lunch on shoes

Yesterday I had lunch with a preacher who just came back from Liberia, Africa. His favorite place for lunch is the Mongolian BBQ off of 40 hiway.

I listened to him talk about Africa for 45 minutes. I was spellbound. I want to go there. I want to visit the preaching stations out in the bush. I want to see the passion in the hearts of the people. I want to see the church in it's infancy.

Finally, we got in line to make our Mongolian bbq meals. You know the gig: fill up a bowl with all of the stuff that you want to eat. Pour some sauces into a smaller bowl. The cook frys your bowl of food, then he puts the sauces onto it. He scrapes it off and you go sit down. Stir fry of your choice with rice. It is an excellent meal.

The food ingredients and sauces are lined out on salad bar type counters with covers so that you don't breathe on the food. So, I have my bowl full of ingredients. I have my little bowl full of sauce. Instead of going over to the fryer guys, I have to go back the other direction to the ingredient table for something else that I cannot live without. There is a woman coming the other way. I move to the side to avoid her. My left arm hits the cover of the salad bar counter. Hard. Serious collision with the salad bar cover.

The food in my bowl goes straight up in the air. I catch half of it in my bowl. The sauce in the sauce bowl goes straight up in the air. I catch none of it. Half of my ingredients and all of the sauce are now on my jeans, my shoes and on the floor.

This is a public restaurant during the lunch rush. Several people come up and ask me for my autograph. There is a corporate gasp of "oops, poor guy."

Here is the funny thing. I wasn't embarrassed, I wasn't angry, I wasn't anything. This is what went through my mind..... I had just knocked more food on the floor than many people in Africa will eat all day today, and probably tomorrow as well.

I was actually proud of myself [I hope I can say that here] for having a virtuous thought instead of being mortified or self consumed.

I began to clean up my mess. I was assisted by an employee. The event was soon over. I refilled my bowl. I ate my lunch. We talked some more. I went back to work.

I want to go to Africa. I want to preach at the ends of the earth. I want to teach in their college. I want to bring encouragement to the least of these. Call me crazy, but I don't think that this is a bad thing.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.