Where's the pork?!

I spent this past Sunday making a ridiculous number of pulled pork sandwiches, each of which was accompanied by a side of coleslaw and Kansas City smoked beans. Just another day of being the “everywoman” at the grocery store. Our store decided to capitalize on a barbeque contest being held in our parking lot by selling pulled pork to the hungry barbeque goers.

Let’s just say things were chaotic at times. There were times we ran out of pork, lemonade, and beans. There were times when we felt we could have used an extra set of hands. There were times when felt like we didn’t have the answers we needed (like the answer to, “where’s the pork?!”).

After the last pulled pork sandwich had been served (which actually required us re-obtaining items from the truck we had already packed up), it was time for clean up. We broke down all the tables and chairs, packed up the U-Haul, made several trips back and forth from the store to the barbeque location, and picked up a seemingly endless amount of trash. There were times when it seemed like the tables were too heavy. There were times when the chairs seemed too numerous. There were times when the trash seemed too gross. There were times when the bins of post-BBQ ash seemed too heavy.

But what I remember most is the laughter. I think my favorite moment of the afternoon was when we were completely out of pork, beans, lemonade, “mojo” sauce, quarters, dimes and pennies. Aside from the fact that customers weren’t exactly peachy about our lack of food items, this was a bonding moment for me and my fellow pulled pork professionals. In these ten minutes of “down time,” we began to laugh. What else was there to do? We couldn’t change the circumstances, we couldn’t magically make pork appear in our chaffing dish, and we couldn’t make the customers refrain from groaning as they stood hungry in line.

We laughed and felt comfort in knowing we were not in this alone. Had I been standing there in front of this massive line by myself, there probably would not have been laughter. More likely, there would have been tears.

The same is true for life, we will run into chaos. Things are not always smooth sailing in the journey of life. I think we can all agree to this from experience. But we should never forget that we are given brothers and sisters in Christ to walk through life with. In fact, we are even called to share in each other’s burdens, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

We all find commonality in the things of life. We often are not equipped to fix each other’s problems, but we are equipped to walk through them together and laugh along the way. Whether it’s a difficult academic year, the loss of a family member, sickness, or even a crazy day at the barbeque, it’s always better together.