I Don't Know How She Does It

I am about to let you in on one of the best-kept secrets at Mercy House. Now there are lots of amazing things going on here on Council Street. All the staff show up every day determined to bring hope and life to our neighbors. Whether it is through a shower and hot meal or clean clothes and some groceries, the team at Mercy House is dedicated to serving West Montgomery. They are living out Mark 12:30-31 knowing in their hearts that loving your neighbor as yourself is not just a scripture to be pondered but a command to be followed.  

But today I want to share something that happens in Mercy House that never ceases to amaze me. If we were sitting across from each other right now this is where I would lean in and look around to see if anyone is trying to over hear what I am about to say. Because I have the privilege to see it happen each week and I still don’t know how it works. 

I guess I should give a little background before my big reveal. Mercy House serves about 130 hot lunches each weekday to our neighbors on Council Street. Ms. Addrene, our kitchen manager, plans and cooks these delicious meals. She inventories what we have from donations and what we were able to get from the food bank. Then she puts her culinary skills to work, on the tightest of shoestrings, she stretches the ingredients, never sacrificing taste or nutrition and always being such a great steward of our resources. And if that is not enough to impress you, she does it all…… Here is the part you have been waiting on…. Here is the big secret … She cooks those 130 hot lunches with ONE oven. Yes, you heard me right - ONE OVEN.  Now for those of you now googling “big deal about one oven” just stop. If you are not emailing Mercy House for her kitchen secrets right now it is only because you have never tried to cook a thanksgiving meal for twenty people and one oven. Forget a thanksgiving meal, I mean any meal for twenty people. If you want all the food done at the same time and still be warm, well it is just near to impossible. But in the Mercy House kitchen, under the supervision of Ms. Addrene, it is an everyday occurrence for her to make all those balanced meals with just one oven. Not even a commercial oven! You will never hear her complain about her cozy (aka t-tiny) kitchen or the lack of any commercial appliances. She is honored to be feeding our neighbors perhaps the only meal they will have that day.

This may seem like a small thing to you. But to me her role here at Mercy House preaches a loud message of faith and perseverance. God’s work, done God’s way will never lack His supply. She has the gift of taking what the Lord provides and using that and her mad skills in the kitchen to glorify God with her service. On this particular day, she fried chicken for our neighbors. Talk about a labor of love! If you would like to witness this true servant feed God’s children, make plans to join us here for lunch where God is using the willing for His glory.

God Bless,
Pastor Ken Austin