This past Thursday was the first Thanksgiving holiday that my family and I have ever spent outside the US. But, since our daughter is interning at a Christian home for boys in Honduras and our college son had a few days of break from school, our partial family group traveled to the tropics. The home where our daughter is working is in a small rural village of Honduras, an hour from the nearest shopping and steps from the Caribbean. Coconut palms, tower overhead, and oranges, bananas, plantains, and a myriad of other fruits grow profusely. With tropical birds singing in the canopy and balmy to hot winter temperatures, this area is like a paradise in many ways. Even more wonderful than the climate; however, is the beautiful sanctuary created by a dear, Christian woman where 10 boys from the streets and broken homes can live, grow, and learn of God’s love, the Bethesda Home for Boys.
In Honduras, as in all of the non-US world, the last Thursday of November is just another midweek workday. However, I wanted to introduce the boys to a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, vegetables, bread, and pumpkin pie. At the nearest supermarket, an hour from their village, I set about gathering supplies for the feast. The potatoes, milk, butter, flour and sugar were easy to find. But, the pumpkin pie got scratched off the list, as pumpkin wasn’t available. Now, I needed to find the bird. In a small section of the freezer unit, there were a handful of imported, Honeysuckle White turkeys. They were even on sale! But, as I calculated the exchange from lempiras to dollars, I realized that these 10 pound turkeys were over $50.00 each! I would need at least 2 turkeys to even give a small portion to everyone. This was over 5 times what I usually paid for my Thanksgiving turkey here in the Midwest. Disappointed, I changed my menu to the not-quite-so traditional ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, and homemade bread.
As it turned out, Thursday was a busy day for the boys. Some were working, some were out on errands, and all had church that evening. So, we pushed the dinner back to Friday. On Thursday, we spent time playing with and getting to know the boys that we previously had only encountered in pictures and prayers. We watched them play marbles. They demonstrated how to throw tops, catch them in the air, and transfer them, still spinning, to other hands. While we were out in the fenced yard of the home playing with the boys, a big, fat turkey came strutting right past the gate. When we went out the gate to view the river across the street, this turkey gobbled at us. Who owned this bird, I wondered. Would they sell him? How much would it cost? How long did it take to kill, pluck, clean, and ready a bird of this size? While I still really wanted a turkey for our Thanksgiving feast the next day, this Honduran turkey happily hung out by our gate all day, oblivious to his danger.
Well, Friday came, and the turkey was still there, but I decided that we really had no clue who to ask about the bird, and how to get it ready in time. At dinner time, we had our ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, and homemade bread while the turkey still wandered around the fence outside. He was one lucky turkey.
I Peter 5:8 says “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Sometimes, I think that I am not unlike that turkey in Honduras. Here I am, strutting around in this world, outside the safe gates of paradise, often oblivious to the fact that there is one who wants to devour me. Now, I don’t really believe in luck. I know that I serve a God who is sovereign over the events of this world. But, having said that, when I realize the pitfalls of the world, and the daggers of the adversary, the fact that I am still walking around un-plucked and un-cooked makes me feel a bit of kinship to that one lucky turkey.
In case you were wondering, on Thanksgiving Thursday, we had a simple but tasty meal of rice, fish, and huge, succulent shrimp. The ham, mashed potatoes, carrots, and bread meal on Friday was delicious and a treat for the boys. And, I cooked a turkey after Thanksgiving back home in the US when it was on sale for $.50 a pound . That turkey wasn’t quite so lucky. 🙂
With Joy,
Kathleen
You may find me linking up HERE. Thanks for stopping by!
What a most blessed way to spend Thanksgiving!
It really was!