Today's post
Hell’s Kitchen
<— Have you seen this show? It’s the latest offering in reality torture. It’s all about a group of would-be cooks who put their culinary skills to the test in an all out, abusive, grueling race to the top. The last cook standing wins.
Original huh?
I have never watched more than 2 or 3 minutes—2 or 3 minutes is enough for me. But the idea has recently fascinated me because of all of the parallels to ‘living the Christian life.’ I mean, think about it with me for a moment.
In the show their always seems to be at least one person who just wasn’t prepared for the level of abuse that they begin to experience—because of this, they crumble early and get grinded in the garbage disposal of criticism and finally, as the culinary hopefuls are skewered one by one, only the toughest remain.
Did you know that? How sad! Why in the world does this happen?
To gain insight, let’s take a look at The Parable of the Cook (not sure who wrote this, but it’s good)
The Parable of the Cook
Let’s pretend that you’re a cook who feeds the same people every week. You go to the store, pay for the ingredients, work hard cooking the meal, open the doors, and the usual patrons wander in. Many of them are actually out of shape, lazy as a dog, and picky as a two year old. Some things are too hot, some are too cold. Some simply go through the line and take what they want. Others complain about everything that’s on the menu that they don’t like. “Why do they even have squash? I hate squash.” Or, “How come they don’t have sweet potatoes? Every other decent restaurant in town has sweet potatoes.” Sometimes they’ll say, “We have the best fried chicken in town. It’s better than every other diner out there.”
You begin to notice that most of the patrons aren’t really that hungry. They just come to inspect the food. They load up anyway, though most of the food on the plates will go unconsumed. When they go through the line there is a donation box at the end to offset the cost of the food and perhaps to tip the cook. Most pay. Some even leave a tip, smile, and say thank you. It’s this appreciation that will often make the difference between whether or not the cook keeps cooking, for some days it can get discouraging to be a cook.
On a rare occasion, the usual customers will see a hungry person in the marketplace and tell him where he can go to get a good meal and become healthy again. Most of the time the hungry go unnoticed because they’re everywhere, and so are the diners. When a starving person wanders in, everyone gets excited. They share their meal and even save the newcomer a place at the table. It’s a happy time when you get to see someone enjoy a hot meal for the first time.
It happens one day that the critique of the food turns to criticism of the cook. continue reading… »
posted 9 May 2008 @ 0:10 by Rob | show comments » » 4 Comments
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