Bacon Cheeseburgers From God.

My friend Charles Short hosts a weekly flash fiction contest on his blog. A few weeks ago the contest was to write a short fiction piece using Hebrews 13:2 NIV as your base: Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

This video, and what I did on Saturday, both put me in mind of that caution on a regular basis.

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This past year has been a tough one in many regards. We’ve dealt with illness in our household and some of the effects of aging much sooner than I would have liked. My life is upside down with the 800,000 projects and plans I’m engaged in, including starting some new novels. As a result we haven’t made a missions trip this year. Instead, we’re carrying out our mission here locally.

We participate in The Good Neighbor Meal program. This year we will sponsor four different meals. Each time we sponsor we pick up the tab for the food, organize (more-or-less) the kitchen brigade, and do the cooking. Saturday we had 100 guests, which is way down from our usual 150. And, we were a bit light on volunteers, but with such a short summer in Minnesota even the volunteers blow town.

The cast and crew were the usual stalwarts, and some friends from KTIS, mission trips, my church, friends from the navy, and friends of friends. I’m so honored that they all showed up to make it happen. I even had an indentured minion – Al. Al was there doing community service for the Boy Scouts and brought a friend with him. Nothing finer than having two that can’t run away. They helped me crank out the burgers, do pots and pans, dishes, haul trash, etc. Hard workers and nice to kid about the work. They may not have realized it at the time, but I was trying to show them the value of these skills. While it’s nice to be a computer geek and author, I’ve paid more than a few bills mowing lawns, digging graves, cleaning warehouses, shoveling snow, and doing dishes. Those base skills allowed me to move up the ladder to where I am today – two rungs from the bottom!

That’s the history/background of how we do it all. Why is another question. The quote from Hebrews is part of it, the other part is Jesus made it pretty clear that we would be judged on how we handled our brothers and sisters in need. There’s another piece of the puzzle: it’s a blessing to serve. I don’t do it because God might stick me in a fiery pit. I do it because I can sit at the table, drenched in sweat from manning that grill for 4 hours, and have the nice woman next to me talk about the meal in glowing terms, not knowing I was the cook. The thing that touched me the most was that she delighted in the fact that we all talked to her.

I can’t imagine having 150 guests come by and not talking to them. We are acting as the hands and feet of Jesus when we make those meals. That blessing rains down on our heads each time. Would Jesus just slap down plates and not share some time with the people? I rather doubt it – nope, no way. So we try very hard to be good hosts. We prepare a top shelf meal and do it right. Saturday we made Bacon Cheeseburgers, baked beans with bacon, potato chips, cake, and an assortment of beverages. I’m proud to say we used more bacon for that one meal than most diners go through in a weekend.

Bacon is wonderful

Bacon is wonderful

We loaded up our cooking with seasoning, prayed over the results (not needed – I hope, but because it was the right thing to do…) and served it on china.

As always, people marveled about how we did all of this and had it all go so well with unpaid volunteers. It really is easy. All you need is helping hands and some basic guidance. For those of you in the Twin Cities, I’d be delighted to help your group sponsor a meal and learn the ropes. I will provide you with all sorts of help including a menu, timing plan, and my smiling (but beard-guarded) face hovering over the stove. Yes, I will cook if you do all the rest. (Assuming I’m available that weekend!) Use the comments to contact me, and I’ll gladly discuss the possibilities with you on the phone. You cannot imagine how wonderfully blessed you will be until you spend a Saturday feeding your brothers and sisters in need.

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Comments

Bacon Cheeseburgers From God. — 1 Comment

  1. Joe! Please call the next time you serve a meal or are asked to cook!
    Jeff and I would love to help if we’re available!

    Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
    Tracy