Broken Bread

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="002a11c3.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Home Page"><U>HOME</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Book Page"><U>BOOKS   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Articles"><U>ARTICLES</U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tapes"><U>TAPES</U></A>   </div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spiritual Warfare/Occult "><U>SPIRITUAL WARFARE, OCCULT   </U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id77.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sexual Abuse Issues"><U>SEXUAL ABUSE ISSUES</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id11.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Exposing the Darkness Seminar"><U>***EXPOSING THE DARKNESS SEMINAR***</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:greid@elp.rr.com"><U> <img src="HTMLobj-842/aniGif.gif" border="0" align="bottom" width="67" height="50">  </U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="37434b30.jpg" border=0 width="308" height="179" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Broken Bread</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B> I was in my third year of ministry, just a pup, really, proud, ambitious and all sorts of other obnoxious things. I was counseling, writing, speaking and traveling, quite an ego experience for a boy of just 22. I was living by faith, which for those of you not familiar with the term, means you often carry a big knot in your gut waiting for God to provide the rent.</B></div> <div> <B>   </B></div> <div> <B>  </B></div> <div> <B>I lived in a house with 4 other Christian guys - Craig, Greg, Gary and Troy. It was always fun figuring out who wanted who when the phone rang, and Troy's the only one who got all his calls delivered to him. They all believed in my work, but I still had to pay rent and take care of my own needs.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> One February day, Murphy's Law came to visit. I was broke. Not one cent. There was no food in the house, and I was supposed to leave for New Orleans in the morning. I hadn't the foggiest idea how I was going to get the gas to get there. I was starting to panic. I acted against the worry, and, stomach growling from hunger, I got out my guitar to practice for the local youth concert I was to do that night. I felt instantly better, until I hit my first chord, and SNAP! went a string. I was almost in tears. I couldn't even afford a string!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> So I proceeded to do what any young, faith-filled man of God would do. I crawled into bed. In the middle of the day. Fully clothed. I pulled the covers over my head and waited for the world to end.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> I really didn't expect what happened next. I had one of the few real visions I'd ever had, till then, or since. It went like this:</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>   </B></div> <div> <B>  I saw a wheat field. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> A farmer cut down the wheat.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> He put it in a big basket, and threw the wheat into the air over and over, until all the chaff was gone. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> He pounded the wheat with a mallet until it was powder, poured water on it, and made a loaf of bread.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B>He put it into a hot oven over a blistering fire.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <B>He took it out. He broke it into pieces, and gave it to others whose hands were reaching for it.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>     </B></div> <div> <B>Then He said, "This is what I do to My servants."</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> All that took place in just a few seconds!</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>  </B></div> <div> <B>   I came to when the phone rang. Too startled to tell my friend about the vision I just saw, I instead told him of my problem with my  guitar string! "Don't you have any empty bottles you can take to the store for a deposit return?" (That was before recycling when you could get real cash for real glass. (Everyone under 18 may now snicker.) Sure enough; I had enough bottles to return just for enough money to buy ONE STRING! Enough to get through one concert, where I really poured out my heart, and people were touched deeply. At the end of the meeting, an unknown person handed me enough cash to get to New Orleans.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> The knots in my gut from the "faith life" have lessened a lot. After that vision, I came to understand that the tests, the trails of faith and hard times are all God's recipe for making us into His Bread to bless and feed others. Out of the fires of our trials comes the bread of a real experience of God's love that we can give to someone else. So I welcome His tossing me into the air, His pounding, His fires, because I know what the result will be. And I know these tough, breaking experiences will become bread to encourage others.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> You don't believe me?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>    </B></div> <div> <B> You're reading this, aren't you?</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id161.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Demons"><U><B>CHAPTER EIGHT - DEMONS</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B>                            </B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>