Tuesday

Deep in his heart, every man wants a burger named after him. Or rather, he wants to create a burger that will be forever remembered. Today, I stopped by a store across from Stella’s, a French market kind of place. Well, they had my favorite, sheep’s cheese. Two varieties, and one from my great-grandfather’s home region, Bearn. So I had to get it.

Tuesday after school is family night around our house. We decided to hang out here. We put together a raised bed. We built a small fire. We played basketball. John said, “This is the best family night ever,” which was gratifying because we weren’t DOING anything. We were just hanging out, taking care of some stuff, playing. But that’s all it takes. Anyway, we grilled some burgers, and I decided to put the sheep’s milk cheese on mine. Very nice. A thick slice of onion. Nice. Next time (uh, that would be Thursday!) I am going to perfect what I shall call “The Basque Burger:” Ossau-Iraty cheese, onion, and some (ok, lots of!) roasted garlic smeared on the bun.

There’s all kinds of crazy talk going on at the Rock. We’re looking at fewer resources, like everyone in these time. I’m not sure if I should call them “tough” or “uncertain,” but whatever it is, it is impacting the church. Well, with the seed sale, we realized we can make some money for the mission of feeding hungry people. We are going to sell some transplants (tomatoes and peppers) and hopefully ease some more of the burden on the budget. I have challenged our garden and First Church’s garden to supply all of our needs for the Monday Night ministry this summer. Additionally, Bob McKinley is helping us to market some of our vegetables to add more resources to the church.

And then, there’s this madness: for years I have wanted to grow fish in a barrel. I know, I know, I am Tommy Boy. But you can grow fish easily and it would be good protein on the table. Well, my partner in crime John Crissman introduced me to Kentucky’s aquaculture expert. A Methodist, no less.

So anyway that was two months ago. Jim Embry and some others convinced me I was not thinking big enough. Can we really close the fresh food gap by urban “farming?” Could we raise fish in more than barrels? Lots of fish? To feed the hungry and to sell? The Lord keeps putting people in our path who shed a little more light on the way.

I walked past Arlington one day and lamented to Ica that I had not thought big enough. Krikey, Erin had given me a coffee mug years ago that says, “what would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” I guess one of the things I would do is end hunger as far as I could, one person, one neighborhood at a time. Can you send up some prayers that many doors will open and paths will be illuminated, so that we do more than we imagine, and indeed do what we ourselves could not do.