God Spoke to Me Through Hot Dogs
Blog post written by Justin Takiguchi (age 19), Univ of HI college student, Honolulu, HI
Enjoying our lake day with my Salvadorian brother, Jose, a member of the Sus Hijos staff team.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” -1 Corinthians 10:4-7
God spoke to me through hot dogs. Yep, you read the last sentence right. Let me explain.
On December 31, we had the privilege of throwing a New Year’s party for around 800 people in a low income community near the beach. Everyone who came for the festivities received food, laughs, and the Gospel, and many of the children received customized Christmas gifts from Sus Hijos. I even got to to dress up as Santa Claus and enjoyed hugging tons of kids.
To prepare for such a large event, our team had to prepackage the food before the event, which included hot dogs. The morning of the party, our team woke up early to prepare the hot dogs. This process was a multi stepped process that involved cutting the buns, placing the hot dog in the bun, spreading condiments, wrapping the hot dogs in aluminum foil, and packaging the hot dogs in plastic bags, and all in that order. We managed to make the required hot dogs for the party in under 2 hours.
My role in this chaotic and glorious process was to squeeze ketchup onto the hot dogs. This was my sole job for those 2 hours. To the left of me were team members who were cutting buns and placing the hot dogs inside them, and to the right of me were team members who were adding further condiments and wrapping them. By the end, while many of us were covered in ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise, all 800+ hot dogs were prepared and distributed to all who came to the party. Although we had different functions and roles, we were all working together to achieve the ultimate goal: hot dog production.
Doesn’t this sound similar to how the body of Christ operates?
The beauty of the body of Christ is we that do not have to do everything. In fact, we cannot do everything, for we are finite beings with limitations. God has equipped all of His believers with skills, gifts, and talents unique to the individual for their God-ordained purpose. As our team had to trust and depend on one another in order to make all of the hot dogs, so we as believers must trust and depend on one another if we are to bring God glory. The hot dogs were just one element of the party, but they filled stomachs so that we could do games, dance, sing and share the hope of the Christmas story with everyone at the event.
I am sure that all of our team members would like to stay in El Salvador; however, God has not called us there for the time being; He has called us back to the States. I have full confidence that our Salvadorian brothers and sisters will continue to use their unique gifts, talents, and skills to minister to the people around them, and we will do the same. As we return to our metaphorical ketchup/mustard/mayonnaise/etc. stations, I take great joy in not only the fact that we got to labor with one another for the Gospel this week, but that no matter who we are or where we are, I can trust and depend on my brothers and sisters in Christ to minister to the people around them. It was an immense privilege for me this week to partner and labor alongside my Salvadorian and American brethren for the Gospel, and I am honored to continue to work with my Salvadorian brothers and sisters in the transnational hot dog assembly line that is the body of Christ.
May the LORD bring us together soon! Sola Deo Gloria!