| Food for thought |
 Mike Woods will celebrate his 47th birthday this month with a delicious cake – despite two of his children suffering potentially fatal nut allergies. Mike quit as managing director of a bakery only last year after more than two decades in the food industry to devote his expertise into pioneering a ‘nut free’ cake business. And, in spite of the recent recession, he believes God has provided the funding, premises, equipment and staff for his dream to become reality. Indeed, back in April, his New South Wales-based company launched two birthday cakes into leading food chain, Sainsbury’s. He said: “I have put my new faith at the centre of what I’m trying to do. I didn’t hide it when trying to raise the finance, nor when approaching the major retailers or recruiting staff. It’s very much the core of why I am doing this.” Mike, who quit attending Sunday School when aged about 11, had already reached senior business management by his early 30s, but felt something was “missing”. Experimenting with Buddhism, he discovered “peaceful and interesting” meditation. But one day he found himself soul-searchingly singing U2’s hit song “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” and a friend seized this opportunity to invite him to church. Mike recalls: “This was about a year after a strange meditation experience when lying on my bed. I spoke to something at the time and asked ‘Do you wish to take my life today?’ “I’d basically offered my death, but the clear answer came, ‘No, I want you to do things for me.’” It was only when Mike accepted the challenge and met Pastor John Hayward at a Baptist church in Risca about two-and-a-half years ago that it was explained he’d actually encountered Jesus. He said: “No longer do I have faith in impersonal meditation but I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I continue to do what I would call Christian meditation as I contemplate on what I read in the Bible.” His new faith certainly helps him in his daily struggles with wife Karen in bringing up three children, the youngest two each having a nut allergy. This alarming news was discovered about a decade ago when daughter Danika was taken to hospital as a three-year-old with a bad bout of eczema. Routine blood tests revealed the problem. Subsequent tests on their other children found their son Rourke, 10, also had a nut allergy. Mike said: “We found it very difficult adapting to cope as introducing a nut free diet for the whole family began with a major challenge.” Every time the couple went food shopping they painstakingly checked the ingredients list of any items bought. This continues to this day as many items often modify their allergy warnings. Visiting restaurants, attending parties and when the kids are invited to friends for tea all prove their own challenge. Other parents have to be shown how to administer an epipen, as well as checking all foods being cooked. All holidays taken are self-catering. When it came to special occasions like birthdays, the couple always struggled to find suitable cakes on the market. So Mike decided to set up the Just Love Food Company to provide his own solution – not just for the sake of his own family, but sufferers at large. After his newly assembled team developed a recipe, he moved to find suppliers from nut safe environments. Then – after a search of more than 30 sites – he built a factory that has never and will never handle nuts. Mike is trying his best to serve God in the cutthroat environment of supplying major retailers. “My purpose is to use all the gifts God has given me to let people see his glory by what he does through me in work,” he says. “This does not mean I automatically expect to be successful, I leave that very much in the hands of our Lord.” Mike’s wife Karen, 45, has seen a significant change in him since he became a Christian. “It has made him a better person,” she said. It has also led her to investigating her own faith more deeply. She added: “We’ve come a long way from when we first heard of our children’s allergies. All I could think of was the times Danika had been left at friends’ houses and parties and how we’d eaten at restaurants and how lucky we’d been. It seemed as if she was a ticking time bomb! “Difficulties certainly came at Rourke’s nursery when someone would bring a cake for a birthday and he wasn’t allowed to eat them. How different it is now for us and others – thanks to his own father, my husband!” For more on Mike’s products, see his website www.justlovefoodcompany.com |
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