Just 1 Reason

Their once was a restaurant in a city that had the reputation for being the best restaurant around. What was so special about this restaurant, and different, was that the owners would spend the day and evening sitting with the people that came to eat, and just enjoy their company. That’s why so many people came to this restaurant. The owners sat with the patrons. They weren’t “owners from afar”. They sat at the tables with those eating, and they didn’t spend all of their time talking about their restaurant and their food and how they ran the restaurant. They just let the patrons experience the atmosphere, the delicious food being served, and good fellowship and conversation about life outside of the restaurant. They didn’t focus on the patrons eating. They knew the food was good, well seasoned when needed, sweet when needed, with just the right drink to wash it down. They believed in the culinary talents in their chefs. They knew that true chefs couldn’t be taught a recipe from a book, but rather the recipe was inside of them. And from the inside of them, they know just how many handfuls, pinches, or sloshes to put in everything they created. And they didn’t just cook, they created. They were convinced they had the TOP chefs.

And the wait staff, there was none like it. The person overseeing the wait staff knew well all three parts that the wait staff was involved in…from waiting on the patrons, to interacting with the chefs, and interacting with one another, so had the eye and wisdom to create this 10 lane intersection in the middle of the restaurant where the traffic flowed like a river.

Even the support staff, the hostesses and bussers, was led by nothing but the best. This staff was trained so efficiently by the one overseeing it that they seemed invisible. You didn’t see them clearing away the plates and food, or sweeping up messes, or laying out the tables or re-lighting candles or filling water glasses. It just seemed to always be done. It just seemed to happen without attention ever being drawn to it.

Even the live music that was provided every night…it was almost like they were invisible. They just helped create the atmosphere that made the restaurant so inviting, that made it so easy for people to come and be themselves around the owners.

Everyone knew the owners had gone to great care selecting every single employee for the restaurant, so that their own time could be free to eat with the guests. There was someone appointed over each area that was able to deal with whatever situation arose, and they knew the heart of the owners well. When you were talking to those appointed, you knew you were talking to the owners. They knew the very purpose of the restaurant was to create an atmosphere for people to just be filled, and know they were loved, and be treated like the royalty that the owners believed each and every person was. They each fulfilled their area with that as the end goal.

But then one day, a complaint arose from one of the patrons at the table where the owners were dining. Not just any patron, but a very important dignitary sent from a far country. His steak had so much salt poured on top of it that you couldn’t even put a bite of it in your mouth without it causing an absolute repulsion to the taste buds! The dignitary was offended, to say the least, and caused quite a commotion about it.

Normally if something was not right, the owners would just make sure the head chef was aware so that he could take care of the situation. This day however, at the advice of the dignitary, who said that as owners they should be preparing the meals for important people themselves, they chose to take matters into their own hands. They headed back to the kitchen, and instead of relaying the situation to the head chef , they drew the conclusion that the head chef just wasn’t able to perform his job properly, and that they, the owners, indeed should be preparing these meals for important people themselves. They relegated the chefs to the back of the kitchen, and took over all of the cooking, trying to make up for the bad meal that had been served to the dignitary.

Except the owners were not chefs at all. The food that they were able to create was that of friendship and love, not meat and desserts. As they began cooking, they realized that they couldn’t understand the shorthand of the waitresses, all of the codes they used for each specification, so the owners wife decided that the tickets needed to be changed to be understood by all, not just the chefs. More often than not the food they prepared would have to be returned to the kitchen as it was not prepared to the specifications of the patrons. The owners began to marvel at all of the unhappy patron comments that they were hearing from the kitchen. They were amazed at all of the complaints about their chefs that they had previously been unaware of. They thought it was a good thing they came back there to bring order. They certainly did agree with that dignitary, this kitchen was chaos because they themselves had not been in charge of it. They noticed the Head Chef was so frustrated, and concluded that this certainly must have been the source of the chaos. They decided that he wasn’t as qualified as they once thought to be the head chef, so demoted him for a season of training as just a chef, underneath themselves.

And the owners worked all the harder to bring order.

