Sweet (or not so sweet) pay back.
In the mid-80s to mid-90s, I worked at a large church in Atlanta. We had a great staff, who enjoyed each other’s company and working together. Of course, there were a few pranksters in the group.

One Monday morning, I came to work only to find my cubical in ‘organized disarray’ Everything was where it should be, only it upside down, or wrong side out, or just plain wrong somehow. ALL of my paper clips were hooked together (probably the worse offense of all). It took forever to get them disconnected and get my office back to rights. On a small white board next to my desk was written “Ha, the cat did it”. All day I tried to figure out who had done this. I was not angry or upset, just puzzled. When a co-worker stopped by to see if I had a clue as to who it could have been, I read the message from the board. The minute the words were out of my mouth, I knew who it was. So, I called Darryl (who worked sound and lights on Sundays) and congratulated him on his brilliant work. He just fell out laughing – validating my suspicions. I warned him not to start his car after work -no telling what might happen! We all had a good laugh about it.

A couple of weeks later, it was Darry’s birthday and being such a great friend, I baked him a cake to take to his office. Buying the cheapest mix I could find (Jiffy cake mix) I mixed it all up and added some cheap (really cheap) chopped hot dogs to the mix. Oh horrors, the smell of it baking (gag). Having recently completed level 2 of the Wilton Cake decorating class, it was probably one of the most beautiful cake I had completed. Thankfully the smell did not last outside the oven.

Took to the church on Sunday and gave it to one of Darryl’s co-workers to have for break the next day. About 11 am, the phone call came. Oh, he was laughing so hard – great job! But the folks in the office were disappointed not have cake for break (I made them a real cake – but they were skeptical – for good reason).

But I was not content to keep such a grand revenge story to myself. The next Sunday, I was up to present the Children’s Message to the little kids during the morning service. My message was brilliant. How the Bible, a book, teaches us. We have history books to teach us about life before we were born, math books to teach us how do math problems, and cook books teach us how to cook. For example, what does a cook book tell us about making a cake. It is ok to put eggs in a cake? YES! Is it ok to put chocolate in a cake? How about hot dogs, would you put hot dogs in a cake? NOOOOOO!!! the kids yelled. I glanced up at the sound booth and I think Darryl turned blue from trying not to scream. The message went on to stress that we have to read a cook book to know how to properly bake a cake. And so that we live as God has directed, we must also read the Bible.

My co-workers who were in on Hot Dog Cake scheme just hollered – everyone else thought it was a great illustration for the lesson I was trying to get across to the children (and anyone wanting to trick me.)