To Sit and Dine

Entering the Race I made a vow to never turn down food that came my way. I wanted to try any and all exotic foods I came across. In my mind were foods I had seen on food network shows; I was expecting scorpions and street food with indecipherable ingredients, unknown spices and meats I had never tried and couldn’t find in my local grocery store at home. I wanted the full cultural experience found through food. 

I’ve held true to the vow, and have yet to reject any foods overseas. I’ve had some of the best plantains in my life in Costa Rica and still dream of them months later. In Guatemala I had street tortillas bought during lunch breaks and could down 12 of those things in 2 minutes flat. Africa has exposed me to fruit chutney flavored anything, and it is currently my new obsession. 

 What I have learned throughout the months though is that I will come home not with stories about the food itself, but about the amazing experiences had around the table eating. In every single country I have found a simple beauty in sharing a meal with another person. There is intimacy, laughter, and gratitude that is most easily found within a dining atmosphere. And memories around a table with others will probably be some of the memories I am fondest of when I return home. 

The whole idea for this blog came from a man who we partner with for ministry everyday here in Eswatini. We visit care points around Eswatini every week and hangout with the local children and serve them meals everyday. They eat what are called “MannaPack” rice packets. Which are basically packages of rice with soy protein in it, shipped in bulk and made in huge cauldrons over an open fire. The cauldrons look like they were stolen off the set of a Halloween movie and the children eat the same meal everyday at the care point. Our shepherd for the care point, someone who is trained to work with the local children and works there, insisted on sitting down with my team every single day and eating some of the MannaPack rice. At first I protested out of what I thought was kindness and concern, I hated the idea of possibly stealing a portion of food from the children when I had a good ole PB&J in my backpack. But eventually my team and I circled up, said grace, and ate lunch with our hands. We had the perfect opportunity to get to know our ministry host more. It was a sweet time full of laughter and giggles. I left with a full belly and deeper relationship with the people we spent time with everyday. After we finished eating our shepherd looked at us and said “I owe you an apology, I assumed that you guys would not like the food or think it was beneath you to eat with us but you ate and enjoyed it. It means a lot.”

That is when I got to thinking about the significance of sharing a meal with those around you. How does this simple act mean so much? Why does this feel so intentional and caring? 

My mind goes to Luke 5: 26-27, the call of Levi. Levi was a tax collector, hated and shamed within his community. He is given the chance to follow Jesus and responds, leaving everything behind. Levi becomes Matthew, one of the 12 and future author of one of the gospels. He is given the chance for more. He is given a new identity and gifted a new family, and what is his first reaction? Chapter 5 verse 29 says that Levi hosted “a grand banquet for him (Jesus) at his house.” His first reaction is to sit and dine with his new friend. It was an act based out of gratitude, born out of a yearn for deeper relationship. 

The book of John chapter 21 provides another beautiful illustration of dining. Jesus had risen from the grave and appeared to his disciples while they were fishing. After a night of catching nothing, they pulled up to shore the next morning and saw Jesus standing there. He directed them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat and once they did they caught 150 fish. And after reaching the shore they all share a meal together. John 21 verses 12-14 writes “Come and have breakfast, Jesus told them. None of the disciples dared ask him, ‘who are you?’ because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.” 

Jesus had literally just defeated death, torn the veil, and was completing his mission on Earth. And He stops to have breakfast? What? 

Surely Jesus has better things to do than sitting on a sandy beach eating breakfast. He has an ascension to get to, and yet he still chooses to pause and build relationship. How beautiful and intimate. This moment gave time for the disciples to simply sit with their messiah, to be with their friend. And later on in the chapter, Jesus offers Peter three opportunities to proclaim his love. Not only was there intimacy and love between friends, but a chance for renewed relationship after the three denials during Jesus’ crucifixion. 

All of this leads me to the answer of my question. Why are meals so influential? What is so beautiful about such a simple and everyday act? And my answer is that the place of dining is the perfect breeding ground for intimacy, for rest with one another, relationship, for gratitude towards the provision of the Father. It is the moment where no one person is above another, we are all meeting one another in the same place and the same time in perfect understanding. 

Here are some of my favorite moments of dining with others on the Race. Some aren’t found around a dining table, most aren’t gourmet food, and some we had to eat with our hands. However all led to deeper relationship, all created more joy than was found at the start and all showed me more about the intentional and caring heart of Jesus. 

Here we go, 

In Guatemala everyday of our ministry consisted of English lessons. It was hard, it was hectic, and most days my team and I left so exhausted we couldn’t keep our eyes open. One day after the kids had left we were all rushing to get packed up to catch our bus back home. Our ministry host mysteriously disappeared for a few minutes and came back with a bag full of cookies and a 2 liter of Pepsi. We cleared the table from worksheets and sat down. Our host pulled a jar of Nutella out of her backpack (a world race luxury) and we spent the next hour eating our fill of cookies and passing the Nutella jar around the table with shared spoons. It was the first time I heard about our host’s family and background. We told stories about our childhood, shared silly stories about our many embarrassing moments, and left with a new sense of friendship within the group we worked with everyday. It was a moment of peace found within an otherwise hectic workweek, and it all came from simply sitting down and passing around a jar of Nutella. 

Before leaving Guatemala my team and I had two going away parties with two different ministries. Our first one was an hour away. We had to walk in two different shifts to our host’s house, where their mother had spent the morning cooking a feast for us. We walked back together to the church with baskets of tortillas and pots of rich smelling soup and rice. It was by far the best meal I had in Guatemala. We laughed so hard my stomach hurt and I ate so much my pants wouldn’t button. Our other ministry hosts sentenced us to an upstairs room for an hour while they spent the morning decorating the downstairs room for us. They would giggle every time they past the door and we could hear the scuffling of furniture and belongings. When we finally got the go to come downstairs they had decorated the room with a balloon arch and set the table up with flower vases and table cloths. They gave each of us candy and bracelets, feeding us non stop seconds of tostadas and tres leches cake. It was a time of gratitude for the friendship built over the past two months. We laughed and ate and ate and ate. Both parties ended with everyone dancing. We had some features on a karaoke machine too. It was joyful, relational and fun. 

Next is probably one of the craziest stories I have in my Arsenal. My team and I are at a house visit in Eswatini. We spoke with this man for over an hour, listening to the stories of his life and building a relationship with him. Both sides of the conversation left that day knowing more about the Lord and feeling encouraged. As a thank you gift for our visit, the homeowner gave our team a chicken from his backyard. Jokingly I asked if we were going to kill it and eat it for lunch the next day and our shepherd nodded his head yes- he was so serious. The next day we come ready and prepared for anything. I get handed a knife and well, I kill this chicken for lunch. The local woman who cooks for the care point guided my hand and gave me an assuring pat on the back. The kids at the care point cheered me on. We joked that it was my initiation into life in Africa. Afterwards my entire team sat in a circle and ate the chicken that we had prepared. It was a moment of acceptance on both sides, everyone was welcome into the culture. The chicken itself was a testament to the provision of the Lord, the people He brings into our path. The relationships we get the privilege to nurture. And it is a story I will remember forever. 

I have found that the simple act of dining with one another is a perfect foundation for more. For more thankfulness, for deeper intimacy and relationship with those around you, for deep belly laughs and just really really good food. 

How beautiful, the opportunity we have. How simply wonderful, the gift we are given. The gift to sit and pause. To stop the hectic busyness of life that we so easily fall into. To put aside all else and just sit and know the one in front of you. A perfect gift from the Father and an illustration of His chase for relationship. To sit and to dine. To pause and give thanks. 

A gift I am so, so grateful for.