On a women’s trip to Israel, one of my friends brought her mom. We quickly adopted her as the mom of our group, calling her Mama Sue. She kept us in line…or at least tried to. As a nurse, she was always concerned with our food intake. It wasn’t about the kinds of food we ate – she was the most adventurous eater of us all – it was about the preparation methods. Open markets were not her favorite place to eat to say the least. And those who liked to take a snack from the morning buffet to enjoy through the day were firmly instructed on how soon they should eat whatever they took.

As serious as Mama Sue could be about our eating habits, she was always jovial. She loved to joke with us, and we enjoyed joking with her. After a particularly busy day, only four of us were at the dinner table together. Mama Sue had already begun to eat. Cathy and Tracie sat down with their plates, which included “beef.” Meats were often labeled too generally for my tastes. If I don’t know exactly what it is when it comes to meat, I’m not likely to try it.

Cathy and Tracie tasted their beef. After several bites, Mama Sue asked, “What do you think of the beef?”

“It’s delicious!” “It falls apart in my mouth.” “This is fantastic!”

“What do you think it is?” Mama Sue continued.

We knew her well enough by then. This was not going to end well. Tracie insisted she didn’t want to know: “Just let me eat in ignorance and peace!”

But Mama Sue just couldn’t hold back. She had to share.

“It’s tongue.”

“No!”

Debate ensued as Tracie dug through her meat. When she pulled away a piece of fat, it was obvious…taste buds.

There would be no more eating of the “beef” at our table but many jokes in the coming days!

What’s a food you’ve tried that you were surprised you liked?

Sometimes we gather information first and then make our decision. Makes sense. But many times we make a decision on limited information – whether we admit it or not. Limited information can be a good thing because we end up trying something we otherwise wouldn’t. But limited information can also get us into a rather distasteful situation!

Try a new food today. And give up a food you currently eat that’s not good for you.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s victory parade. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. 2 Corinthians 2:14