While I'm Waiting

Last weekend I attended a Christian retreat sponsored by an organization called While We’re Waiting. The While We’re Waiting ministry offers free Biblically based retreats, where bereaved parents form bonds and make connections with other moms and dads who truly understand the experience of child loss. While We’re Waiting is based on the Scripture in Romans 8:24-25:

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

It was an amazing weekend filled with love, connection, and encouragement from parents who are waiting for the day they will reconnect with their beloved children who are in heaven. On Saturday night, we had a time of discussion where we picked a topic to talk about and the group got to share their experiences and struggles. One of those topics was Ministry Opportunities. I brought up an unexpected ministry opportunity that I stumbled into.

This spring, I started teaching myself how to make sourdough and focaccia, 

inspired by a book I was reading during my daily walks. Friends and neighbors have been happy recipients of my trial bakes. My request is that they give me honest, constructive feedback so I can improve my technique and eventually make the perfect loaf. I plan to start a home micro-bakery early next year in Alexander’s memory. My goal is to create the perfect loaf, created in love, bringing joy to those who eat it, giving hope to kids battling cancer, and in honor of the brave kids who fought, the brave siblings who must do life without them, and the kids who are still fighting the dreaded disease of childhood cancer. A portion of my profits will benefit pediatric cancer research to honor Zander and Matthew, and every family touched by childhood cancer.

Good sourdough is a 3-day process. It takes time, persistence, and dedication to the process of natural fermentation to make a good loaf. The starter is the natural leaven that makes the bread rise and gives it its delicious tangy taste. You only need a teaspoon of healthy starter to make a loaf of bread. The natural bacteria in the starter or leaven multiply and are fed and made stronger with regular feedings of flour and water. To make a loaf of bread, I need to feed my starter 12 hours before I start making the dough.

The time it takes for a fed sourdough starter to reach its peak activity, when it's ready to be used, is called the rising time or peak time. The teaspoon of ripe leaven interacts with the fresh flour and water and creates the fuel that makes the bread rise. I need to be patient and wait for the starter to peak in order to start the bread-making process.

As I listened to the testimony of Brad and Jill, the founders of While We’re Waiting, I was reminded of the bread-making process. Jill was given a book when her daughter was ill (that tiny teaspoon of leaven). That book created a seed of ministry in her that with time was fed by the prompting of the Holy Spirit (water) and the willingness of her and Brad to trust and have faith (flour) that God would make something beautiful out of their pain. As that prompting incubated in their hearts and grew (rising time), God provided the means and the people to come alongside them to create a ministry that is now nation-wide and has brought comfort to thousands of bereaved moms and dads. It took time, faith, persistence, hard work, dedication, and trust that God would use their situation to bless others and bring glory to his name through their faith and commitment in the same way that making good sourdough bread takes commitment to the process of natural fermentation, time, and a willingness to do the hard work.