“Gerry, how I am supposed to go back to Vancouver after all this good food?”
That’s what my Persian friend from Vancouver (whose first language is Farsi, not English) told me as he was consuming a Texas-sized ribeye at Sweetie Pie’s Ribeyes in Decatur.
When friends from other places come to visit me, I want them to experience what my neck of the woods has to offer. So, my friends who entered Canada as non-English speaking UN refugees from Iran got to experience some biscuits and gravy, ribeyes, bbq, and Tex-mex when I hosted them here.
When I visit them in Vancouver, we go for Persian food, or Indian, or Greek—cuisine that is not so plentiful in Azle (where I live) or Decatur (where my office is).
I love travel and I love food. And when I travel, the last thing I want is to find food just like I have at home. For me, part of the adventure is experiencing local cuisine, and there are few things that I won’t try at least once.
Thirty-six years ago, Mrs. Sweetie and I (she was my sweetie at that time, but not yet my Mrs) were part of a college choir tour to Austria and Hungary. I thought some of our choir members were absolutely going to starve to death before that trip was over!
They wouldn’t try anything they didn’t recognize. They complained about not having the food that they liked. They acted like they had just walked through the pearly gates into Heaven when they found a McDonald’s in Salzburg.
I bypassed McDonald’s and found a local restaurant.
For some people, the unfortunate truth is that “normal” is their criterion for happiness.
Familiar surroundings. Familiar food. Familiar activities.
It reminds me of the words of Psalm 137:4 – How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?
The writer of this psalm was an Israelite in exile in Babylon. He was not where he wanted to be. He could not imagine that there could be any sense of joy or praise if he could not be near Jerusalem (familiar surroundings, familiar food, familiar activities).
During this same time period, another Israelite prophet, Jeremiah, wrote these words to his exiled compatriots:
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)
In other words (and to use my framework for living):
Amazing is not being where you want to be. Amazing is living fully and purposefully where you are.
"Amazing" is not being where you want to be. It is living fully and purposefully where you are. Share on XThe most amazing place is here.
The most amazing time is now.
Not because it’s ideal, but because it’s the opportunity we’ve been given.
I needed that reminder today. Maybe you did, too.
Be amazing today, my friend.