What they didn’t see though was that the waitresses were getting bombarded by the complaints of the patrons. They began to grow weary of all the complaining, and lost their joy in serving. One by one the wait staff began to quit. While the owners wife stayed in the kitchen cooking and trying to retrain the chefs in between orders, the owner himself decided he had better go out and bring order to the wait staff. Seeing the frustration and chaos and discouragement of the wait staff, the owner concluded that the Team Leader of the wait staff must be going through some personal problems at home or something for his area to have gotten so out of control, and it was only confirmed by the grief and discontent written all over the team leaders face. So the owner decided to lay him off for awhile so he could get his personal life in order. Even suggested counseling and offered to pay for it.

The owner had to do much of the waiting on tables himself, as so many of the wait staff had already quit. The young bussers and hostesses simply could not handle the atmosphere of the restaurant any longer to work here. In wisdom, so that they would not be affected by the chaos and disorderly way this restaurant was being run, their team leaders sent them all away. He told them to go to another restaurant and work there, until order returned once again. He knew they were so young and impressionable that whatever they learned here would stay with them for a very long time. He also saw the potential in each of these kids, they had a servants heart like he had never seen before, and wasn’t about to let that be stolen from them. For that he was fired.

And now the owner and the few wait staff that were left had to not only do the wait job of so many that had quit, but also had to do the bus work and clean up the tables. There simply was no longer a hostess, and no one to do it. People would just have to come in and find their own seats and menus and wait.

The owners wife could no longer keep up in the kitchen either, and decided the menu selection must be changed, pared down to accommodate her exhaustion level. As much as she was trying to train the chefs in the kitchen in between orders, she wasn’t getting much of that accomplished. She was simply too busy. She began instead to send some of them out to get the ingredients she needed and prep them, as the prep people had quit also. She ascertained that this was a good thing for them to do indeed, because it was apparent from the state of this kitchen, the amount of chaos and disorder, that they too needed to be brought down a step and return to prep work, to train under her by serving her. Others she sent out to help bus the tables. Many of the giftings inside of these chefs began to simply die, as they chopped food for prep, or cleaned up after the mess in the dining room, left mostly by the owner and his few wait staff that still served tirelessly with him. They were no longer even using one bit of the talent they had to be a chef. Many of them quit, or were let go because the owner decided that they were just bringing so much gloom to the atmosphere that they needed personal time to get their issues in order.

The patrons could not believe what happened to their beautiful restaurant. It was now such a mess! And the owners they used to come to sit with and find such sweet fellowship with were now so exhausted from the work of trying to bring order back that they had no time to even say hi to patrons. The owner himself was always in such a hurry that he wanted their orders as quickly as possible, and grew wearing of constantly telling them about all of the changes to the menu and what they no longer offered, as they had not yet found the time to reprint the menu. The meals coming out of the kitchen were no longer to the patrons likings at all, as the owners wife decided the only way to keep up with the volume was to serve everyone the same thing. There was no longer even selection available. There was no time to fill salt and pepper shakers any longer, or ketchup bottles, so they would just have to be satisfied with the seasoning and condiments she chose to put on their plates before they were sent out to them.

The owner had to keep going to his wife and bringing back food that had been sent out too quickly that wasn’t cooked completely. Or food that had salt when it should have been pepper, or ketchup when it should have been salt, or even chocolate where ketchup belonged. She simply could not keep up with the physical task any longer and began to get sick. Because of that she allowed a few of the chefs to begin cooking again, under her supervision. They were instructed, however, to stick to the newly pared down menu and offer only those items, even though they were capable of producing so much more.

Although many of the regular patrons had left, and there were very few that remained, there began to be a new trickle of patrons that came in on occasion. That gave the owner new hope that all of the changes that had made were indeed good and beginning to work.

What he didn’t know was that the sweet music that once played, still played in the background. The sound became so sweet that it began to draw people off of the street, inside, just to listen. It seemed to capture them and touch their souls in a place that they were so hungry for.

But the owner began to notice that people were coming in to hear the music, and very few were actually eating the food. He knew that if they didn’t order food, he wouldn’t have the money to keep the restaurant open any longer, and they wouldn’t even be able to hear the music that was drawing them in. To remedy the situation, he decided that the sweet music would only be playing after people ate their dinner.

Some patrons came for dinner and ate what was served even though it had lost it’s flavor and savor. It used to taste good, but after eating the same “house special” night after night after night, they almost preferred not to eat at all. Others showed up and waited outside the restaurant talking with each other or in the bathrooms until the music started.

