Resourceful

I'm thinking about food. That's not unusual for me, but it's not because I'm hungry. My thoughts are much more random than that.

I'm still giggling about Kirt's definition of "resourceful" to Elijah. They are working on Elijah's Cub Scout book and when defining resourceful, Kirt said, "Like mom, when she looks into the refrigerator and makes dinner from what she sees." I think this could be in direct response to the macaroni and cheese that cleaned out all the aging cheeses and several vegetables that blended in.

I am a resourceful cook and 85% of the time it is scrumptious, and the other 15% develops character. We have an expanding table and it is not uncommon for us to have a crew around it. The kid's friends know when they eat at our house they don't have to like the food, but they do have to try it. Folks drop in and our motto is that there is always enough.

I like feeding people. My mom is an amazing cook and my grandma was an amazing and resourceful cook so it's in our DNA. There is something wonderful about cooking that makes me feel like I am bringing order in the chaos and doing something concrete after a somewhat nebulous day as a pastor.

I refuse to show up to lunch meetings without food for the folks present. It's weird, but I am greatly distracted by my own rumbling tummy that I want to help us all be fully present for the business at hand. It seems like there are all kinds of Jesusy implications around sharing bread together and I don't really need to lay all those out.

The Alaska Food Coalition is in town right now and they are great encouragers for our Juneau Food Resource Summit. Many of the agencies who provide emergency food in Juneau are finally talking to each other and figuring out how we can fill some of the gaps. It's been good this week to review our values:

-Improve our community through interconnection of services

-Provide access to sustainable nutritious daily food and distribute surplus food better

-Create opportunities for human connection

That last value is as important as the others. Food is where we often gather and where some experience their greatest loneliness.

There are few things that I feel passionate about: Jesus, family, friends, coffee, ping pong, hiking and food. Maybe not in that order depending on the day. I am willing to stake not only my table, but my life on the fact that there is always room at the table and there is always enough. Sometimes we just need to be more resourceful.