Like Those Who Dream: Chapter 14, Comings and Goings
-Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow
Leave Jesus? Where would we go?
We could never have a richer life;
We could never know a deeper love;
We could never see a greater glory;
We could never belong to a surer kingdom;
We could never possess a nobler purpose;
We could never receive a fuller joy;
We could never hear a higher call;
We could never walk with a truer Friend!
.
During my
years at Bethany there were many comings and goings, including visits from
people in Los Angeles to Bethany, and my vacation trips from Bethany to Los
Angeles. Char and I also made two return trips to Bethany after our marriage—on
our first return I took some make-up courses in order to complete my diploma.
This was a result of starting my freshman year at mid-semester. The second time
we returned was for a brief orientation before going out with Bethany Missions
to Puerto Rico. There were some important lessons to learn during those comings
and goings.
On one of my
brother’s trips from Los Angeles to Bethany to visit me, he drove alone in his
1958 Chevy Impala. As he worked his way East on Route 66, he drove through a
sleepy little town in the Arizona desert. Feeling tired and ready for a good
night’s rest he decided to pull into a roadside motel and get a room. He drove
up to the main office and registered. After getting his room key, he drove to
the parking spot in front of his motel room, got out his suitcase, and walked
into his room. It was a little early to go to bed and since the sun had not yet
set, he decided to stretch his legs and walk around the grounds of the
motel.
As he stepped
outside he looked across the parking lot and noticed a neon sign flashing the
word “Bar”. The front of the bar faced the main highway, but from his view he
could see the side entrance. The door of the side entrance was propped open,
apparently to let in the cooling night air. Through the entrance, in plain
view, Don could see the bar and barstools. He noticed a few people sitting
inside and then his eye focused on a girl sitting alone. In that moment, the
tempter of his soul began to interpret the scene for Don.
“Wouldn’t it
be nice to be in there right now? You’re tired and thirsty…and alone. You
remember how it used to be, don’t you?”
The
temptation was alluring, the pull was strong. The thought came again, “Remember
how it used to be?”
Don wrestled
for a few more moments with the thought and then turned his gaze away from the
bar. He returned to his room, locked the door, and went to bed.
The next
morning Don got up at a decent hour, had some breakfast and headed back on the
road. He drove for a couple of hours and pulled into a gas station to fill up
and stretch his legs. As he stood outside his car, a dirty pickup truck pulled
up to the opposite side of the gas pump. Out stepped a young man in his early
twenties. Don knew the look of someone with a hangover, and this young man had
it written all over him. When Don heard the man groan, it took him back to his
drinking days and the deep emptiness Don always felt the “morning after”.
It was at
that moment that the voice of the Holy Spirit spoke to Don’s heart, “Do you
remember how it really was?” Don knew
in his heart that he never wanted to go back to those days in his old life
again!
**********
After my
freshman year I went back to Los Angeles for two weeks vacation before starting
my summer work program at Bethany. While visiting my dad I discovered that my
little sister, Joy, was having a problem with her eye (my dad had five children
through his second marriage—Leeba, Joy, Sarah, Andy, and Hannah, in that order.
Joy was around three years old during this visit.)
When I
inquired about Joy’s eye problem I found out there was a growth behind her
eyelid. The growth had roots that were moving toward the back of her eye,
threatening her vision. In order to save her sight in that eye she would need
surgery. Before committing her for surgery, my dad wanted to have special
prayer for her healing. He had heard about some evangelistic meetings in the
area that included prayer for the sick and was planning to take Joy. I gladly
responded with a “Yes” when he asked me if I would like to go along.
I had never
been to a meeting quite like the one we attended. It was held in a large
auditorium that was packed with people. Somehow, the three of us found empty
seats near the front. We quickly got settled in and enjoyed a powerful and
uplifting service. At the end of the message, the speaker spoke to the
audience, “If there is anyone who would like to come forward to receive prayer
for healing, please come now.” At that moment I had a strong desire to go
forward and bring Joy with me. She was sitting on my dad’s lap. I turned and
took her in my arms and walked to the front of the platform. Many others were
already there, standing in front of me. I assumed the speaker was going to pray
for each person that came for healing and that I would be standing there a long
time. The speaker, however, did something completely different.
“Do you
believe God can heal you?” he asked.
My heart
said, “Yes.”
“If you do,”
he continued, “I want you, in faith, to place your hand upon the area of your
body that needs healing.”
I placed my
hand directly upon Joy’s eyelid.
“I want you
to pray a prayer of faith and ask God to bring healing to that place on your
body.”