Eventually there was not enough money to keep the restaurant open any longer, and it had to close down.

All of the employees who had originally been let go and sent home went in much rejection and discontent. At home they tried to to take over any area of oversight they could, to fulfill the deep desire they had inside of themselves to create and lead and reproduce. Taking over other peoples areas in their own homes, to fulfill the purpose inside of them, brought the same chaos from the restaurant right inside of their own homes. Their children began fighting with one another, and some spouses feeling pushed out and rejected by this behavior even left the home.

The band simply took their music out into the streets, and the streets were filled with the sweet music that once filled the restaurant. Multitudes gathered together to listen to the sweet music, and their souls were so filled with the very sweetness of it. The only problem was, they were so hungry. Some were even starving.

Compassion began rising up in the hearts of the chefs and they began to cook and prepare food in their own homes, and bring it out to the multitudes that were gathered around the sweet song that was playing. Those who were once wait staff began to gather together in the crowd and disperse the food to the hungry. Those that had once been hostesses or bussers were so thrilled to see the joy of the restaurant once again, coming back to life out in the streets, they they joined in. They helped people find seats and told them what there was to choose from. There wasn’t yet much selection, as the restaurant owners who had access to the wholesale food weren’t willing to share their wholesalers with the “rebellious chefs” that they were sure were trying to go out and start their own restaurants to the owners demise. However, what little selection their was tasted like heaven! Perfectly prepared according to each chefs talents. And with the chefs working together, they were sure to each prepare something different, so that each course of the meal could be covered.

All were invited to come and eat and drink and none were charged. For the joy of giving, the chefs brought the food and the wait staff and bus staff and hostesses gave of themselves. None were paid, and none were charged. From among the people gathered food was brought to the chefs to prepare, as were the instruments they needed to cook with. From among the people tools for the wait staff and bus staff were brought to help them accomplish their tasks.

One by one the families of those who had left began to return as the sweet music brought healing to their wounds, and they longed more and more for the fellowship of the one’s they had once loved so much.

Eventually, out of hunger and desperation, even the original restaurant owners showed up. They had been at home, poor, naked from poverty, hungry, and blind by anger and judgment against all of those out in the streets that they were sure were starting up their own restaurant just to run them out of business. It was only when they noticed that all that was done in the street was freely given that the blindness began to leave them and they began to see clearly.

As they came, hungry for the fellowship that they themselves once had a passion to give, the patrons began to clothe them and feed them out of compassion and thankfulness for the sweet fellowship they once received from them. That’s what this music did….instead of returning evil for evil, it made them want to give freely to even those who didn’t deserve it.

They began to realize that all that they had given to these people, was now beginning to be given back to them, but so much more than they could ever contain. Where they had come out empty, they now were full, and as they healed and were cared for, they even began once again to fellowship among the people.

What no one ever realized, was that way back in the very beginning a man was hired. Hired by an evil man who also owned a restaurant across town. A restaurant that fed people with food that only caused them to be malnourished and never have their hunger satisfied, with music that caused them to feel worthless and defeated. Then they were given drink that intoxicated them to the point that they didn’t notice their hunger and depression, and only left them with the false joy of intoxication. This evil man’s patronage, however, began to decline as more and more of them were invited to the restaurant across town.

The hired man was sent into the restaurant across town to pose as a great dignitary from a far away country. He was ordered to invite the owner to his table, after he had poured salt all over his meal, before he took his first bite. He was carefully instructed on exactly what to say that could possibly cause doubt to come to the owner about how he was running his establishment, and begin the process of the owner bringing the entire establishment down to the ground at the workings of his very own hands.

What the evil man never realized was that the salt that he used that was meant to destroy the restaurant , was the very salt that caused multitudes to be drawn to the music that sang the sweet song of heaven and changed the people from the inside out, like no meal ever could, and brought the people together like never before in history. The people had now become one. There was nothing they couldn’t accomplish. There wasn’t food, service, or music to be found and compared to it anywhere on the planet. A restaurant without walls was created that poverty could never bring down.

And the evil man’s plan was defeated.
Kelly Chorley
8/25/08