March

Worrying

Matthew 6: 27 – And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life span? -Lutheran Study Bible.

When I told Linda that I wanted to start Loaves & Fishes at First Lutheran Church she had lots of questions most of which I could not give a definite/certain answer. While I was serving as a volunteer at a hot meal Ministry in Watertown, I was not an organizer and did not do any of the behind-the-scenes tasks.

Here are a few of the questions we had to answer. Would we be able to source enough food? How many people would show up for a meal? Would we be overwhelmed or underwhelmed? Would we have enough volunteers? Would groups from the community would volunteer? How much storage would we need for dry goods, refrigerated items, freezer items? Is the kitchen big enough? What additional things would we need for the kitchen? Where would the money come from? Would people and organizations contribute to our Ministry? Can we write grants well enough to have organizations award us grant money? I could list many more questions we have asked ourselves.

Sourcing food was something I thought I had the answer to but quickly found out I was wrong. Watertown Loaves & Fishes sourced almost all their food through TEFAP – The Emergency Food Assistance Program, a federal program. I quickly found out that how TEFAP is run is different county by county. It turns out in Dodge County all the resources are already spoken for and the TEFAP Director let me know that there were no resources for any new programs like our Loaves & Fishes Ministry. That led to worrying.

Preparing food for that first meal. How many meals should we prepare? How many people will show up? What if no one comes? What if hundreds come? That led to worrying.

Then there are the moments when we knew God was at work in our Ministry. We were not sure who would cook the meals and started planning that a group of us would have to prepare easy recipes that we could expand to whatever number of guests we would have. While Linda and I were talking to other organizations about the food needs of the community we met and talked with Laura Goral at the Restore that also has the Food Is Free Food Pantry.

As we talked about community needs and our plans the guy working behind the counter asked, do you need a Chef? Louis and I exchanged numbers. Louis is our Chef and we spoke about that day he volunteered; he said that in his head he was telling himself all the reasons he should not volunteer but suddenly the words came out of his mouth. It was a God moment and the encounter with Louis let us know that while we think we are in charge God is in charge. Louis’s skills and passion for feeding others is a blessing! There have been plenty of other examples showing that God is at work. We know God is the one in charge and he will show us the way. But we are human so stressing, worrying, and a wide range of emotions have been a part of this journey and will continue to be. Even though we know the Ministry is off to a good start and we are blessed in so many ways (especially volunteers!) it is an ongoing faith journey that God will guide us.

We are humbled that God is working through the Loaves & Fishes Ministry. Linda and I remind ourselves constantly that God is with us and to worry less.