This post is going to be about food. It's going to be about lots of food. Preparing for what will happen after eating all this food is important. Tums, Rolaids, Pepto-Bismal... all of these are vital to suriving gluttony...

Did you actually think this was really going to be about food? Of course not! That was just a random thing I tacked onto the beginning of this post in order to grab your attention long enough to read the rest.

I was thinking while I was driving home from a movie this evening about what I have seen in the friends that have come back from missions trips in the past. After spending a variable amount of months in a different cultural setting where their time and energy is given over to God's use exclusively, the return can almost be shocking. Things that were considered normal before leaving are seen as horrific.

For example, the movies we watch. I just got back from watching Hot Fuzz. There were definitely some funny points but I couldn't help but feel a little guilty laughing at some of it. Should I be laughing at what is vulgar, violent and profane? I don't think I should. I laughed anyway, which is why I felt guilty.

If I watched that movie right after nine months in Africa, I would very likely be shocked at some of the stuff that I once thought of as funny. I know that others who have come back from missions trips say stuff like that. Upon returning, they will ask how we can tolerate the rubbish that we do.

It never lasts. Eventually they'll melt back into the culture and be laughing and enjoying the same old trash. The question I have been asking myself is this: "How do I prevent the same thing from happening to me?"

I am going to need to make those changes in my life before I leave. I can't wait to go to a different country to do this. I need to start cutting out the garbage now. If what I learn in this whole process is going to stick with me, the learning must start today.