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I have quite a bottomless pit. Others have witnessed me pack up to five Burger King chicken sandwiches into my belly, and still others have seen me down 12 slices of Jet’s Pizza — deep dish, and square.

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I love food. And I love a challenge.

So this year, a few friends and I from the seminary discovered a Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup (aka Phở) restaurant that had the perfect recipe of food and challenge: finish a giant bowl of phở, and get it for free.

[kinda like this, except 22 times more phở!]

Oh, I was tempted all right. And Fat Tuesday was the perfect occasion! And I was being encouraged by my brothers and my philosophy professor to conquer that bowl: 1 gallon of beef soup, 1 pound of noodles, and then the meat!

But something wouldn’t let me do this. Something told me to pass it up and stay away. Something told me this was a travesty.

It was my conscience, and it said this was a classic case of gluttony and pride.

Here it was: a giant amount of food for one person, that could feed five! There are families out there who would beg to have a single noodle and a single sip. And here this was…

Needless to say, the more I thought about it, the more obnoxious it was to me. It didn’t matter how many cheerleaders rallied around me; I could not because I would not. I knew that even if I killed the challenge, I would have still been the loser because I wasted all that food on myself. I don’t need 5,000 calories in one sitting. And besides, what good would I do afterward? Food coma? Wow… that’s not impressive at all.

Pathetic, actually.

And that’s when I knew I had finally started to chase virtue instead of selfishness (and I’m so glad I did!)

Keep praying for me please, so that I never turn around.

And happy blessed Easter!