Eating Grass

WIDE LOAD
Some people have the gut of a Billy Goat. The Brewer has historically been one of those people. Besides being a highly caffeinated Christian, it is a fact that I tend to over eat. I am trying hard to loose weight these days but I am a long way from being able to wear a belt buckle. When I do, it tends to turn over and disappear between my bladder and kidneys. It’s sad because I have to wear a belt now that I am older. If I don’t, what should be around my waist ends up south of my ankles.

My six-pack has turned into a keg but its not because I have a beer belly…it’s more like a chicken coop. Pray for me. Really I am working out every day again now and should have some kind of praise report about my weight loss soon but really I need a lot of prayer.

When it comes to food, not only do I not care what it is, (besides black liquorish or Rye bread) but I don’t really care how it’s cooked either. Like “Bubba” from the movie Forest Gump, I’ll eat it boiled, fried, baked, sautéed, grilled, en flambé etc., etc. I have eaten locusts in Uganda, monkey in Rwanda and a batter dipped, deep friend candy bar in Scotland. I have eaten things completely unrecognizable in India and something that looked back at me from a soup bowl in Costa Rica.

I proverbially have to eat crow often and have been known to insert my foot into my mouth on frequent occasion. Again, pray for me.

EATING GRASS
About five years back, I was on the Rio Ranchito near the YO Ranch in Kerrville, TX. I had gone on a “radical sabbatical” with a ministry called Fellowship of the Sword. A brother on staff there gave a testimony of how he had adopted five little girls from Russia. His eyes lit up like a blowtorch when he spoke of them.

Quite often his family likes to go to a little Italian joint near their house and not really for the spaghetti but because of the homemade vinaigrette. Being Russian born children they love salad and fruit so the local restaurant with the homemade dressing has become some kind of a staple for them.

While chowing down, one of the girls casually stated that her salad tasted like the grass in Russia. He thought it was a funny thing to say and asked her if she had fallen down and tasted grass. Over the next few minutes his daughter began to open up and relate that a big part of being an orphan in Russia was learning to cope with starvation.

In her tiny little voice she recalled that she and the other little girls would sneak out of the orphanage at night to eat grass in the fields. They were so hungry one Christmas that they had actually eaten the green off of the Christmas tree.
All of his daughters had stories of the things they had eaten while they were starving and helpless. This Mom and Dad sat crying as they patiently listened to each story and shook their heads in recognition. Their daughters are safe now, but there was a long period in their lives when they had eaten grass just to survive.

MENU CHANGE
Over the next few months the Lord did a work in my new friends life in that he decided as a Dad, his family would never eat grass again, naturally or figuratively. He said “It made me wonder how many times has my wife needed my encouragement, my love, my affection but because I was tired or mad I refused to feed her.”

I sat listening to him and it made me afraid that at times I have emotionally and spiritually forced my family to “eat grass”. My wife and kids have never starved for food, but there have been times when I should have fed them as the man I am supposed to be and didn’t do it. One more time, pray for me.

I came home and repented to my kids and said, “I am sorry for the times you should have been fed but were forced to eat grass.”

My thirteen year old boy at the time didn’t understand what I was saying and tried to encourage me by saying “Dad, it’s OK, I eat grass just because I like it.” Yes, he’s a little savage, but I’m proud of him.

Parents - don’t make your families eat grass. Give them what they need.

If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

The Brewer welcomes your input at: www.opendoorministries.org or troybrewer.com