Mouth Watering Reflection

Ajiaco Santafereño

Ajiaco is a savory and delicious soup made with potatoes, chicken, corn, carrots, guascas, cilantro, peas, cream, and capers; and it's one of my favorite meals in Colombia. It is considered "the typical dish of Bogota," and it's remarkable how just by eating a small bowl of it you definitely get your stomach's fill... It tastes especially comforting on a wet or cold day in the big city, and it's a great idea for something to serve at a large gathering of people at any type of big social event. The avocados and rice go on the side, but some people like to mix it in with the soup as well.

Bandeja Paisa

The Bandeja Paisa is "the typical dish of Medellin" from where Colombia's astute business people live, up in the mountainous coffee and flower growing region of this country. It's a rather heavy meal consisting of beans, rice, plantain, ground beef, pork cracklings, sausage, a type of thick corn based tortilla known as an "arepa," topped off with a fried egg and an avocado... If this meal won't fill you up, then nothing will; and if you are ever going to start a fast, then this would probably be the best "last meal to choose" before you do so. I say this, just because it goes against everything a fast usually stands for, since it's rather terrible for the arteries (but wonderful in the tummy). "Paisas" (the people from the Northwest of Colombia) are also really good talkers, so maybe this meal has something to do with that as well (I don't know).

Picada

Picadas are the perfect party dishes consisting of medium sliced pieces of grilled beef, chicken, and pork; as as well as ribs, blood sausage, pork cracklings, yucca, potatoes, and either aji (hot sauce), or guacamole and hogao for dipping. Hogao is a deliciously condimented mixture of sauteed onion and tomato, and while not extremely spicy, it makes for a really yummy kick on top of either potatoes or yucca... You'll often eat picadas while watching a soccer game on a weekend cookout, or on the side of the road when you go out with your family on a 'paseo,' which is kind of like a short road trip. One of the greatest things about this type of meal is that it requires absolutely no utensils to eat, and everyone usually shares and picks and chooses what they like best from each dish... Personally, my least favorite item from this meal is the blood sausage, which in Spanish is called "morcilla," but I usually just give that away to other people anyways, so that I don't have to eat it myself.

Caldo de Costilla

Lastly, Caldo de Costilla is my personal favorite breakfast dish, and it's essentially a soup consisting of beef broth, potatoes, cilantro, and a huge chunk of rib. Most people just eat it like that, plain and simple; but I especially enjoy it in the mornings with slices of avocado mixed in, along with freshly squeezed lemon juice.

... And so if any of you haven't opened a new tab on your computer yet to book a flight to Colombia so you can come try some of this amazing food for yourselves, but are still reading this entry - I just want to mention another type of food that keeps me going as well. It's known as doing the will of God, and Jesus talked about it in John chapter 4 to his disciples when they urged him to eat after he had spent some time hanging out with, and talking to, a Samaritan woman at a well. Essentially, Jesus catches his disciples off guard when they see him with this woman, and later tells them that he had food to eat that they knew nothing about... that Jesus' food was to finish the work of him who sent him, and that physical food was relatively unimportant comparably speaking.

...For me personally, I know that it's true that I can sometimes get so caught up in physical things such as food and clothing and entertainment and money that I forget what I really need to be about... I need to be about doing God's business to such an extent that if I don't, I would feel the same affects as one who would try to survive for an extended period of time without eating... That by not doing the will of the Father, I would get restless, weak, and sick; or that I would eventually even die as a result of undernourishment... That that's how important it is to obey what God has called us to do!... So important to serve God in fact, that our very bodies would start negatively reacting against the lack of doing so.

I usually eat like 3 to 7 times a day... Is that how many times in a day that I intentionally serve God as well?

What's interesting is that Jesus told his disciples that he had food which they knew nothing about... and that too is a pretty crazy thing that I need to keep in check as well.

See, as a missionary, one of the main things I do is that I tell just about everyone I know, what it is I'm doing. I do that mostly, just so that people would better know how to pray for me or even so that in some cases perhaps, there would be some who would be more compelled to give financially towards this work that I'm involved in... I hope that in most cases my motives are pure, but I don't deny that sometimes I may even start telling others about what I'm doing in Colombia with that subtle longing mixed in it of just wanting to be recognized for doing so... What's really sobering though, is that for people who have these types of motives, Jesus says that "they have received their reward in full" (Matthew 6:1-16).

Rather, the right attitude is that of those who are "careful not to practice their works of righteousness in front of others to be seen by them" (v.1), because if we have this attitude, then one day we will truly be rewarded by our Father who sees what is done in secret (vs. 4,18).

...Jesus didn't do stuff in front of people to be recognized by them - he did it only out of love for those whom he was serving; and especially out of obedience to his Father.

May we all have that same disposition as well.

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This blog post is dedicated to Nataly Rojas who lives to serve the Lord, and finds her nourishment in doing so, just as how our bodies find nourishment in the various types of foods that we eat.

Nataly sharing from John 4