Thursday, May 17, 2012
THERE'S A STRANGER AT THE TABLE-Part 1
He just appeared one day at the Mission as so many had done before him. In some ways you could have compared him to a lost puppy that shows up at your back door, hungry, tired and a little dirty. He might as well have been a puppy considering how little information about himself that he wanted to provide. I did find out that he had jumped the train down the street from the Mission and just wanted lunch.
Lunch we could do. We led him to a table where 2 other men were already devouring their lunch. The server brought him a plate and placed it in front of our guest. He said, "Welcome brother." "No", he replied, "I am a stranger to this place and no brother." The server smiled and replied, "Well, welcome anyway." He was quiet as he ate. The other two men chattered between bites like a pair of birds. They were regulars with us and comfortable in the environment. Not that the environment was anything unusual other than we had made every effort for the dinning room to be meticulously clean and homey.
THE AWAKENING
Only a few people know that I am working on two books, one about rescue ministry and the second being a cookbook. The cookbook is a road map for cutting the cost of your groceries to the bone while improving the quality and in some instances the quantity.
A journey of my food values and concepts began long before the 1970's and today in 2012 I know that the journey is not over. I have experienced abundance and as early as age 12, I understood what financial reverses could do to the family food budget. But in my 20's there was a dramatic switch in my thinking about food, not just on my plate but the plates of others around the world. I don't think I ever heard my mother tell me to eat everything on my plate because there were starving children in Africa. But, I became acutely aware that waste existed as did starvation.
Today I hold in my hands a stained and in some places torn book called "More-with-Less Cookbook". It was commissioned by the Mennonite Central Committee and written by Doris Janzen Longacre in 1976. It was more than just a cookbook and I have read every page over and over again. The book is filled with statements, poems, quotations and wisdom regarding the shameful act of food wastefulness. The author went on to pen a second book, "Living more with less". She passed away before it went to publication but her family got the book in stores in 1980. This second book has few recipes for meals but many recipes for living life without senseless waste. I owe Doris Longarcre a gratitude of thanks for helping me form ideas and habits that have served me well.
Over the years I have developed my own systems which I have shared with friends, family and those I met at the missions where God placed me. Pray with me that I will be able to complete both of my books this year. At age 70, time is ticking by quickly.
A journey of my food values and concepts began long before the 1970's and today in 2012 I know that the journey is not over. I have experienced abundance and as early as age 12, I understood what financial reverses could do to the family food budget. But in my 20's there was a dramatic switch in my thinking about food, not just on my plate but the plates of others around the world. I don't think I ever heard my mother tell me to eat everything on my plate because there were starving children in Africa. But, I became acutely aware that waste existed as did starvation.
Today I hold in my hands a stained and in some places torn book called "More-with-Less Cookbook". It was commissioned by the Mennonite Central Committee and written by Doris Janzen Longacre in 1976. It was more than just a cookbook and I have read every page over and over again. The book is filled with statements, poems, quotations and wisdom regarding the shameful act of food wastefulness. The author went on to pen a second book, "Living more with less". She passed away before it went to publication but her family got the book in stores in 1980. This second book has few recipes for meals but many recipes for living life without senseless waste. I owe Doris Longarcre a gratitude of thanks for helping me form ideas and habits that have served me well.
Over the years I have developed my own systems which I have shared with friends, family and those I met at the missions where God placed me. Pray with me that I will be able to complete both of my books this year. At age 70, time is ticking by quickly.
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