Rice or Cheez-Its

Today's Reading from A Place at the Table:
Day 6

  
Devotion by Jason Caldwell
Director of Worship

Old rice is not fast.

It's just yucky.

I had the privilege of serving with Children of the Nations, COTN, in Sierra Leone for a year in the mid-90s. I stayed with a local pastor’s family who included me in their daily meal routine. Let me tell you something about eating rice every day. It's white, bland, cooks in 20 minutes, and fills you up. But after eating it at every meal solid for 6 months, I didn't want to see a grain of rice again for the rest of my life! It is the staple of the third world. The only choices you had were what you put on top of the rice. Rice and beans. Rice and plassas. Rice and curry.
Last night I went into the cupboard to help prepare dinner for the fast, and staring me in the face was a box of Cheez-Its( my favorite!) and chips, and yummy cookies. It was bad timing for me as I was hungry and have become very accustomed to reaching into a bag for satisfaction. That's the hard part about rice, it takes so long to cook. In our fast-paced family life, you often grab something and go.
This initial phase of this fast is reminding me to slow down. The desire for immediate gratification affects my mood, affects my attitude toward others, and affects my whole life. I get used to having what I want, when I want it. But the rest of the world has to wait a lot more than I ever have. Some travel miles for water. I reach for the sink. Some people take four hours to prepare meals for the entire day, while I reach for the box of Cheez-Its in the cupboard.
I will remember to pray for Juan Matos. I'm grateful for our church that is sacrificing together. For us it is a sacrifice, for many it is the normal way of life.