My prayer was
short and very simple, “Lord, I ask you to heal Joy’s eye and to dry up, by the
roots, the growth that is in her eye.”
After I
finished praying I returned to my seat and placed Joy back on my dad’s lap. “I
believe God has healed Joy,” I said to my dad after sitting down. He was in
agreement and we both rejoiced.
Several weeks
later, after returning to Bethany, I checked my mail slot in the Administration
Office and found a letter from my dad. It contained some news about home and a
brief comment about Joy. It read, “Yesterday we took Joy to the hospital and
had the growth behind her eye removed. Everything went well and she is doing
fine.” I was crushed when I read those words. I was glad she was doing well,
but I could not understand why she needed surgery. I was so confident that God
had healed her the night I prayed for her. My faith took a nosedive as I
struggled with her need for surgery.
I carried the
struggle with me for the entire year. It wasn’t until the following summer,
when I was home once again for vacation, that the matter got resolved. It
happened during a casual conversation I was having with my dad. One thing led
to another and we eventually got on the subject of faith.
“Now that
we’re on this subject, I’d like to share something that has been a real problem
for me,” I said.
“What is it?”
my dad asked.
“Last year,
when we took Joy to the evangelistic meeting for prayer, I was confident God
had healed her eye when I asked Him to dry up the growth by its roots. When I
got your letter a few weeks later telling me about her surgery, I was really
disappointed.”
As I finished
my comment my dad smiled, “I guess I left out an important detail,” he said,
“After you prayed for her, we took her back to the eye doctor to have her
checked again. The doctor ran some tests and discovered, to his surprise, that
the growth had been completely dried up from the roots. He said we only needed
to bring her in for a very minor incision to remove what remained of the
growth. When we took her to the hospital, the doctor made a small incision
above her eyelid and the growth popped right out.”
**********
When Char and
I returned to Bethany we lived in the building that housed married couples. It
was a vast improvement from life in the boy’s dorm. One of the amenities was a
lounge area that included a sink, cabinets and a refrigerator. The refrigerator
was shared by all the couples that lived on our floor. It was very common to
open the refrigerator and see jars, cans, juice cartons and a dozen other items
marked with a pen that bore the name of the owner. The name on the item meant
hands off to any “visitor” looking in the refrigerator for a snack. Even though
most items were marked, it didn’t mean that someone else wouldn’t help
themselves in a moment of weakness.
Whenever Char
and I got a little extra money together we would love to snack on ice cream. The
ultimate treat for me was to be able to pour a heaping amount of Hershey's
chocolate syrup over a big bowl of vanilla ice cream. The chocolate syrup was
hard to come by. When we had money enough to buy some ice cream we usually
didn’t have enough to buy the syrup. One day we hit a bonanza, we had gotten a
money gift that gave us enough extra cash to go out and buy some vanilla ice
cream and a can of Hershey's chocolate syrup. I smiled from ear to ear as I
watched the syrup flowing over the scoops of ice cream that sat in my dish
after our purchase.
When I
finished my delightful snack there was still plenty of syrup left in the can,
enough for several more servings. The thought of my Hershey’s syrup sitting in
the refrigerator for every greedy eye to see and any lustful hand to grab,
caused me to think about another place to store it.
“I must find a spot no one would think of
looking.” I thought.
I knew there
was no safe hiding place in the refrigerator. I opened some of the cupboard
doors above the sink, but couldn’t find a hiding place that satisfied me.
Finally, after much seeking, I opened the doors that were below the sink. It
was perfect! For one thing it was dark down there; for another thing you had to
bend down to see anything; for a third thing there were other objects, such as
cleaning supplies, that blocked the view to the back; for a forth thing there
were pipes down there that helped block the view even further. After my
discovery I returned to my room, secured the precious can of syrup, and walked
quietly down the hall to the lounge area. After checking to make sure no one
was coming, I got on my knees, opened the door under the sink and carefully
placed the can of syrup in a dark corner behind some pipes. I left confident
that no one would ever discover my hidden treasure.
Several weeks
passed before Char and I had enough money to buy more ice cream. That evening,
in full anticipation of a glorious treat, I got our ice cream out of the
refrigerator and dished it up. I could visualize the chocolate syrup pouring
from the can as I bent down to retrieve the Hershey’s syrup from under the
sink.
“I hope no
one has discovered my hiding place,” I thought as I reached my hand back into
the dark corner behind the pipes.
