"Don't worry, dinner is on ME"

I’ve been doing some things I don’t want to do lately. God let me know pretty clearly the other day that I’ve been wasting too much time online, so I reluctantly got rid of my laptop for a while. A friend has it now, and, while it was rough to see the trusty machine take a leave of absence, I’m fairly certain time spent away from the technology will do me, and my relationship with God and others, a pile of good.

God also showed me that I haven’t been wasting enough time with people. I often act as a loner, making my supper meals and spending free evenings all by my lonesome. As a small group leader who’s been called to get to know and mentor some underclassmen, this habit doesn’t bode well for me in building relationships. So, God told me that one way to hang out with these guys and be more sociable was to get a meal plan at the cafeteria.

At first, I was pretty surprised by God’s audacity to ask me to do such a thing. A senior who lives in a real townhouse with a meal plan? Sounds pretty pathetic. And the cost? Needless to say, it’s extravagant. And the distance from the cafeteria to my home? It’s nearly the length of a half-marathon. Still, for all my excuses, God was telling me to get a meal plan and visit the campus cafeteria.

So far, my trips to the cafeteria have been really enjoyable. I’ve run into tons of folks and have seen plenty of underclassmen. And the food? It’s a smorgasbord of roast beef and fresh spinach and cottage cheese and sweet potato and ice cream. Tuesday, as I was sitting and really taking pleasure from the abundance, flavor, and variety of food to which my post-cafeteria days had left me unaccustomed, I remembered the high price of the meal. Because God had convicted me so strongly to enlist in the cafeteria corps, however, it hit me that the meal was on Him. He had given me the funds to enlist in the meal plan, He had offered the incentive to enroll, and He had invited me to a ton of grand dinners this entire semester. I generally thank God for my meals before I eat, but it never hit me so strongly as it did Tuesday night that God really is the Provider and the One who invites me to dine with Him all the time. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”