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Monday, March 21, 2011

Only 100 meals Left!!!

     As of this writing, I currently only have 100 meals left on my Lenten fast of Stop Hunger Now (http://www.stophunger.now/ ) packaged rice meals. This of course means that I have so far about 35 meals of the rice mixture. Needless to say, it didn't take long for me to get tired of just adding butter and salt to it. Myself and the other three pastors have been letting each other know about the various creative ways we have been fixing the meals for our breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have been fairly simplistic in my approach most of the time "doctoring" the meals after they have been cooked in a 12 cup rice cooker. I do this so I can keep to the original way of how the meal will be fixed overseas although our local representative from SHN, Kyle said that many of the local cultures who have received the meals adapt them to their taste and cuisines adding whatever spices and other food sources they can to the mixture.

From left to right- David Blackwood (Trinity UMC,
Dalton), John Mattox (Pleasant Grove UMC, LaGrange),
me, and Nathaniel Long (Senoia UMC)


      Some of the ways I have tried to eat the rice is by adding sauces such as barbecue, soy, teriyaki, and worcestershire. So far, my favorite way to prepare and eat it is by pan frying the mixture with a little olive oil. This removes a lot of the moisture and stickiness from the rice and when it is cooked right (I'm not always successful) it has a kind of crusty crunch to it and reminds me somewhat of hash browns. I recently bought me some Cajun spices the other day and I can't wait to see how it taste.
       I did have my first challenge in eating my meals. I went out of town last week to seminar where I and several other pastors were giving some great tips and instruction on planning several months ahead with our sermon preparation. I called the place where we were staying ahead of time and was told that they had a full kitchen available for us with a microwave. Before heading to the seminar, I iced down four of my prepared meals before I left home so I would have plenty to eat while I was away from home. When it came time to eat our first meal there, I noticed that there was no type of butter/margarine or sauce available for me to put on my rice. Luckily, (and I'm typing this sarcastically) I was able to get several packets of yellow mustard from the attendees from their Chick-fil-A packed lunches. For that meal and the balnce of my time there, I spread the mustard over the rice the best I could so it would have some flavor to it. Of course, I did whine to myself and my wife about my dilemma of "mustard rice" but finally remembered as I was typing this that my fast is NOT about flavor. It's about eating this way in order to raise awareness and the financial resources needed for Stop Hunger Now. Instead of whining, I should have been praying for God's help and for God's blessings to those in the world who eat these meals with gratefulness and probably whole lot less flavor and frequency.
      Will you join us on our journey? It all starts with a quarter, 25 cents per meal; think what even the smallest of your donations can do for the hungry all around the world, even Japan where Stop Hunger Now is trying to get their meals there to help out with that tragedy. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to eat our Stop Hunger meals only, but if you are led to make a donation, please make your tax-deductible checks out to Stop Hunger Now and please mail them to me at Rev. Dan Dixon, c/o Mount Gilead UMC, P.O. Box 72113, Newnan, GA 30271-2113. You can also now donate online at: www.stophungernow.org/4for40 . You can donate to us as a group or you can specify on of us in the “honor” option. Help us complete the Project. Help us make it: 4 for 40 for 40,000.

      Thanks again for following my journey and blessing me with your time...



Dan




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