Africa

There is at least one thing that will come to mind when I think of Africa that will probably not be on your list.  We will probably both have the amazing animals that we were privileged to see and experience.  We will probably share an item that talks about the extraordinary hospitality of those who have made our experience unforgettable.  Even the amazing landscape is likely to be in both columns.  Yet I doubt that you would imagine that some of the best meals I have had in ages occurred in Africa.
 
I wish you could have joined us on Sunset rock for drinks and appetizers followed by fantastic food, great conversation, and setting that made our evenings ones for the memory books.  Then there were the picnics set by Lucas in the South Serengeti and Timothy at the Ngorongoro Crater.  Each set meals that anyone in any setting would have found special.  To top it all off there were candlelight dinners between two fireplaces in the Tree Lodge; clearly five stars!
 
Every meal in Kusini and the Ngorongoro Tree Lodge was, in its own way, special.  I think we have expected slim pickings yet nothing prepared us for what we experienced.  Far too often I find myself approaching God with exactly the same limited view.  I think I know what to expect!  I know that I have tasted some of the best.  So I come to the relationship thinking I am not really hungry.
 
I’d like to say that my expectation is limited due to other things.  Perhaps I could say that it is the relationship but then I would be making an excuse to sidestep the truth.  Africa has reminded me that you find the beset things in life we you are open and hungry.  Jesus reminds us that “the one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day.”  (John 6.54)
 
It is a new day; everything is on the table.  The question is; are we ready to eat?