to wait an additional 30-45 minutes (for the water to start boiling all over again) I was gonna have a mutiny on my hands.
As I was skimming off all the dead bugs out of the pot, I didn’t even think it was gross or that I should dump the whole thing out and start all over. Why? What has happened to me? Have I lost my mind? Good question...
But after reflecting on the events of that night, this was my conclusion... by me not freaking out, and by coming to grips with the fact that I live in the jungle and bugs are just a part of life here, this allows me to be focused on the mission as I look past the bugs. The mission is to get the Gospel to the people of Brazil, not to complain about all the bugs we have here. Sure, I’d prefer my pasta bug-free, but if I’m busy ranting and raving about all the bugs in my life (all the time) then I’m probably not focused on the right thing. I’ve got to expect the bugs... we live in the jungle, duh.
What about you? What kind of “bugs” are you tempted to stay focused on rather than “your mission?” It’s easy to be distracted and be focused on “the bugs” rather than what assignment God has us on isn’t it?
Bottom line is this... life is full of distractions, period. And as Christ Followers we’ve got to come to the point where we either look past all the distractions (i.e. money problems, kid problems, marital problems, church problems, job problems, etc.) and do what God’s asked us to do or the enemy will be obliged to allow all kinds of things to get us sidetracked. Not that we ignore the real issues in our lives, but we should never let the issues deter us from the assignment.
We’re going through some very difficult things right now as a family, so I’m speaking to myself today. I’ve got to stay on track, period.
Eating Bugs Without Complaining,
Jim
PS- The picture up top is of this weird grasshopper we saw on our front porch and about the meal I made... no, I didn’t tell the family about the bugs in the noodles, so let’s keep that between us: )
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