It's Not Always About the Tomatoes

I like to travel with buddies and rename them.  I vacationed in Costa Rica with Lupe who loves margaritas and gets a little loopy.   I don’t drink but I’m a fun gal.  Just ask my co-worker, Frank.  I nicknamed him Jellyfish.  I packed my underwater camera.  Jellyfish can hold his breath really long.  He modeled for my underwater photo shoot in the colossal pool at the resort our company chose for us.

I am fascinated with rain forests so my favorite thing to do in Costa Rica is to take walks in them.  I signed up for the tour of an organic cacao working farm.  Lupe chose it too.  A group of us piled into tractors to view crops of watermelon, mango, rice and cattle while we chewed on natural sugar cane, their largest product.  We observed monkeys, Toucans, and sloths.

The best part of the tour for me taught about climate change and harvest time as we walked single file among papaya trees, cacao trees, as well as banana, pineapple, palm and macadamias.  

After hours in the rain forest, we returned hungry.  The friendly owners of the ranch served the Peruvian version of Ceviche for lunch.  Their recipe consists of salad ingredients using hearts of palm, tomatoes, limes, celery, avocado, and cilantro. Some of us have allergies to shrimp and onion so the hospitable family left those ingredients out.   We enjoyed it with chips, salsa and ice tea.  I returned to the states and prepared it for my family and got three cheers.

Lupe stayed at our house last weekend and we mulled over photos of lush Costa Rica.  We decided to prepare Ceviche and I hunted for my largest salad bowl.  We gathered most of the ingredients but found only one lonely small almost shriveled tomato in my fruit basket!

Lupe insisted we go all the way into town to buy a tomato but I gave her a big ugly frown.  She carried on:  “Let’s try that store at the corner.”   I sat aimlessly in my car in the parking lot of the country store while Lupe inquired.  They sell liquor, cigarettes, lottery tickets, candy, milk and no tomatoes.  I would tell her: “Told you so.”   I worried when twenty minutes passed and no sign of Lupe.  Finally, she opened the car door carrying two big tomatoes. 

On the drive back to the house, I listened to Lupe’s story about her quest.  In that two-bit shack of a store, Lupe encountered a woman preparing sandwiches to sell.  A hurting woman, a desperate woman hopeless because life is hard and she wondered if anybody out there cared.  God cared!  He sent her Lupe with her incredible gift of encouragement.  She took the time to speak life into the despondent woman.  The woman was grateful and gave Lupe not one but two tomatoes for her listening ear and advice.

We all ate Ceviche that afternoon and it turned out to be the best version ever!  Joy filled the rooms of our home as we gathered to pray not only for the food but for one hurting woman’s heart and future.

It's not always about the tomatoes.

The words of the wicked are like a murderous ambush,
    but the words of the godly save lives.

Proverbs 12:6

Want to get creative and make Ceviche?  I'll share my recipe with you:  here