After my second trip, I researched recipes for Haitian black beans and rice...very traditionally Haitian, very cheap for the majority of people in Haiti, who cannot afford even one meal daily for their families.
I began making black beans and rice, about once a month, for my lunches at work. I liked how it reminded me of my friends in Haiti, how it prompted me to pray for them and for Haiti, how it was a talking point in the office of what I had brought to lunch. I felt a little bit like it was a kind of fast, a memorial, a giving up of other lunch choices to remember and share my love for Haitians, the nation of Haiti, and all that God has placed on my heart.
Black beans and rice was my lunch of champions last week, as some of the high school students from my church were serving in Haiti last week...I wanted a daily prompt to pray for them, their ministry, and the lives I prayed would be changed through them.
Last week I also started reading When Helping Hurts by Fikkert and Corbett, as I pray through the possibilities for future ministry and missions God has been working and placing on my heart. Part of the discussion was about why Israel was sent into captivity....my personal answer before reading, like most of us, was 'idolatry.' But the authors brought Isaiah 58 to study, to show how Israel's biggest sins was not caring well for the poor, for being too concerned with their appearances of personal study and corporate worship (which are good and godly things, when done for the right reasons).
Suddenly, my little fast, though a nice gesture, seemed silly, false, and really selfish. How was I really helping anyone except myself by this? Yes, I need prayer prompts daily, but was this making me more self-righteous or more Christ-like? How could I really say I was fasting, when it was not helping anyone, when I would make other choices the same day that were very much not fasting?
I'm not saying my kitchen experiment was wrong, or that it would be wrong for other people to do similar things. But I am realizing how important it is for us as Christians to constantly evaluate and re-evaluate our motives, our desires, and the effectiveness of our ministry to other people, especially those we believe we are called by God to serve.
And if you want to evaluate while you eat Haitian black beans and rice, that's totally okay with me. Recipe is included for a little extra fun with this blog. :) Happy eating, praying, and self-evaluating.
Haitian Black Beans and Rice, Erin's doctored version
Soak overnight in water 1 cup of dried black beans, drain well.
Combine the soaked beans, 6 cups of water, 3+ cloves of garlic, spices to taste (I like cumin and thyme, or cloves and thyme), 1 tablespoon-ish of olive oil, and 1 coarsely chopped onion (I've used yellow, red, or green onions, whatever I have in the kitchen). Bring to a boil and cook for about 1 hour on medium heat, stir whenever you think about it.
Blend 3/4 of the beans/water mixture in blender. Add back to pot, add a little more water, cook for about another 30 minutes, adding salt and pepper to taste (add these seasonings at the end to keep the beans from getting tough/chewy).
Serve over rice, cooked per package directions...white rice is most traditionally Haitian. Gets better the longer it sits in the refrigerator over the week.
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