Chew Your Food!

How many times did your parents say that to you when you were growing up?  I used to pride myself in eating huge double cheese burgers in as few bites as possible.  My roommate Dave and I buy and bake 2 whole chickens every week.  We take turns baking them and then picking all the meat off the bones and putting them in containers to eat for lunch and dinner the rest of the week.  I will openly admit that Dave does a better, more thorough job of this than I do.  I do all my cooking for the week on Sunday morning so the sooner I get done the sooner I can relax and enjoy the rest of the day.  As a result of my lackadaisical actions Dave and I have to be careful during the week that we pick through, carefully examine, and chew our food... or else we'll end up choking on chicken bones.

Why do you eat what people feed you?

Meaning why don't you pick through, examine, and chew up information that is presented to you.  People are so quick just to take everything, accept it as truth, and memorize it without ever understanding what it means.  The whole reason you chew your food is to increase the surface area of the food particles so that it is more exposed to enzymes that will further breakdown and absorb the food.  In short you chew your food so your body can get more (nutrients) out of it.  My favorite professor in college taught one of the hardest classes I ever took in college, Biochemistry.  Her name was Avis Sylvia.  She was an older lady, about 5 feet tall but she had spunk.  At first I was afraid of her but after 3 weeks of class she openly admitted that her overly intimidating behavior was a ploy to scare students into dropping the course because she didn't feel like grading so many tests.  She was the most challenging professor I've ever had.  She would tell you the truth and sometimes it would hurt.  She would tell you you weren't good enough, smart enough, etc... but it motivated me.  I read everyday, I paid attention in every class, and I even found myself going to the library on Friday and Saturday nights!  Because of all this hard work I was making A's... I had become the kid I always hated, the one who goes into the teacher's office to ask why they made 100 instead of 103 because they just wanted to know why their answer wasn't correct, why it wasn't good enough (I may or may not but definitely did do that).  Dr. Sylvia would drill us.  I'll never forget what she would always say to a student who just answered one of her questions... "Prove it!"  It wasn't good enough to regurgitate some line from the textbook, she wanted to know what did it all mean?  How did it all flow together?  Students hated her.  They would complain about her tests, "But I put everything the book and my notes said about it."  They hadn't answered the question.  Word vomit she called it.  They saw a keyword in the question and wrote everything they ever knew or thought they knew about that word.  They didn't understand how to apply all the information they had learned.  They couldn't weave it all together.  They knew all about the color blue and all about the color yellow but they couldn't make green.  I loved her.  She pushed me.  She struck a nerve and found something inside of me I never knew existed.  I will keep those two words with me forever... Prove it.

I've always been called a "hater."  I don't care its never bothered me.  I am skeptical.  I chew my food.  Just because you say it doesn't make it true, it doesn't make me believe it.  Just because it makes sense in your head doesn't mean it makes sense in mine.  I'm going to weigh it.  I'm going to pick through it, examine it, chew it.  If it doesn't make sense to me based on things I've learned or experienced I'm going to challenge it, wrestle with it.  I'm not saying I'm always right and everyone is always wrong... it may take me a long time to chew through something tough.  Like a baby bird, I may sometimes need help to chew my food.  I may need someone to chew it up and give me something I can more easily understand. (Metaphorically speaking)

Why don't we question authority?  Did the people in authority ask questions when they weren't in authority?  Are they all knowing?  Did they chew their food or did they just swallow it whole to get a grade and go on to the next class? Do we not ask questions because we don't care?  I care.  People question my decisions/actions at work... I try to prove it.  I try to provide reason, logic, a plan, and research to show my line of thought.  I could be wrong, so question me... it should only make me stronger.  However, after you've interrogated me don't get upset if I ask you some questions.  Why don't we ask more questions at school?  At work?  At church?  Challenge what pastors and ministers tell us.  Are they teaching from the Bible or is it their own opinion?  Is it Biblical?  Dave let me borrow a book of his by Rob Bell titled Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith.  The author talks about Christianity as a continual learning experience... a journey, if you will.  We are continually learning more about God, His word, His character, His will, and the person He created us to be.  Rob uses the concept of Trinity as an example.  The word Trinity is not found anywhere in the Bible (check your concordance, I did... chew your food!) but the concept is supported by many scriptures.  What if no one chewed through the scriptures?  What if no one tried to get all the nutrients out of the Word of God?  What if we stop chewing now?  Wrestle with things in the scriptures, ask God to help you.  I don't understand a lot of what is in the Bible and I haven't even read the whole thing.  You won't be able to prove everything without a doubt...  you must have faith.  But I think if you look closely, listen carefully, meditate quietly you'll discover that God is speaking to you.  God help me understand.  God reveal more of Yourself to me, more of Your character and who you want me to be.  Open my window God so I can see more of You, so I can see  myself, others, and the world through Your eyes (shout out to my boy Dave-O... Dying to Live).  Teach me through Your Holy Spirit.  Help me receive Your word.  Help it take like a seed in fertile soil.