BOLOGNA SANDWICHES? REALLY???
While out driving from here to there today something reminded me of an event that happened years ago. While living in a different city, my late husband and I felt led to open our home to assist people in leaving a local cult. Our help consisted of snatching them from the tight reign of their community, as well as having them stay in our home until family were notified or they were able to get established with jobs and/or permanent living arrangements.
One young gentleman brought a smile to my face more than once; he was a gentle soul, always offering to help with one project or another. ‘Frank’ (as I will call him) especially enjoyed helping me with the grocery shopping. With four growing children of our own plus several that were enrolled in our home day care together with the extras that lived with us, well, I will just say grocery shopping was a major weekly excursion!
It was he, who convinced me to buy several hundred grams of bologna at the local deli. As he proceeded to explain how much he loved bologna sandwiches and had been been deprived of this treat the entire time he was ensconced in the cult, I could almost imagine him drooling. Of course when we got the groceries put away at home I offered him a sandwich and he smiled broadly as he set about ‘building’ it. Not one, two or even three slices of the slimy red stuff went into this masterpiece but it took five slices to complete the task, after which he wolfed it down and sat back with a huge grin of satisfaction!
Frank stayed with us for three weeks before his parents came to retrieve him home to eastern Canada. During this time we celebrated my husband’s birthday. I made a large cake and bought a barrel of ice-cream. We invited a few friends to join us for an impromptu party. Again, Frank impressed us with the lack they had been forced to live with while in the cult. He enjoyed two ginormous servings of cake and ice-cream before declaring himself full; Frank was a young man with a rather petite build! He and the other two people we were harbouring all claimed to have not tasted these goodies in six years!
Now, I didn’t see bologna sandwiches as a big treat so I was just a bit amused by the whole thing. Yet my heart went out to people who would live in such depravity that this was something to be looked forward to and celebrated!
I can’t help but wonder how many of us as God’s children are extremely satisfied with the cheapest quality of life. Our Heavenly Father desires to provide a lovely steak dinner for His kids and yet we desire only ‘bologna sandwiches’! Jesus stated in John 10:10b, ‘I have come that they may have live, and that they may have it more abundantly.’ Imagine for a moment what ‘more abundantly’ would look like in your life. Whether in the arena of relationships, finances, business or our faith walk, God wants to get involved and give us the best! Sometimes the best come with a price tag we are not willing to pay. Let me encourage you that it is worth paying the price and receiving the abundance God offers us in Jesus Christ!
As for me I am done with the bologna of this life and am ready to feast on the good stuff on my way to the party!
One young gentleman brought a smile to my face more than once; he was a gentle soul, always offering to help with one project or another. ‘Frank’ (as I will call him) especially enjoyed helping me with the grocery shopping. With four growing children of our own plus several that were enrolled in our home day care together with the extras that lived with us, well, I will just say grocery shopping was a major weekly excursion!
It was he, who convinced me to buy several hundred grams of bologna at the local deli. As he proceeded to explain how much he loved bologna sandwiches and had been been deprived of this treat the entire time he was ensconced in the cult, I could almost imagine him drooling. Of course when we got the groceries put away at home I offered him a sandwich and he smiled broadly as he set about ‘building’ it. Not one, two or even three slices of the slimy red stuff went into this masterpiece but it took five slices to complete the task, after which he wolfed it down and sat back with a huge grin of satisfaction!
Frank stayed with us for three weeks before his parents came to retrieve him home to eastern Canada. During this time we celebrated my husband’s birthday. I made a large cake and bought a barrel of ice-cream. We invited a few friends to join us for an impromptu party. Again, Frank impressed us with the lack they had been forced to live with while in the cult. He enjoyed two ginormous servings of cake and ice-cream before declaring himself full; Frank was a young man with a rather petite build! He and the other two people we were harbouring all claimed to have not tasted these goodies in six years!
Now, I didn’t see bologna sandwiches as a big treat so I was just a bit amused by the whole thing. Yet my heart went out to people who would live in such depravity that this was something to be looked forward to and celebrated!
I can’t help but wonder how many of us as God’s children are extremely satisfied with the cheapest quality of life. Our Heavenly Father desires to provide a lovely steak dinner for His kids and yet we desire only ‘bologna sandwiches’! Jesus stated in John 10:10b, ‘I have come that they may have live, and that they may have it more abundantly.’ Imagine for a moment what ‘more abundantly’ would look like in your life. Whether in the arena of relationships, finances, business or our faith walk, God wants to get involved and give us the best! Sometimes the best come with a price tag we are not willing to pay. Let me encourage you that it is worth paying the price and receiving the abundance God offers us in Jesus Christ!
As for me I am done with the bologna of this life and am ready to feast on the good stuff on my way to the party!
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