Grasshoppers!

I titled this post "grasshoppers" for two reasons. The first reason is because last Friday, I ate one. A grasshopper that is. Apparently, they're in season. I didn't know that there was a season for grasshoppers, did you? I wish I could say it was delicious, but honestly, I thought it was gross. It was crunchy, and it was very, very spicy. I tried to imagine that it was a barbecue potato chip, but I don't have that vivid of an imagination. Those eyes sort of killed it for me.

The two Bature (white) people on the left are our next-door neighbors. They are the crazy people who are responsible for bringing me grasshoppers. They are relatively fearless in navigating the city and we're learning a lot from them (even if they are lunatics!) The beautiful lady on the end who is laughing at our drama is Naomi, our house helper. As you can probably guess, she's a merry soul and her laughter comes easily.

Here's a close up. I'm guessing your mouth is watering at this point.

Even though "Uncle" Frank was offering naira for the kids to eat one, Isaac was the only one who caved. He wouldn't eat a whole one, but he did eat the legs.

I didn't exactly fly under the radar or eat it like a true sport. I had a big glass of water by my side which I drank down after I'd swallowed the little guy (little is a relative term!) I did however get it down and keep it down, so I'll consider it a win for now.

This is a horrible picture, but it accurately captures my, "I am not going to allow myself to vomit" mindset at the moment.

The second reason why the title "grasshoppers" seemed appropriate is because I've felt a bit like one. I realized that when I went to church on Sunday and some very nice Nigerian pastor spoke on the story of Joshua and Caleb when they went as spies into the land of Canaan. The story talks about how Joshua and Caleb trusted God to give them the land while the other 10 spies were afraid. The Bible says that the spies reported that the people in the land were too big. They reported to the people that they would be like grasshoppers among giants. Immediately I realized that I was struggling with the same feelings. Even though I've seen God do some extraordinary things to get us to this point, I've wondered since we arrived if we could ever really be effective here. Could God really use us? My heavens, we can't even grocery shop or remember all of the greetings to get through the average day, how in the world are we ever going to accomplish anything of eternal significance? But Sunday, the Lord reminded me that just like He brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea, fed them with manna and quail, and performed miracle after miracle, He can use little ol' me, if I'll trust him. And when He does, it won't be because of anything spectacular or special in me, it will be because of who He is and his willingness to let me take part.