I want to start a club or an organization or better yet, a fellowship called—Latinos Against Food Violence. I can’t be the only brown guy passionately believing that food should not be hurting us but we should be hurting the food. I don’t know how many times I’ve had someone tell me: “This chile is good. You’re going to love it!” only to have my taste buds violently assaulted. I don’t get this "good = pain" stuff. Not sure where this anti-Latino (I often feel alienated, ostracized by mi gente) mindset came from. But it could be this life changing event…
My grandfather owned his own Mexican
food products distribution business.
He’d service stores and restaurants up and down the Valley with
everything from Mexican spices and tortillas to pan dulce (Mexican pastry) and
Mexican candy. When Enid (my older
sister) and I were little kids we were at my grandfather’s warehouse with our
parents. We were exploring when we came
across a large funnel looking object with a sifting – mesh screen that looked a
whole lot like a window to our new space ship.
So we both climbed in and the space adventure began. We were flying and shooting alien ships (It
was the 80’s. We had watched too much
Star Wars.) and holding ourselves steady by bracing the sides of our ship. Little did we know that our space ship also
served another purpose. Grandpa used this large funnel
to sift chili. We’d hold ourselves
steady and wipe our eyes. Hold ourselves
steady and touch our mouths. We were
being attacked by our own space ship.
Mom and Dad found us crying and covered head to toe in a fine layer of
chili dust. We were rushed to the
bathroom sink. I was washed down first,
than my sister. But here’s the problem,
after I was clean where did I go next?
Back into the space ship.
Why? I failed to make the
connection. The location I returned to was
causing me pain.
Some of us are failing to make the same
connection: The location we continue to return to is causing us pain in our
lives. Those old habits, those old
“crutches,” those old friends that whenever you guys get together someone's getting arrested. The Bible is
clear but we don’t believe it: “No, it
might hurt other people but it won’t hurt me.
This time it will be different.
Last time it hurt but this time it will be better.” Only to be hurt all over again.
Therefore, if anyone
is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
“The old has gone…” The old is only gone when we leave it in the past. Some of us are hurting right now because
after having been washed clean we don’t walk in the new but go back to the old.
Let me end by asking you a simple
question: Are you in pain? If so look at
where you’re at. Is your location the
cause? Cry out to the heavenly
Father. He cleans away what’s causing
the pain. And go a different direction.
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