Seat Us at Your Banquet Table | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Seat Us at Your Banquet Table | Previous Challenge Entry
By Frankie Kemp
08/02/12
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It was one of THOSE dreams—the kind that woke him up and left him feeling as if he were still in it--the kind that he knew would stay with him all day, leaving him wondering what had brought it on. As he purposefully arose and began to prepare for the day that he was hoping was the first day of the long-awaited day of change in his circumstances—the all-important interview, he began to relive the dream in his ever-working mind.

He had been seated at his own dining room table. A nameless, faceless someone kept bringing him course after course of beautifully prepared dishes to feed his gnawing hunger. The most beautiful of the dishes were the desserts. Their sugary and gooey drippings thrilled his eyes and made his tongue water, but when he began to eat them, he found that he was unable to take more than just a few bites at a time. Their richness filled his stomach and quickly satiated his hunger, but they didn’t sustain him. In just a few moments, he was hungry again. The most satisfying dishes were the savory ones—the ones that had interesting new flavors that he had never tasted before—the ones that made him want to take another bite and left room in his stomach for more bites. When the server told him he could take seconds of any of the dishes that had been brought, he had chosen from the savory ones. Then, the alarm clock had sounded, and his dream meal came to an end, but he knew the dream would resonate in everything he did that day. After all, it was one of THOSE dreams.

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He watched the tow truck carefully back up to latch hold of his steaming mountain of automobile. He had just ended a phone conversation with the man who had graciously gone out of his way to arrange for the very interview his uncooperative car was preventing him from attending. On the edge of tears, he managed a weak smile for the wiry and sweaty wrecker driver who greeted him.

“You look like you could use a friend.”

“You have no idea,” he replied. They exchanged introductions and quickly went to work attaching the wounded car to the wrecker.

Sitting in the passenger seat as they drove together down the highway to the place he didn’t want to be going, he sighed one of those long sighs that relayed more than words alone could relay.

“Frank, I’m not much for getting into other people’s business, but I can tell when somebody just needs a word,” came gentle admonition from the unassuming driver. “What’s troubling you that’s bigger than this car on the side of the road thing?”

Another sigh and then the dam broke, “It’s been a long six months, Angus. I was laid off from my job, and I’ve had a terrible time finding a new one. I have a wife and three children at home to support. I’m a Christian man, Angus, and I rely on my faith in the Lord to take care of me, but sometimes I wonder. I just wonder what in the world God is doing in my life. It’s hard to see people who have no desire to know God or serve God be successful and get everything they want out of life while my family struggles to get by. It’s hard, Angus, and some days I want to ask the Lord what in the heck is going on . . .”

“I understand, Frank. I understand. Been there, done that, more than once myself. You know what helps me? I’ve learned not to look too much at just one circumstance. I’ve learned to look at all of my life, rolled together. It’s kind of like sitting down to the dinner table. A really good meal has all kinds of tastes in it, all kinds of good stuff to fill us up until it’s time to eat again. Sometimes if we focus on the dessert first or try to fill up on only the sweet stuff, we don’t have room for the really good stuff that will last and put staying power on our bones.”

Frank began to cry because he knew, right then and there, he was getting a taste of something really sweet that also gave him an appreciation for the savory tastes in his life. He knew, too, that he truly had been given one of THOSE dreams.

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