The pungent smell of fish sauce wafting over the dusty streets—I can handle that. Sitting close to a Sinim person and talking about life while they blow clouds of cigarette smoke—I’ll get over it. Wearing filter masks due to exhaust fumes and air pollution so thick that sometimes they burn your throat—I’ll eventually get used to that. Being ethnically Sinim myself, adjusting to life in this country hasn’t been too challenging, for the most part. But there is one aspect of the culture I have been struggling with deeply—the type of meat served in some restaurants here.

Having grown up in America, I treasure dogs, and I have rescued strays off the streets. I can’t even describe the stomach-turning horror I felt the first time I glimpsed a Sinim restaurant in which the signature dish was dog meat. I will spare you the details, but honestly, it feels unforgiveable to me—despicable, vile and barbaric. To make matters worse, every time I leave my home or return to it, I have to walk past one of these establishments.

I have been trying out various thoughts to ease my mind: This just shows why they need Jesus. They don’t know better. Americans eat pigs, and those are even more intelligent than dogs. However, nothing seemed to soothe my repeated urge to vomit.

Then one morning during my devotions, God softened my heart with a new thought: How I feel about the people who run these restaurants is just a taste of how my sins must make God feel. My pride and the deceitful thoughts of my heart are just as vile and despicable to His nature, and they make His stomach turn. Still, He freely pardons me.

The next night, I met a friend of the Joys named Vincent, a funny, charismatic young man. As we talked, he told us about his pet dog, which he adores. He buys it clothes, takes it downtown to hang out with him, leaves his friends to go home and take care of it, and even got a second dog just to give it a friend. Elisha asked Vincent if he had ever eaten dog. Vincent said that when he was young he did because he ate what his parents fed him. However, he stopped eating dog meat because now he loves dogs.
I feel that God arranged that meeting to remind me that people’s lives and perspectives change, and that love is a powerful catalyst for change. We are all sinners. Despite how gross our sins are to God, He sees what we can become as we learn to love.

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