Adventures in cooking for the masses

A while back, at a mission trip team meeting, we were talking about the upcoming fundraisers, primarily our big variety show, silent auction, dinner that is one of two big fundraisers the mission teams do each year.  Leadership positions were described, people volunteered and, near the end, I heard my voice say, "Steve, I'll cook dinner".  Normally I let others take the big leadership roles.  With these roles comes extra work but also extra financial incentives.  For this particular fundraisers, those in leadership roles get a double share of the profits made.  In past years raising funds hasn't been an issue for me due to either the generosity of my friends and family in responding to my support letters or the fact that my trip has been paid for by the missions committee because I was one of the trip leaders.  This year, due to my lack of trip leader status and the fact that my team is going to India for two weeks and that costs a substantial amount more than any other trip I've done in the past, I thought it might be a good idea to volunteer for a fundraiser leadership role.  No one else had volunteered to cook.  I've helped out in the kitchen a number of times in the past for these types of things.  I figured it shouldn't be that hard.

Some time and much planning later and we're finally into what I'm calling fajita week.  Much of my free time this week will be spent finalizing and implementing my master plan to lead a team that will cook a fajita dinner for roughly 150 people this coming Sunday.  My master plan might also be morphing into a plan to take over all of Metropolis...I'll keep you updated on that one.  The thing is, I'm really not that stressed about it.  Either I'm kidding myself that it really isn't going to be terribly difficult or I've got a really good master plan....or maybe some of both.  I'm even confident enough about the whole thing that I'm going camping with friends Friday night and all day Saturday.  I'm guessing that's not going to be the wisest decision that I've made of late.  But I don't get many chances for camping and the date was set by someone else and based on circumstances beyond my control.  So, I'm going camping.  Then I'm going to come home and lead a team to cook the largest meal I've ever been in charge of cooking the next day.  There is a reasonable chance that this will all become a massive fiasco that will become an interesting and slightly embarrassing story as well as a morality tale in the years to come.  Fortunately, this is a church event and we're big believers in grace (and getting people to pay ahead of time for the meal).  But, I guess that also means that there's a fairly reasonable chance that this will all be a roaring success...and it will take me four years and possibly some protesting on my part before I'm not in charge of big meals at church.  But, that's okay.  I like to help out.  And, if I'm good at something, I don't mind using my talents...especially if I can help train my replacements  (yes, I'm looking at you Elizabeth, Kathryn and Rachel).

If you happen to be the praying type, I would appreciate your prayers for me and the whole dinner situation between now and next Sunday evening.  I can do all the planning in the world, but without God enabling that plan to actually work, I'm toast...or burned rice, sticky tortillas and undercooked chicken in this case. Thanks.