Go Fish

Go Fish

After getting in the canoe, I popped in my MP3 earphones and settled in for the 3 hr. ride ahead, to return to our Amazonian, jungle community.  I was seated in the front, my Brazilian, missionary partner was a couple seats back, and our driver was in the far back.   It had been a great day and while humming along to the praise and worship music, a discussion between God and I began, concerning how He speaks to His people.  

“God, how do You speak to us and how can we know Your voice?  God, Why don’t you talk to us like people talk to each other? We could understand you better if you did.”  These were my humanistic, simplistic, narrow-minded thoughts coming out in a prayer to God. 

“My child, I’ve given you the Holy Spirit inside of you to go with you and speak to you no matter where you are or what you’re doing.  Isn’t that so much better than how you humans speak to one another?” This was God’s reply.

“Yes, Lord.  You’re right.  That is better.”

“It is you who must listen differently, my dear.  Not I who must speak differently.”

While pondering this profound point, something slimy hit my foot and continued to go crazy on the floorboard of the canoe, right below me.  It was a fish!  A fish had jumped in to our canoe and landed right at my feet!  Laughing, I picked it up and turned around to show my partner and the driver.  After doing so, our driver gave me the thumbs up and held up another fish!  One that had apparently jumped in between him and my partner about 30 minutes before my incident.
These 2 fish, put with a little rice, would be just enough for my partner and I for dinner.

“See my child, I speak in ways much grander than the way of humans; but you must listen, not just with your human ears, but with your eyes and your heart as well.”

Isaiah 55:9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

I had prayed the Lord’s prayer earlier, which contains the phrase “Give us Lord our daily bread,” and He spoke in response to my prayer – He threw fish in our canoe.

We may not hear the voice of God in a burning bush (Moses), audibly (Samuel), in a gentle whisper in the wind (Elijah), or through an angel appearing to us in a dream (Mary), but we can, personally, hear the voice of God.  We can hear it if we tune our ears, eyes, heart, and mind, to listen differently than we normally would to a family member or friend.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways and thoughts higher than ours.  If His ways and thoughts are higher, then why wouldn’t we think that His voice would be higher as well?  Everything of God’s is higher.  It is us that must adjust our listening, not God who must adjust His speaking.  Listen and watch for the voice of God.  It’s truly amazing the places you’ll find it if you are walking in step with Him.

STAND OUT today and tune in to the various, unique, ways that 
God may be speaking to you.

Turtle Brains and Daily Delicacies

Turtle Brains and Daily Delicacies

WARNING: If you have a tendency to get a weak stomach over “edible” items that are a little out of the ordinary, you might want to pass up reading the first part of this blog.  

At 11:00am, *Maria came to my door with a huge grin on her face.  Something was up.  “Will you come eat lunch with us?”  was her request; but her face said so much more.  

Hmm... I saw something unique cooking over a large fire earlier in the day. I enthusiastically accepted her offer and silently lifted up the famous missionary prayer: “Lord, I’ll get it down if You’ll keep it down.”

*Maria, Nicco (my pet monkey), and I entered the house and on the floor were seated 8 of *Maria’s family members.  (Note: In the Amazonian community where I live, we eat all of our meals seated on the floor.)  They praised me for joining them and then sat me at the place of honor.  UH, OHHH!!!  I was the GUEST OF HONOR at this meal!  Which means… the delicacies would be given to ME!!!

On my plate, they placed A GIANT TURTLE HEAD!  Then, nine pairs of eyes fell on me.  As I looked around the circle, I saw in their eyes the most generous, beautiful, sacrificial looks.  My heart melted.  Nine people in that room would have LOVED to have had what was on my plate.  Turtle head is a delicacy here in this part of the Amazon, and this family was honoring me by giving it to me.

With a curious, tilted-head look from Nicco and another (more desperate) silent prayer, I turned to *Maria and said, “*Maria, I’ve never had such an honor given to me before.  This is my first turtle head. Would you please show me where to begin?”  
-“With the eyes!” was her quick, smiling, turtle-head-eating-expert, reply. 

I clung to the first part of Ephesians 6:18 like never before: “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”  Oh, believe me, all kinds of prayers and requests were going up, especially as she said next, “Now, break the scull like this and eat the brains.”  Eyes, brains, and then the tongue.  Where was this chapter in the “Jungle Survival Training Manual”?  Did I sleep through this class?

It was an unforgettable meal, for many reasons, but principally because of the looks in the eyes of those around me when that huge head was put on my plate.  This family didn’t have to invite me (the foreigner) to come to their special meal.  They could have shared that head among themselves. Yet, in order to thank me and honor me, they wanted to give me their very best – and they did that by giving me the one delicacy that they had.

They have so little here, yet, whenever they do have something special, they don’t horde it for themselves – rather, they seek to generously honor someone else with it.

How many delicacies do we, as Americans, receive on monthly, weekly, and even daily basis that we only use only for ourselves?  A delicacy can be anything from a small monetary gift, to a Krispy Kreme donut for breakfast, or a few unexpected hours off of work.   What do we do with delicacies that come our way?  

Philippians 2:3-4 reminds us to consider others better than ourselves and to not look to our own interests but to the interests of others.

STAND OUT today and honor someone else with something God has blessed you with!

*Names have been changed in order to honor security regulations.