What Kind of Meat Does God Bring?

[Madre]

Pleas for more food are ringing in Edgar's ears.

He's the director of a children's home with over fifty children, and he carries the burden of providing for each one. It is November and starting to get cold. "Should we use our remaining money for heat, blankets, or food?" he wonders.

Had Edgar picked up the phone and called our ministry, we would have brought over some food for the evening meal. But in his heart Edgar knew that neither he nor the children should grow dependent on mere humans. It wasn't pride that kept him from calling us that afternoon; rather it was a fear that the children would be tempted to put humans on the pedestal that is fit only for a King.

So Edgar prays. Then he decides to have the children join him in his prayers. That Saturday afternoon, he and the children sit down to pray for a dinner they have not yet received: "Dear Lord, we thank you for your numerous blessings on these children and for this home. We humbly ask that you would provide a meal for us tonight--"

Suddenly he is interrupted by Joel, one of the youngest boys. "Tio," says Joel slowly, "we're praying for God to bring us dinner? What kind of food does God deliver?"

Edgar, always looking for a teachable moment, wants to instill in the children that it is God who provides all blessings, so he seizes this chance. "Joel, God loves you and you are his child. He wants you to know he sees you and wants to lavish his riches on you. Let's just see what he will deliver."

They begin to pray again.

Soon Joel interrupts him again to ask, "Do you think...Will the Lord bring us...meat?"

To a little boy whose diet is mainly beans and rice, tortillas and hot dogs, meat seems like a mighty request. Edgar challenges him to ask anything in the Lord's name and expect him to respond.

So they bow their heads again, praying for dinner and meat in Jesus' name, until Joel can't stand it any longer. He asks (in the way preschoolers love to continue on with their questioning), Tio, what kind of meat does God bring?"