"Quail From the Lord"

   Hello everyone! For those of you who don't know me, my name is Tonell Jones. I am 22 years old and am a Senior at the University of Mississippi. I decided to begin a blog for the Lent Season. Even though I'm not Catholic, I have always enjoyed at least making an attempt to give up something for Lent. Unfortunately, my vows, whatever they may have been at the time, never proved successful. I felt really convicted this year to change that. At first, I didn't give it any thought at all, but the closer Ash Wednesday got, the stronger the conviction grew. So, I decided to pray about it. I wasn't sure if I had gotten an answer or not, so once again, I forgot about it. Sunday night, while I was at my Sigma Phi Lambda chapter meeting, I kept hearing the word "meat." I must have heard this word over 100 times by the time we broke off into our prayer groups where I heard it again. That was when He told me His answer. I'm guessing God already knew that I would ask the forbidden question of, "why?" so He answered it before I got a chance... By challenging me to give up something that I have been freely given by Him every single day, but have too often taken forgranted. I have taken food in general forgranted! I know that this will take a serious committment, but how much more serious will my discipline and appreciation be by the end of this wonderful journey. 


   Okay,  background aside, the reason I titled my blog as "More Than a Season" is because of the negative connotation this Holy Holiday has received in our society. Here are some of the images I came across on a google image search about Lent:

This season shouldn't be just something to survive or something that should evoke a feeling of depression about the fact that you won't be able to eat chocolate for the next 40 days. These 40 days are a representation of the 40 days that Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil after His baptism.

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, HE WAS HUNGRY."  (Matthew 4:1-2)

Why, then, should we not want to face temptation as our Father did? We have become to good for temptation, too afraid to stand up to temptation with the tools and assurance that He has given us day after day-- rather, I have been too afraid to stand up to temptation. I have been so spoiled in life that the only challenging thing I could come up with to give up was chocolate, or sodas, or facebook. Wow, I must be blessed!! Meanwhile, in Kenya, they have nothing that they have that they could live without if they gave it up for Lent. The reason I mention Kenya of all places is because I recently participated in a Feed The Hunger pack-a-thon which took place on our campus. At this pack-a-thon, we packed what looked like zip lock baggies with four key ingredients: vita, veggie, soy, and rice. These 4 layers would make up a 6 course meal for a child in Kenya.... a 6 course meal. This is what the bag looked like: Feed The Hunger Pack-a-Thon

Being a part of this event and hearing the hard facts about a country in need made me feel very.... small. I am usually worried about eating Chic-Fil-A on any given day because my pants may fit a little tighter the next day. Not only is this fear irrational but it is selfish. I have everything that I need in my life because God, for some reason, has seen me fit to give me more than enough. I am so blessed yet have only just recently realized this. In an attempt to further this realization, the idea for this blog popped into my head. This will help keep me accountable, and will also allow me to express the deep transformations a change like this may solicit. Now I will stop babbling and ask that  you all pray for me to have the right heart throughout this period and far beyond. Pray also that my body does not reject all these substitutes for protein which I will be introducing into my diet! (You don't really have to pray that prayer) Lastly, pray that I listen to what He is telling me throughout this experience despite the things I will tell myself as I go through this. I hope you all know that I am praying for you as well, no matter if you are doing Lent or not.

After the Israelites had been delivered out of Egypt they were thrust into years of temptation, however with these temptations, they experienced some of the most miraculous signs from God! Even though they continued to complain and rise against Moses and Aaron, the Lord still had mercy on them and never left them alone. This mercy was shown Moses when the Israelites grew tired of the manna they had been required to eat for so long. Moses, hearing the wailing of his people for meat, went to the LORD because he no longer felt he could carry the burden of his people alone anymore. Even though the Lord was becoming "exceedingly angry" (Numbers 10:10), He heard Moses and the Israelites' cries and provided each of them what they had been asking for, but not without consequences. These consequences were necessary not because of the request of the people, but because of the faithlessness that the only nation that was able to hear the Lord's voice without dying had been displaying. Even after the Lord tells Moses that He would supply them with enough meat to eat for an entire month, he still questions His ability to come through, as though He has given him a reason to believe otherwise. I say all this to say that I don't want to be like the Israelites in this situation. They allowed temptation and the law of only eating manna to allow them to lose sight of the beautiful things God was doing all around them every single day. The fact that they couldn't eat meat was not a plight against them, but it was for them to be fed by the Word of God during their hard times. Lent is not about what you are giving up, its about what you will gain in the end and for years to come. This is a very hard lesson learned, but I am ready and willing.

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " (Matthew 4: 4)