We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. –Proverbs 16:9
Good Taste
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When Jeff Williams was a kid, he was forced to be creative with food. His father was a warehouse manager for a major supermarket company, and when his union would call for a strike, the family would go long stretches without any income. There wasn’t much money to put food on the table, and Jeff’s parents often went without meals.
Jeff describes those times with an interesting term: “food insecurity,” which is defined as, “lacking reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.” It’s more common than you may think—roughly 90 percent of homes that experience food insecurity have at least one working adult, and most of them don’t qualify for government assistance.
Even though his family often went without, Jeff had a passion for food. It sparked when he landed a job in a restaurant as a teenager. He was a server, busboy, dishwasher, cook, host—if you can name a job in a restaurant, he did it. As an adult, Jeff branched away from the food industry and found his way into the world of information technology (IT). He started his own IT business and his met his wife, Julie. But even with a successful business, he found himself thinking about food and toyed with the idea of opening his own restaurant.
Transformational Idea
Then one day, shortly after he and Julie got married, God spoke to him about food. “I felt like God told me I would feed people,” he says. “I had always wanted to open a restaurant, and this felt like confirmation that I was to leave IT and work with food.” He even thought, What if we opened a restaurant with a menu that had no set prices? People who couldn’t afford a meal could still get one. “Most people thought I was crazy,” he shares. “There wasn’t anyone else doing it.” However Jeff and Julie's Gateway Group, which was devoted to business leaders, seemed excited about it.
After some prayer, they decided to move forward with the idea and put together a plan for Taste Community Restaurant.
Jeff had a particular vision in mind for the place: pay what you can. If someone comes in and doesn’t have money for food, they get the same good food, service, and atmosphere as a guest who can pay a little extra for their meal. That way, everyone can get a high-quality dining experience with the feeling of dignity and quality.
The first meal was a Thanksgiving lunch in 2017, and it was a hit.
Discovering True Success
But the real success came just a month after opening when a homeless man came in. He had been a pastor but for some reason he wasn’t anymore. He was an older gentleman and appeared to be a little frail. He sat down, had a meal, and asked to see Jeff and Julie. They came to his table, and he said eating at their restaurant was the first time he had felt God’s presence and felt truly loved in a long time. Even though he hadn’t prayed in 10 years, he asked if he could pray for them. “That day, I knew it was a success,” says Jeff, “because as he prayed, I realized his life wasn’t the only one changed. My life was changed.”
Maybe God has put a dream in your heart and it seems crazy and outlandish. But as we begin submitting those dreams to the Lord and asking Him to direct our steps, it’s incredible to watch the journey unfold. Just last year, Jeff and Julie opened a second location of the Taste Community Restaurant in Arlington, Texas. They never gave up on the dream God gave Jeff—no matter how crazy it sounded.
What dream has God given you? Is it so wild that it could never work? Then commit to trusting God, leaning not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5–6), and watching God begin to transform your dreams into reality. When a wild dream is from the Lord, He will make sure it happens.
What does this mean for me?
What dreams are stirring in your heart today? Take a moment to write them out (especially the crazy ones!) and begin to pray over this list. Ask God to uproot any dreams that aren’t from Him and solidify the ones that are. Ask Him to direct your steps as you chase after your God-given dreams and watch as He transforms your dreams into reality.
This article is part of the Let’s Go devotional, which is focused on fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission. Follow along with the devotional here.