Sourcing

Sourcing

One of the big trends in restaurants is local sourcing of ingredients.  In fact, “hyper-local” establishments only use things produced by farms, ranches, and dairy within a small radius of their eateries.  Our once agrarian society, largely outsourced abroad or industrialized, appears to be returning.

During the year before our eldest daughter got married, she became very interested in this movement.  She started reading about Dan Barber, one of the father’s of this revolution.  His Blue Hill Farm and best-selling book “The Third Plate” was featured in the Netflix series, “Chef’s Table”.  Our family got hooked on the series as a result of her interest.

One of the episodes this season features Alex Atala, the celebrated Brazilian chef whose restaurant is the 9th best restaurant in the world.  Alex not only introduced the world to Brazil through sourcing traditional ingredients from his native country, he introduced them to the men and women responsible for producing them.  His ultimate desire is not to celebrate the ingredients themselves, but bring nobility and humanity to the farmers and ranchers of Brazil.  Elevating the dignity of another person is holy work.

Last month I got to fulfill a lifelong dream and speak at a Young Life camp in Colorado.  The morning the camp was going to fill with hundreds of campers, I spoke to dozens of volunteers and staff about the privilege and responsibility of the task in front of them.  Mostly, we talked about how each of them uniquely bears the image of God and how offering that more powerfully is the most effective way to change other’s lives.

They asked me to introduce my family (5 of my 6 children, my wife, and son-in-law, were in the crowd).  Praying that morning, I felt like the Father was prompting me to tell the group who they were by how He knew them.  I told the group how each of them uniquely bore the image of God, what I learned about the Father from them, and how they all have changed my life.  I was caught off guard by how much emotion that stirred in me.

On Father’s day my daughter, who is spending the summer as a baker at that very camp where I spoke, sent me a long letter.  She said that numerous other staff members and volunteers have spoken to her about my talk.  What struck them most was how a father knew and loved his children uniquely.  

They were longing for the Father’s love they felt
through a father.

What it touched in them, deep beyond deep, is that they are each uniquely created in the image of God and that He knows them particularly… loves them in a way known only to Him and them.  Our mission with our children has always been that they would be sourcing, well beyond our parenting, the love of their true Father.  That they would know who they are and how loved they are because of Him.

Our job as parents and employers, is to introduce them to the culture of the Kingdom and their King.

  • Are you introducing your family members and employees to the culture of the Kingdom and their King?
  • Are you seeing each of them with the heart and eyes of their true Father?
  • Are you sourcing beyond what they accomplish to who they really are and how they uniquely bear the image of God?