On the First Day, he Rested
March 29th, 2010Weekends are for Work
I had a fine time making pizza at church yesterday.
The pastor has moved the Sunday services up to 9:00 a.m., so I get to sleep half an hour later, and I’m also getting more efficient, so I no longer have to arrive two hours before the pizza is needed. That adds up to a scenario where I can sleep until the decadent hour of 6:00 a.m. and still get a decent prayer and study session in before I leave.
I used All Trumps flour for most of the day. It’s a high-gluten brand GFS sells. It makes very nice Sicilian pizza. It seems to brown up a little faster than the other stuff. But it seems sticky. I had a couple of pizzas that fought with me when I tried to remove them from the pans.
So far, I think Golden Tiger is the best choice. It works easily and doesn’t stick too much, and the pizza is good.
Maybe I just need to improve the seasoning on my pans. I’m working on that.
I sold a good number of pies, but I don’t know how many. I could have done much better, but they closed the cafe before the last service. We were putting on our popular Jesus of Nazareth play, complete with a mule and some goats, and that meant four services on Sunday instead of three.
The pastor says 344 people came to Christ this weekend, by the church’s figures. Not bad. Our goal is 100,000 by 2020.sysc
I can’t figure out how they kept the animals from pooping in church.
I could have stayed later yesterday and helped them strike the set, but I have bad memories of being squashed by a falling object the last time I tried to help. And I am concerned about their current efforts to keep the workers safe. I think everyone should wear hard hats and boots, and every job should be carefully choreographed in writing before they do anything. Until they make some changes, I won’t be comfortable working on sets. I don’t run the church, and I respect those in authority. I am not going to agitate or complain. But I’ll be volunteering for things that don’t make me so nervous.
Mike is headed for Florida. I was hoping he would be available tomorrow afternoon and evening to work in the cafe and help me test the cheese samples Sysco gave us. Unfortunately, he misunderstood my schedule, so he has conflicts, and it’s not clear when he’ll make it. He was going to make garlic rolls. Now he says he feels God pressuring him to go. Don’t know if he means it, but it would be great to have him there.
We have an interesting story in the news. Florida strawberry farmers are destroying their crops because they’re so cheap. This is sad, because food is going to waste. But it’s also great, because I can make strawberry cheesecake for the cafe, at a low price. I can also buy lots of berries to freeze. They won’t be any good for use as berries, but they’ll be fine for making the goop that holds the berries on top of the cheesecake. So later in the year, when prices go back up, I’ll be able to use cheap berries for the goop and expensive berries for berries, and the price will average out to a lower figure. I think.
I guess I should find out what Sysco charges for frozen berries. Maybe this is pointless. But in any case, this is a good time to make cheesecake.
I could also do strawberry shortcake. I love this stuff. It’s basically a giant biscuit made with sugar and butter, topped with berries in goop. You slop whipped cream on it. Wonderful. Or I could do strawberry pie, which is berries in goop in a pie crust. But I don’t want to make pie crusts. It’s a pain.
The church’s new mixer should arrive today. I’m having it delivered here. Will I be able to resist the temptation to fire it up? Probably not. Hmm…it takes 9 pounds of flour to fill it. Maybe resisting will be easier than I thought. But I’ll definitely want to hold it and love it.
My new plan is to get 10 more quarter-sheet pans and season them. Then I can make 15 or 20 crusts early in the day and put them in pans to rise. That will allow me to run off and do other things while other people put the pizzas together and bake them. I have to get myself free of the kitchen one day a week, and this should make it possible.
I picked up a De Santis Speed Scabbard to wear in the sanctuary. One of the younger guys shamed me by getting a nice belt holster, so I broke down and made the purchase. I guess this is better than digging in your pocket when trouble comes.
I had a funny feeling when I left church yesterday. I was tired, but I was sad to go home. I’ve prayed that God would weave me into the fabric of the place, and it looks like he has done that. I’m getting to know a lot of extraordinary people, and I feel much less alone than I used to.
If you’re a Christian, and you feel like you don’t fit into the secular world, you’re right. It’s not where you belong, and it will never accept you unless it can neutralize your Christianity first. The friends you’re waiting for are at church, and you should go meet them.
March 29th, 2010 at 12:18 PM
Working for Habitat for Humanity, we NEVER do a build working with volunteers without having a brief safety meeting (followed by a prayer), and ensure that each team has a leader which has been through our project manager class, and that everyone has safety glasses and as a minimum leather if not steel toed shoes.
No sandals and flip flops and “spikey Chicky” pumps on our job sites…particulary when things are going up overhead like setting joists/roof trusses and decking a roof. After the first day we encourage people to show up dressed for the job else they are relegated to pushing a broom and carrying trash to the dumpsters when serious construction is going on.
Twenty well intended virtually barefoot people running around under me and my 28 ounce framing hammer is the last thing I want to be (not) worrying about.
Why not suggest as an Armorbearor that a few people with professional construction experience take responsibility for and attend every event like striking a set?
It’s much more likely that someone will be killed or injured at your church (per your experience) in doing something as innocent as building or tearing down a show set rather than some wild eyed crackhead coming into the building and starting shooting the place up.
Competent “Security” takes a variety of forms–most of the time defending people from themselves.
March 29th, 2010 at 2:59 PM
Virgil is right.
I have a question, though. I don’t know who has the answers.
I went to the Baptist church I have belonged to since I was teen yesterday. This isn’t the questions but I’m thinking these crucifixion pageants have become more graphic and real since the movie “the Passion.”
My question. They had a last supper as part of the pageant it was also a time for communion. That was a very good thing. But it occurred to me to wonder about something. For the last supper there were the disciples sitting around the table. I suspect they were served by the women of the house or the women of the group. In our church it is always men, the deacons, who serve the communion bread and wine. What churches, historically or presently, use women to serve the communion? Maybe they call it the Lord’s Supper, I believe that is
what our church called it in previous days.
March 29th, 2010 at 8:36 PM
What Virgil said. It sounds like what is needed is more of an hierarchical structure and less of a helpful mob. Key question to ask: who’s in charge here? I mean, of this particular operation. The leader needs to be recognized and accepted as such.
March 30th, 2010 at 5:43 PM
“what is needed is more of an hierarchical structure ”
Whenever someone says they are opposed to organized religion I tell them to come to our church. It’s never organized. Badda boom.