Loud Thinking

It’s funny how affluent or socialite people call their food.
Bouillabaisse - a stew of mixed Mediterranean fish, tomatoes, and herbs - when
you could simply call it chowder or broth. Crepe for thin pancakes. Turkey
a la King. Cassoulet
- a dish made with beans,
sausages and preserved duck or goose. Brandade de morue - puréed salt cod.
Salade Niçoise - varied ingredients, but always black olives, tuna. And so on
and so forth. Actually, I’m not familiar to most of them. Most of these
cuisines came from France.

We refer to the manner of eating French food as fine dining. One of
the Ka-Toque chefs referred to it as eating high end food. And so it is. The
ingredients are expensive. Most of which are not found here in the Philippines.

The preparation is complicated (but not all the time). Some preparations
require the expertise of skilled chefs. Of course, the presentation or plating
is another thing. It has to be presented in an artistic way.

Of course not all fine dining came from France.
I think as long the cuisine came from a certain place outside the country, it
is difficult to pronounce and it is expensive that food is reckoned as fine
dining. Some came from India, Japan, China or United States.

How about elevating our local food to the level of fine dining?
Tinola. Binarutak. Dinak-dakan. Dinengdeng. Inabraw. Pinangat. Dinuguan. Kare-kare.
Kaldereta. Papaitan.

I was just thinking, will a date turn out to be a success when I bring
someone to a fine dining restaurant? What if I just bring her to an unfamiliar
restaurant and share bulalo and sinugbang tilapia? Would it be more fun? Is romance
scraped from the date if I will do it? Will I turn out to be unromantic if we
go out on a date in riverside dampa? I’m just thinking.

Not that I don’t plan to treat my beloved in a fancy restaurant. It’s
just that I can’t easily justify eating an expensive cut of steak or have a
creamy dessert melt in my mouth and be aware of a neighbor dying because of
hunger and malnutrition. Sometimes I can’t even eat a burger in McDo because I
know that some members of my family rarely have the chance to eat even McDo’s
regular fries. It’s not that we can’t afford to treat ourselves but it seems to
be unwise. The amount to buy a piece of burger could coupled with soda and
fries would mean two meals for the poor family living on a shabby shanty in the
cemetery near us.

I learned that the daughter-in-law of the old balut vendor in our
neighborhood just died because of health complication. She left her husband
with a four-month old twin. Mom said that the twin is just surviving with lugaw
or they suck sugar. The remains of their mother is sheltered in a shanty built
over tombs. The husband is trying to solicit some money for his family, and
perhaps for burial expenses. He already went to some local government officials
to ask for financial help but they only gave him referrals. These politicians
were elected because of their lofty promises to help the poor. But here is an
example of their failure to give even a hundred peso bill for a pack of formula
milk for the twin.

When I think of such, it’s no longer fun to think of fine dining. It’s
like injustice to the poor. It’s like pouring acid to an open wound.

But more than the material food, some Christians munch on lofty
doctrines and theology. They enjoy spiritual discussions and even debate on
issues. They buy volumes of Christian books and populate their bookshelves with
it, like refrigerators filled cakes and all sort of goodies, most of which for
their own consumption. Some Christians become spiritually fat and doesn’t even
care to burn some calories by offering or sharing real hope to the spiritually
poor and lost.

I don’t say that it is wrong to buy expensive Christian books,
especially if they are really Biblically correct. I do aspire to buy some for
my own. Or it is wrong to even attend seminars or conferences. What I’m saying
is if such pursuit is like consuming an expensive rib eye steak or drinking an
espresso coffee in Starbucks, wherein it is only oneself is satisfied, then it
becomes skewed. Such endeavor to feed oneself with good Biblical meat should result
to sharing of one’s faith to others and bring real hope to others.

For myself, more than feeling guilty for eating burger in McDo because
our neighbor is too poor to buy himself a kilo of NFA rice for a whole day’s
meal, I should feel guiltier for lack of zeal to share the gospel.

In a few days time, I’ll be a year older. Got to reflect on the things I’ve been through and what I’m going through right now. I also have to think of the things I want to expect from myself. There are so many issues I have to face. Issues that confront me as a male Christian.

Last Monday, our Bible study on prayer was diverted shortly on Biblical manhood. Bro. Oscar told us the importance of prayer if we consider the possibility of leading a family in the future. I was confronted again by the fact that I have to straighten up my spiritual life. Prayer is just one of the areas wherein I have to be a model to my future wife and kids. I have to exemplify dependence upon the Lord and demonstrate that prayer is a need. Failure to provide such spiritual leadership would cause harm to their soul.

Actually, I’m always confronted by my spiritual complacency whenever I think of pursuing someone or whenever I dream of having my own family. Spiritual leadership is hard work. I think it is more difficult to labor to provide spiritual leadership than to toil to earn money for the family.

1 Tim. 5:8 says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” This verse could be a pretext for greed. I would often fall to the temptation of thinking that I have to be rich so that my wife and kids could live comfortably. I even think that I must be financially well-off to be successful in courtship and to earn the favor of the family of the one I will court.

There is a greater need for sanctification and to live a holy life that is pleasing before God. It is deeper need than delicious food prepared on the dining table. It is higher necessity than a mansion and a car. It is more glorious than fine clothes and jewelries.

I am a sinner. I need grace and the Spirit to be able to live the Christian life. And to lead a woman, who is also a sinner, would require grace and the Spirit even more. What sort of leadership would I offer to the woman I love if I will be flippant in my devotions to the Lord? What sort of guidance shall I offer to my children if I neglect the study of His Word? What sort of headship could I give to my family if I can’t pray consistently?

There are moments of loneliness and I would think of “awakening my love.” But I would arrest my heart. I would pray then I would comprehend that my greatest need is not a girl but to be satisfied and joyful with God. And my heart is consoled.

I ought to be a man happy with my God and who seriously follow His discipleship.