Today was a rather disappointing day. Peter went off to church in the morning. He came home for an hour between church and heading off in a different direction for a church dedication for which he was slated to play violin. After violin, he was scheduled to attend a Church Network meeting, with all of the various pastors in the Okinawa Church Network. Both the dedication and the network meeting were scheduled to take place in the same location, in Nishihara (about half an hour away from our apartment). The church dedication started at 4pm, and the network meeting started at 6:30pm, but somehow I got my wires crossed and thought he’d be done everything by 6:30pm, and home for dinner. As it got closer to dinner time, I started to have a craving for a burger, and decided I would ask Peter to pick up a meal from McDonald’s on the way home. My mouth was watering.
He called me just before 6:30pm to let me know that the dedication was done and that they were being served dinner. We then realized our mistake. He had thought I still had some leftovers in the fridge which I could have for dinner (I’d finished them off at lunch time), and I had thought he was coming home for dinner. The result was that he hadn’t gotten me out any pots to cook in. The pots are stored in one of our very low kitchen cupboards and in my current state I can’t bend down to get them. The pots might as well have been on the moon.
I must admit that I cried. I was hungry, and frustrated with my own helplessness: I couldn’t cook myself a decent supper. …and I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to get the McDonald’s I’d been craving. Peter offered to call someone from church to help me get the pots, but I refused. After all, I’m a grown woman; I can be creative. I ended up making myself a grilled cheese sandwich, some raw peppers, and cashews. All four food groups. I knew I could do it.
Peter told me later that he didn’t say anything to anyone about my predicament, and just prayed that God would send someone to our door with food.
About half an hour after I finished eating, the doorbell rang. There, on the step stood a couple from our church: Charles and Chelsea. They had brought me some food. “Did Peter send you?” I asked. They said, “No.”
Now one thing I must mention: up until now whenever someone has brought food it’s always been homemade – except for once when someone brought something ready-made from the grocery store. When I looked into the bag that Charles and Chelsea brought, there was a Big Mac meal, maple custard pie, and Coke from McDonald’s.
How amazing and tender our God is! He more than cares for our every need… and even some things that we don’t strictly need. It was like getting a big hug from Him.
