Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BRUNCH (02/27/25)
-
TITLE: A Few Sticks | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
03/05/25 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
“My life is in your hands,” he said.
The whisper in the wind tugged him away from his shelter. It tugged him across the burning sands and empty wastelands, his empty belly gurgling its protest. Without sustenance. Without refreshment. A thousand, ten-thousand, one-hundred-thousand stumbling steps of desperation to the land of unbelievers. To the gate of a widow preparing her last brunch. A widow grasping a few sticks.
“Please! Water!” he gasped. “And bread.”
She wasn’t much more than a bag of bones with a handful of sticks to feed her fire. Her eyes measured the newcomer’s wilting frame. “As surely as your God lives-I don’t have bread. Just a handful of flour and some olive oil. It’s the last brunch for my son and I before we die.”
The aging prophet stretched himself. “Don’t be afraid. Go make your brunch, but first, make something for me. The God of Israel says you’ll never run out of flour or oil until the rains return.”
The God of Israel? Who is He in this land outside the land? What did such a Sovereign care for those who were perishing? Still, hadn’t she heard the whispers in her night? Hadn’t she expected this stranger to appear?
With little hesitation, she left him, to prepare the brunch. Thoughts swirled through her mind like wind-swept tumbleweeds. So, the whispers in the night hadn’t been delirious hallucinations. The strange deity who had seen Hagar and Ishmael in the stories of long ago still saw the lonely outcast and cared. But why did he have to wait until the last mouthful to provide for the empty belly of a child?
Every day, the fiery horizon rose to burn the land. In thousands of homes, the flour ran out and the oil failed to flow. And yet, in one home, the God who is enough, provided enough.
Every brunch was another step of faith. The Great God had provided for this meal but if she used it all up for this meal, would there truly be something left for tomorrow? To feed the prophet first and to trust that there would still be enough was a stretching moment for her soul every single day.
Morning after morning, brunch after brunch, until all became routine, the three shared their meager meal. There was never too much and never too little. The clouds never showed and the pot never emptied. As long as a little faith emerged, the flour and oil emerged with it.
Then one morning as she prepared the last brunch, since every brunch was the last, her son failed to come at her call. His health faltered, his breath dwindled, his eyes dimmed. Finally, there was only stillness.
“Why?” she called out. “Why did you come to me? To remind me of my sin and kill my son?” Can a woman never run away from her past? Must it always haunt her?
Elijah scooped up the frail body and scampered up the outside stairs to the prayer room on the roof. The anguished cries of one who had known emptiness flowed through limb, and body, though soul, and heart, through mind and spirit. “Lord! Why this tragedy on this widow and her son?”
He stretched himself out on the boy. “Lord, let this boy’s life return to him.”
The God who is enough gave enough life back to the boy. He stirred, groaned, gasped. The prophet returned the son back to his mother. “He’s alive.”
Faith and life had flowed like flour and oil. Something deeper and wider was being called on now. “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”
A single brunch had called for faith from an old prophet and from a widow who had all but been forgotten. Every brunch after pulled them deeper into faith and into routine. Just like fresh oil and fresh flour the God who is enough calls for fresh faith and fresh life from us.
I Kings 17
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
