An Egg and Bacon Sandwich, Please!
      

                            By Carol Pearson






          I was getting excited, even feeling like a child.  "Only 24 hours
     to go and we'd be going out to breakfast".  Now, that's nothing out of
     the ordinary for   most but  I'd waited a long  time for this.   A new
     cafe had  opened in  our town, not  near enough for  Mike and I  to go
     alone without transport, but we were  eager to try it.  You see, it so
     obviously was going  to serve up some  of our favourite food  which we
     eat so very seldom now, thankfully, or we'd both be  "off the scales",
     so to speak!

          The day arrived.  All five of us had plenty to say to each  other
     as we  met up and  went to take  our seats.   We were brought  back to
     reality by one friend  who said, "Look, let's get down and order, then
     we can talk!"   This was wise counsel from the youngest (and noisiest)
     member  of the group.   We went through   the menu  and I found myself
     announcing, "I'll  have an egg  and bacon sandwich,  please".  Then  I
     heard a very distinct voice saying, "Why do you want an  egg and bacon
     sandwich?"  It was so audible  (even though I later realized it was  a
     question from the  Holy Spirit Himself) that I  responded audibly, for
     all to know the reason:  "Well, you see, I always had an egg and bacon
     sandwich .  . .."   I gulped as I  felt a hard  lump in my  throat and
     suddenly felt near  to tears.  I completed the explanation in a matter
     of fact  manner, "It was  my favourite,  so I was  allowed to  have it
     before I went off to boarding school  and then when I returned home."

          Later in  the evening my  thoughts returned to  that conversation
     and I  began to  cry uncontrollably, feeling  very pained  memories of
     those occasions flooding   back so readily into  my mind.  I  put up a
     pretty quick objection,  "Lord, haven't you dealt with  all this stuff
     about boarding school  yet?"  I  continued  to  sob.  "OK," I  finally
     reasoned, "What  is it Lord  that you want to  say to me  about all of
     this?"  That's always a good place to get to, but it can take  us some
     time to want to wade in, despite the pain!

          I continued  my discourse,  "You don't have  to tell  me anything
     else about that pain, Lord,  because I feel it now, even now,  so very
     keenly, and remember  those times so well!"

          I  felt The  Spirit's prompting,  "Just  take a  moment to  allow
     yourself to be back in those memories.  What is it that you remember?"
     I allowed myself to   continue to feel that pain just  a little longer
     so that  He could speak  to me, though ,  without over-indulgence, and
     said, "Lord, it's such a bitter feeling."  "Ah, I heard Him say:  "But
     it was such a sweet feeling when you came home and had another egg and
     bacon sandwich - There  was no pain then - that was   all joy!"  There
     were your family and you were home with them again!"

          I then saw something else which I had never really appreciated at
     that time.  I got the very best (my favourite) sandwich to eat because
     it  was their  way  of  showing they  loved me.   When I  was going to
     school, the times were filled with a general air of quietness and they
     were  showing, in the only way they   knew how, that they were feeling
     the pain with me.   They could not take it from  me, though my parents
     may have  taken it if they could.  When  I returned  from school, that
     was not the case!  I was  so happy, so very happy to be home!   When I
     was going to school, I savoured each mouthful, chewing ever so slowly,
     scarcely able to eat "the best food  in all the world".  ;When I  came
     home I ate quickly, gobbling my food, eager to talk as I ate!

          Then came  the Lord's healing of these memories.   He said to me,
     in His quiet  and gentle voice of the Holy Spirit,  "There are no more
     egg and bacon sandwiches  for  going to school.  That is all  over and
     done.  You do not have to go through those times ever again."  Then He
     whispered, "Just as you  looked forward   so much to your  homecoming,
     remember this that  there is a meal  coming, when we will  sit and eat
     together in My Kingdom.  That meal will have no ending  and there will
     be no tears or sadness attached to it!   They will all have reached an
     end!  There will be joy for evermore"

          I do not think I heard any  further words from God Himself, but I
     was  left with this very definite impression:   "It is so easy for you
     to look  back on  those   painful things,  but now,  continue to  look
     forwards to that meal which is to come!"

          I could well ask, "Are there going to be egg and bacon sandwiches
     in Heaven?"  Well, probably not, and I won't need  them either, but He
     cares for  me enough   to take that  little incident yesterday  and to
     speak His truth to my heart in a new and fresh way.  Yes, sure, it was
     worth eating another egg and bacon  sandwich, even if it did remind me
     of those  painful memories, because this meant  that I could reach out
     for something far, far better as  I embraced my  Lord and  Saviour and
     what He has in store for me!


     Carol Pearson 
      
     July 2007


                               End Of Document

     Safe Place Fellowship
     Phil Scovell
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