“Cmon man, it’ll be a jam!”
My friend Austin was quite enthusiastic about it and the fact that I’d never done it seemed to egg him on.
“Dude, that’s REALLY weird, are you pulling my leg?”
“Naw man! We do it all the time! That’s how we get many of our meals!”
His friend nodded in agreement so reluctantly I agreed to try it and we arranged to meet for lunch the following day.
The World Race has a sister organization in South Africa that does a very similar program called the Global Challenge. There is one main difference. While we raise $17,000 to fund our food, transportation, lodging, and medical insurance; they raise $6,000. Last time I checked, that barely covered an international round-trip flight. Austin’s team often gets place to place by hitchhiking and their meals often come from this thing called “scavenging”; and he seemed determined to introduce this to me.
The next day, Austin and I walked to the nearest mall a few kilometers away. On the second floor there was a McDonald’s. On world race budget it was a no-go cause one meal can cost a day or two, so we only go there when our personal money can afford it. We walked in and sat down.
“Lord, I pray that you would provide a meal for us, we thank you father!”
Austin’s prayer was short, simple, and full of faith.
“Now what do we do?”
“We wait. Look for people who are leaving.”
“Dude, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this.”
“I know, that’s why I’ll do this one, you’ll do the next one, just point out people who are leaving.”
I saw someone get up and leave their table so I tapped Austin and pointed.
He jumped up and walked over to the table. He began sorting through the trash on the table and I saw him pick up a half-eaten box of fries. As he walked back toward our table, I wanted to melt into my seat and hide.
“Everybody would see us! What would people think?!”
He slid into his seat and set the fries on the table. I’ve never had a problem eating cold fries but this was more than a little weird.
“God, thank you, but this is Mike’s first time, I pray that you would provide a full meal for us.”
He looked up and from the corner of my eye, I saw a lady waving her hand at us.
Austin was already half way there. Talking with her for just a minute, she hands him a full large order of fries, and smiles. Austin smiled and walked back to the table.
“See! Isn’t God awesome!”
I barely looked up as I munched on a couple of the “stolen” fries. It was cool and edgy, but I felt like I was cheating these people.
“You wanna grab us some tomato sauce?”
I nodded and walked up to the counter to grab some ketchup and I had barely sat down again when a young man approached our table.
“Can I buy you guys some food?”
“Sure man! I’d appreciate it!”
Austin seemed to not have a problem with this. These people probably thought we were beggars and didn’t have any money.
“What do you want?”
“Anything man, whatever you want to buy, we are cool with!”
The man disappears and a lady, who we discover is his mother, strikes up a conversation with Austin. I was so appalled that I sat there as Austin moved over to her table and began chatting.
The man returned with two chicken sandwiches and a coke and set the tray on our table. We chatted with them for a little bit, prayed for them, then began our meal as they went their way.
I took a big bite of my guilt sandwich. Crispy guilt with pride sauce. Yummy. (Dripping with sarcasm)
Not enjoying a single bite, I tried something I’ve learned to do while on the race. Whenever I’m experiencing an emotional reaction, I try to isolate the truth of what I’m feeling, call the emotion what it is, then ask myself “what is the root of this emotion?”
I was feeling guilt, I concluded.
Ok, why was I feeling guilt?
Because I felt like I was lying to them!
How is this “lying” to them?
Because now they think I can’t provide for myself when I can!
Hmmm, that sounds suspiciously like pride Michael. Are you concerned about what others think about you?
I prayed about it and took it to Jesus, asking Him if I had pride in my heart. He confirmed that I did, that I had a need to be equal to those around me and that my ability to provide for myself was the basis for my equality to them.
With that, I took a massive bite outta my sandwich and swallowed my pride. It was delicious!
It wasn’t until I shared this story until I noticed a parallel in my spiritual life.
In the last month, I’ve sought comfort a lot. I mean, I don’t receive any judgement cause after our experiences in Nepal and India, I was really enjoying the sunshine, A/C, wifi, and freedom to go where we desired. But I was basking in this comfort instead of leaning into and embracing hardships and challenges that are so often used by God to take us to a deeper relationship with Him.
This is a big world, but in a single month, God has brought four contacts that I’ve known from other parts of the World to our city. God has brought people and situations into my life that are showing me the richness of a relationship with Him.
I realized I’ve been satisfied with rummaging through the leftovers when God wants to give me the entire chicken sandwich….and the restaurant.
Now, I’m not satisfied. I’m seeing the leftovers around me and I have no desire for them. I had a taste of more, and I want it! His Spirit leads, guides, comforts, and speaks….literally. I’ve seen it in situations and in others, and I’m tired of my cold French fries!
I’ll take one of everything! To go!
