Fast food woes

First, let me set the scenario for you. I had already eaten at Jack in the Box for lunch. I went to a friend's house for a going away party for my cousin who will be spending several months in Israel doing missionary work. At the party, there was plenty of junk food for my spoiled appetite to partake of. Then we went to a Baptist church service to see my brother sing (he is a singer in a band for his college) After the service it was about 7:30 and, although I wasn't very hungry, I still wanted something to eat.

And then the woes began. First, my wife and I had to decide what we wanted. I was hungry for a cold cut sandwich so we decided to go to Subway. Normally I get the tuna sandwich but they were out of tuna. My wife does not like cold cut sandwiches so she asked for a cup of brocolli cheese soup and they were out of that as well. So we decided to go to Quiznos. We arrived at exactly 8:00 and the door was locked. Then we decided to go to St. Louis House of Pizza which was in the same plaza, but as soon as we stepped in, we discovered that it was too hot and we didn't find anything we wanted on the menu.

After about 5 minutes of discussion we decided to go to Lion's Choice. I decided to delude myself into thinking I was eating healthy by ordering a Turkey Club. Rhiannon ordered a cup of what she thought was brocolli and cheeze soup, but it turned out to be cream of brocolli soup, something she didn't want. When I got my Turkey Club, I was rather annoyed to see there was no mayonnaise on my sandwich. Who eats a Turkey Club without mayonnaise? Certainly not me, so I asked for mayonnaise and was even more annoyed when the lady behind the counter produced the world's worst substitute for mayonnaise, Miracle Whip. Yuck!

I hate to admit it, but I think we Americans are just plain spoiled. This is why it is so difficult living in America after living in a third world country. Rhiannon and I have actually seen starving children in Africa. We've seen children delighted to eat leftover chicken bones because that is probably all they had to eat that day. I couldn't help but feeling a profound sense of guilt that I was so annoyed about something so trivial.

Part of the danger of prosperity is that a satisfied soul is rarely ever satisfied. Proverbs 27:7 says, "A satisfied soul loathes the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet." What is true in the natural I think is also true in the spiritual. Our consumer spirituality in America reflects our consumer culture. We are so full that we have forgotten what it is like to be hungry. Religion is more about personal choice than a genuine hunger for spiritual truth. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant when He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit." Poor people are grateful for the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Rich people think they deserve the entire platter. May God teach us how to be hungry again.