Cast Your Pizza Upon the Waters

August 29th, 2011

Still Standing

As always, too much is going on to write about.

Some of you know I used to cook at my church. I made everything from scratch. I cooked pizza and garlic rolls, cheesecake, pies, brownies, and all sorts of other stuff. But some people there treated me so badly and decreased my duties so much, I realized it was wrong to reward them and waste my time by continuing to work there.

Since then, the cafe has not done well. Can’t tell you everything. It’s closed these days, except for a few hours on the weekends. Everyone who gave me a hard time and treated me disrespectfully is gone. None of them have ever apologized or admitted wrongdoing.

Last week, the pastor called and asked for a “huge favor.” He knows a pastor from a gigantic church in another city. That city is known for pizza. The other pastor sent my church four frozen pizzas from a well-known pizzeria. They sat in the freezer for a long time. When the other pastor scheduled a visit, our staff cooked the pizzas and ate them, so they would be able to say something about them when our guest arrived.

Our pastor thought it would be fun to make pizza for him, in our own kitchen. So tomorrow I cook for about 35 people.

I’m making Sicilian pizza and garlic rolls, plus two mango cheesecakes. One cheesecake is strictly for my team; the guests don’t get any. We’re also having desserts and pineapple upside-down cake.

I have helpers.

I got driven out of the cafe just as I was getting moving on a ministry there. A number of young people wanted to work with me, and I was going to show them how to cook. We were also going to ground everything in prayer. God provided me with a friend who is a successful chef, and she was going to help. I was doing all this at the urging of people above me in the volunteer structure and staff.

After I was asked to cook this big meal, I started looking for people to assist. Who showed up? You can guess. My chef friend was on board in about ten minutes, and she volunteered to leave work and bring salad and desserts. I also got the two young people who had been most interested in learning to cook.

On Saturday we cleaned the kitchen until it was safe to use, which was a horrible chore, and we made a pizza and some rolls. We had a fantastic time. Only the kids showed up. They did an excellent job, and they’re coming back tomorrow morning to help again.

The pizza we made was astounding. It was just pepperoni pizza, but it was better than anything I’ve had in a restaurant. And we’ll do even better tomorrow.

Right now I have cream cheese warming up for two cakes. I’m also going to prepare topping ingredients for the pizzas. I may also make a coconut flan.

I don’t know where this is going. The church is faring poorly, so I don’t know if the cafe will exist in six months. Nonetheless, it’s very rewarding to be able to accomplish the most important parts of the job. I’ll be able to improve my relationship with the people who are helping, and we will draw closer to God. And it’s nice to be vindicated, without lifting a finger to defend myself or harm those who mistreated me.

It’s not about vengeance or seeing obnoxious, carnal people suffer. It’s about God, being faithful and powerful to establish the things he begins.

Needless to say, some of the tools I got for the cafe have been lost, stolen, or destroyed. Here’s a great lesson for Christians: never give your church anything, unless you know they’ll make good use of it. The pizza stones that used to be in the cafe are gone, so I brought one from home, and today I bought a second one. Am I leaving them at church when I’m done? Forget it. I’m not a moron. I’ll have one stone to use, and I’ll have a spare. If the church needs pizza, I’ll throw them in the truck and take them for a visit.

It’s funny how things are working out. Someone else ended up paying for the cheese for the pizzas. When I went to Gordon Food Service to get flour, they only had one bag of the kind I wanted, and it had a tiny hole in it. A cute girl came over, put tape over the hole, and marked the bag down 50%. Today when I went to get the second stone, the store had stopped stocking them. I told God I was not going to any more stores. On the way out, I saw the last stone on a clearance rack.

I haven’t done much to make this work. People and things are coming to me. That’s how it should be. I would just mess it up, if I got in there in the flesh and started mud-wrestling. If the whole event falls through, it’s not my concern. God started it. If he wants it to happen, he’ll finish it.

In other news, my buddy Mike is divorced now. He met a nice lady, and they’re attending a charismatic church. Her dad owns a dog track that has legislated out of business. The dog track contains a fully equipped pizzeria. She also owns a storefront that needs a business. Mike is planning to open a place that sells pizza, rolls, and my cheesecake. How about that? He says I have to go up and help get it started.

I hope things go well tomorrow. I am already looking forward to resting on Wednesday.

5 Responses to “Cast Your Pizza Upon the Waters”

  1. Virgil Says:

    I find it interesting how people will jump into a volunteer effort…generally something over their heads which looks good from the outside but is really difficult and requires skill and dedication to accomplish…and then just stay around long enough to win some superficial battles and run all of the really qualified people off before they turn their attention to some other silly battle and effort they are equally unqualified to conduct.

    I know exactly how you feel here Steve I think.

    Your kitchen at church is like a couple of community theaters I worked for in the past ten years. The staunch long time “members” want help…just not too good a quality help because God forbid you should actually do a good job and by default make the old timers “look bad” in the process.

    Someone needs to explain to them how a rising tide lifts all boats but they don’t understand…and in the end their egos won’t allow them to really care about the end results…It’s all about them…

  2. Steve H. Says:

    You’re right on target. It’s funny how organizations almost always develop in a way that punishes excellence.

  3. ScottH Says:

    Time to start thinking of a name for your new church.

  4. Jim Says:

    Y’know, back in the ’60s and especially in the three decades thereafter, the epic rise of the TeeVee preacher saw it’s vast growth, vast potential…………and sadly, shame perpetrated upon shame upon even more shame, still.

    That said, there were, and are, a few stalwart TeeVee pastors who somehow, do a good job of preaching, and a fair bit of pastoring, all while keeping the beg-a-thons to a bare minimum.

    Sadly, they’re a vanishingly small percentage of the game, and I doubt any of ’em have any national reach.

    On the OTHER hand, we have here this incredibly effective writer and communicator of the Holy Spirit, whose way of explaining things and dealing with things reeks of reality, of the daily struggles of Christian life, and the faith and resulting joy of overcoming those obstacles (or, more accurately, rejoicing as God overcomes ’em in his stead.)

    And we sit around, and read, and rejoice and learn. Yeah, we sometimes wise-off, or argue or just haggle our points, but it’s among bretheren of good will, so it’s still all to the good.

    I’m thinking Steve doesn’t need any brick n’ mortar building to pastor his flock. He’s building a mighty fine church right here in these humble pixels, right before your very eyes.

    THIS, my friends, is the ministry that the TeeVee preachers sought, but never could produce, as theirs lacked the two-way exchanges required of any truly effective pastorage.

    Y’all are pioneers here, and might not have even realized what you’re a part of.

    Said frankly, if this isn’t a calling all of it’s own, I’ve yet to see one more strongly manifested.

    Give thanks for your blessings, and keep praying for Steve as he keeps this particular small flock fed. (and if I can get to Miami, that feed is GOING to include some of that pizza!)

    Having said all that, I’ll leave it all to your consideration, and Steve’s take on things.

    Jim
    Sunk New Dawn
    Galveston, TX

  5. Steve H. Says:

    Jim, I appreciate that. But you know the fine print, which I am obligated to provide: God can do this with a turnip. He doesn’t need me.
    .
    One of the wonderful things about what the Holy Spirit is doing in my prayer group is that he does not rely on any specific person. The other day I was leading the group, and I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to shut up and let my buddy Alonzo take over, so that’s what I did. Alonzo didn’t skip a beat. He started talking immediately, and revelation came through him as well as it could have come through me. This kind of thing happens a lot. I am very glad it doesn’t depend on me; I could die tomorrow without slowing the revolution down.