OK, I admit it, this is a weird story. If you’re not into weird, please escape while you still can. Now that I have that out of the way, let me recount for you this “biting” tale. Somehow, during a visit with a neighbor, we got onto the subject of the weird things that people do. In case you’re wondering, yes, this is a normal topic for me! Now on to the tale of the infamous shot-glass-eating-man. Yes, that’s right the shot-glass-eating-man (don’t try this at home, kiddies). It seems that my neighbor, many years ago, had a job delivering shaved ice to various “establishments” in his area. (Why ice has to shave I’ll never know, but all that’s beside the point.)

One day he was in this particular establishment when he overheard a rather interesting conversation. Patron #1 said to patron #2, “So I hear you eat shot glasses.” “Yep,” came the reply. To this, patron #1 inquired further, “How much will it cost me to see you do it?” “A shot, the glass it comes in, another beverage to wash it down and $10.00,” came the reply. Obviously, this man had had this conversation many times before, and he had formed a detailed pay structure for services rendered. Without hesitation the man requested the necessary implements and placed a $10.00 bill on the counter. By this time, my neighbor had decided that the shaved ice had to wait. After all it’s not every day you see a man eat a shot glass or die trying.

For the next twenty minutes this man performed. Working his way around the glass in a circular fashion he began the painstaking process. Each piece was chewed with the patience and precision of an artisan creating a work of art. The last to go was the thick glass on the bottom. With jaws of steel, this final hurdle was jumped and the man victoriously pocketed the $10.00. My neighbor was twenty minutes late for the rest of his deliveries, but richer for the experience, but not really.

The first thought that came to my mind when I heard this story was, “How did this guy learn to do this?” Most importantly, how did such masticational maneuvering even occur to him? Did he just wake up one morning and say, “Hey, I bet I can eat a shot glass?” Did he learn his craft from a past glass master? Did he come from a long line of shot glass eaterists? I guess we’ll never know, but the question is what do we learn from such a feat?

What we learn is that we’re capable of doing more than we think we can, but it takes a step of faith. No matter what the circumstances are around this man’s amazing abilities, at one point he had to take one step forward and try something dangerous for the first time. This man had to take an ordinary object and do something extraordinary with it, he had to take a big bite of the unknown and believe that he could do it.

Friends, that’s the kind of attitude that God can use in His people!