The other day I was walking on the stone path that winds around a nearby lake, and I came across two sweetly shy girls. They had a plastic container that held a grasshopper and they were busily hunting in the grass for more of the little critters.  I asked them what they were planning to do with them, and this is what they said: “We caught some yesterday and gave them to Auntie, and she fried them and made grasshopper fry.”  Not the answer I expected!  The grasshopper was unwittingly facing its last moments. Content, not realizing its coming end. Tragic.

Someone told me that grasshoppers “are crunchy and taste kind of like shrimp…” I was almost convinced that they didn’t sound too bad until the description continued, “…but the legs are scratchy.” I don’t think I’ll order grasshopper anytime soon.

Sometimes finding myself in a different culture is an interesting experience! Grasshoppers are not the only things I’m learning about, though. Recently, an Asian missionary energetically challenged my roommate and I, “Throw your life. You will gain it back. These are the Master’s words. ‘Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will gain it.'” This is from a brother who has faced the rigors of rugged missionary life and whose burden is for a people group that has been very closed to the Gospel. Sacrifice for the sake of the Savior is worth more than it costs.

There you have it, sacrifice…and grasshopper fry.