Would You Like Meat With That?

Oh dear, I really need to be more faithful in blogging!

Today was a pretty good day. It was super quiet at work, which is always nice, and so I was able to work on a project I'd been putting off for some time because it was a rather tedious one. A friend stopped by to talk, I went out to lunch, Indian buffet, with a couple of girlfriends, and I finally got to Walmart to stock up on toiletpaper! I was down to 1/2 a roll which was rather disturbing! Then I finished my rather full day by cleaning my bathroom, tidying my apartment (and throwing my clothes into my closet in a huge heap and shutting the door!), and going to church choir practice. I've been going for 3 weeks now, and each time it's a different set of people who show up, which is kind of hysterical but also frustrating because that means we have to learn the song. . .all over again. . .every single week! Hopefully all the various scattered parties will all show up at the final performance! Then tomorrow I'm heading back to church to help with a breakfast for the homeless that they have every Sabbath morning.

I've been wanting to help with some type of ministry for some time, and I finally got myself and my courage together, called up the coordinator, and showed up at 7:30 am (I know, that's super early, and I used to sleep in till 10 am before!). I really enjoyed myself, because I love working with food, serving others, and being around people. I used to help out with a similar set-up when I was in college, so I already knew I would have a good experience.

Last week, as we were taking up our different stations, someone to cut up the fruit for the fruit salad, someone to fry the eggs, someone to make the pancakes, someone discovered that there was a large plastic bag of tri-tip sitting on the counter. None of us knew how to cook this huge lump of beef, but one man finally volunteered if we could just call and find out how to prepare it! It turned out to be quite simple; cut it into small strips and pan-fry it.

While I mentioned I'd helped with a similar ministry before, we didn't serve meat then, so this has been an interesting experience for me. The first time I found myself stationed right in front of it in the serving line, and hastily switched places with one of the guys. But by the end of the breakfast hour, when people were coming back for seconds and I was the only person serving, I found myself scooping up the chunks of beef and placing them over the eggs and hash browns in a breakfast tortilla, then handing the paper plate over with a smile.

I don't think I'll ever have the desire to learn how to cook beef or to eat it, but I am learning that we need to meet (pun intended) people where they are at. For the ones who stream in the doors on a Sabbath morning, they are not looking for strange foods like scrambled tofu in an organic wholewheat tortilla. One of the volunteers said that the food we hand them is probably one of the best meals they will have all week. It isn't easy, when I know they could be eating healthier. But I have struggles too and I battle daily (okay, hourly) with becoming a healthier person. They don't need me trying to convict them to become vegan; they need God's love. I just pray that I can show them that.