I smiled as
my hand made contact with the can of syrup. My smile was quickly erased when I
got the can to eye level. Green mold covered the top of the can. My syrup was
ruined. I was heart broken. As I stood there in my sadness a new meaning to a
well-known Scripture came to mind…
“Whosoever
will save his chocolate syrup shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his
chocolate syrup for My sake shall find it.”
**********
One Sunday
evening, Char and I were in our room writing letters. When we finished, I
gathered the letters together to mail them. I looked in our desk drawer and
realized we didn’t have any postage stamps.
“We don’t
have any stamps,” I announced, “Do we have enough money on hand to buy a
couple?”
She looked in
her purse and found a few pennies. We needed a total of ten cents to mail both
letters. Postage was five cents for a first class stamp. We kept digging
through drawers and looking through pant’s pockets and came up with a grand
total of nine cents. The other penny was nowhere to be found.
“I know what
I’ll do,” I reasoned, “I’ll go down the hall and borrow a penny from one of my
friends. It should be pretty easy to borrow a penny.”
I confidently
walked down the hall and came to the door of a friend’s room. As I was about to
knock I sensed the Lord say these words to my heart, “Do not borrow the penny.
Trust Me for it.”
I kept my
hand by my side. Instead of knocking on my friend’s door I turned around and
went back to our room. I told Char what had happened. We agreed we would trust
the Lord for the other penny. My plan was to take five cents and mail one of
the letters, then hold on to the other letter until the needed penny was
provided.
It was around
9:00 that same evening when I left our room to visit someone down the hall.
When I stepped into the hallway I met a friend who was returning to his room.
“Hi Dennis,”
I said, “What’s going on?”
“Oh, I just
got back from a trip to Minneapolis.”
I asked him
about his trip and we talked back and forth for several minutes.
The entire
time I talked with him he was playing with something he held between his
fingers. As our conversation came to an end, my curiosity led me to ask him a
question, “Dennis, the whole time we’ve been talking I’ve noticed you’ve been
playing with something between your fingers. What is it?”
“This?” he
replied, “It’s just a penny…here!” At that moment he flipped the penny in the
air in my direction. I stuck out my hand and caught it.
I stood there
in awe. I walked back to our room, opened the door and stood there with a big
smile on my face…I held up the penny between my fingers and exclaimed,
“Look what
the Lord just gave us!”
We both stood
amazed realizing that God cared enough about us to provide us with a penny.
**********
Our last
visit to Bethany was for a brief time of internship as missionary candidates.
We were considering joining Bethany Missions and going to Puerto Rico to
co-labor with some other Bethany graduates in a Christian bookstore in San
Juan. During our internship I was given a temporary work assignment in the
shipping department of Bethany House, a publishing division of Bethany
Fellowship.
The shipping
department was inside a warehouse with no windows. It was a dreary place and
the work was not very challenging. Sometimes it was hard to find things to do.
To amuse myself I would often take a handheld labeling machine, make up little
sayings and stick them on various items around the shipping area. No storage
shelf, typewriter, office machine, or counter top could escape my sticky-tape
quips. The only challenge I found in
this job was seeing how snugly I could pack a box of books.
One
afternoon, as I was packing up a book order, I sensed God was asking me a
question that required an answer.
“If I asked
you to,” I sensed the Lord say, “would you be willing to work here, shipping
books for the rest of your life?”
“No.” I answered without hesitation.
A few days
later the same question to mind,
“If I asked
you to would you be willing to work here, shipping books for the rest of your
life?”
My answer was
the same.
This time,
however, I heard the Lord ask me a different question. “Tell me why?”
I knew the
Lord was getting at something deeper within me. I had carried a self-centered
ambition to be a great missionary. I wanted to do something for God that was
noteworthy and would give me recognition. I wanted people to say, “There goes
Roy, the greatest missionary that has ever served.”
I knew that
shipping books in a warehouse conflicted with my goals. My struggle lasted for
several days. Then, one day at work, the burden I was carrying to be “a
celebrated great servant of God” fell from my shoulders. “Lord,” I said, “If
your death on the Cross for me, if your resurrection and ascension, if your
sending forth of the Holy Spirit, if all my Bible training has been for the
purpose of me serving you here in this shipping department, then I say “Yes!”
That day Roy Lessin died to his big plans to “be somebody important for Jesus.”
I left work with a deep peace in my soul and contentment in my heart. I was a
free man!
...
(Join us next week as we continue this journey of Roy's memoir, Like Those Who Dream. The book is available through DaySpring and Christian retailers everywhere.)
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©2022 DaySpring, Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Used with permission, all rights reserved.
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