It was a feeling he never had known that he found himself in. The pain had not only not disappeared, but seemed to penetrate deeper and broader than ever before. There was an echo of something old reverberating within his heart, but he couldn’t place its origins. Had he known what would come of that decision, he thought to himself, he never would have made it.
But now, he was here. His world was breaking to pieces, and he didn’t know how to fix it.
He pondered.
He thought.
He remembered.
With the acceptance of a new reality of a different kind of pain setting in he picked up his hat, moved out of the booth, and slowly walked out the cafe. A car pulled up beside him, and three men jumped out in suits. They grabbed him by the arm and forcefully pulled him inside. He looked into the eyes of a man he had just seen before at the booth, and he knew he wasn’t his friend. Just then, a flash of light came to his eyes as he felt the painful blow hit his head.
Waking up with a throbbing headache, he didn’t know where he was but he knew it wasn’t safe. The sun was setting through the trees, and a slight breeze was blowing through the cracked window slowly issuing a misty smell of woods into the room that reminded him first of what had happened.
Earlier that day he had looked across the cafe at an open booth. Someone he knew had told him about a man that would be meeting him there at some point in the day with a so-called elixir to alleviate his troubles. He wasn’t told a time, just that he would be there at some point during the day.
For too long he had carried this tribulation, he thought. The pain was no longer bearable, and he needed to fix it himself. The time had come for a decision to be made, but something didn’t sit right in his heart either. A mystery was what he described the feeling to be, and a troublesome anxiety that had been slowly grinding his will until he had finally lost hope.
It was at that point–of losing hope and giving in to the pain–that he realized the man sitting in the other booth. He hadn’t seen him walk in, but by the way he was sitting there he assumed he had been there for a long while. One thing that he noticed about the man was that his smile was peculiar and his demeanor was smooth. There was something about him–as he sat there–that both drew him in and told him to run. He couldn’t place it, but he also seemed to resemble someone he had known in his past. There he was dressed in a professional and kempt attire motioning the man to come and sit with him. Something told him that he shouldn’t, but at the same time the gnawing pain promised him that this was his way out. And so, he got up and walked over to the man. He took off his hat, placed it on the table and sat down across from this complete stranger extending his hand of greeting. He gripped his hand, and it felt like ice.
The room was dark by now, and he realized that he had fallen asleep. The smell of the brown woods and dark earth was still with him. He whenced in pain, and slowly began to remember the conversation with the man at the booth.
He had said that he had called for him, and that he was going to help him with his pain. He remembered feeling a sense of relief knowing that he had finally fixed the troubles that had been holding him in a grip of torment for so long. He thought to himself, I knew it…I knew I could fix this myself. With a smile and an air of confidence the stranger pushed the slice of steaming hot cherry pie across the table next to a fork. “Eat this, and your pain will be gone.” The man was taken back. How did he know that cherry pie was his favorite? How could he have known? He thought to himself, “This must be it…surely I’m free now.” He grabbed the fork, cut the first bite and brought the fork to his mouth to eat it. He paused for just a second, looked up at the man across the booth and froze. The man wasn’t looking at him anymore. His eyes were hungry now, and he was looking at the pie on his fork. He thought to himself how bizarre it was to see him there looking so intently at the piece of pie that he was about to put into his mouth. He disregarded the steely stare and proceeded to eat bite after bite of pie. He couldn’t stop, and just kept thinking to himself how much he wanted to be free of the pain. As he continued to eat he realized that the pie had never had any taste. In fact, he would later describe the pie to be watery. It was almost as if he was chewing something that was beyond anything that spice could remedy. It had looked so good, he remembered, but after many bites he finally questioned what was going on.
Just then someone walked into the room, and he realized that both his hands and his feet were tied. The man who was sitting across the booth and was also in the car was now standing before him wearing a smile of hatred and rabid cruelty. He didn’t know what was about to happen, but when the man took a rod out of his briefcase, he knew it wouldn’t be good. The first blow struck his head, and he exhaled in pain. The second blow struck his ribs, and he gasped for air. The man would not stop. He kept on hitting him over and over…telling him to die.
He woke up, this time barely able to see. His body ached, and he couldn’t remember why he was there until the smell of the outside came pouring through the windows again. The man was sitting down now, his sleeves rolled up and he was holding another rod in his hand. He looked into the man’s eyes and said, “You are mine now, you are my slave. I control you, and I will tell you when and what you can and will do.”
His body ached. His head throbbed. He thought back to the cafe. He remembered the pie. He remembered the offer. He remembered the pain. He realized that pain was nothing like the pain he knew now. He cried out for mercy. The man scoffed and laughed at him. He lifted his head, looked into his eyes and remembered who he was.
This was the man that had taken his father the night his father had taken his last sip. This was the man who had stolen his very own father on a cool fall night as the misty smell of woods and earth were filling the air of their living room. He was the stranger who picked up his dad and carried him out as his dad was holding the liquor bottle in his hand. This was the man that said he would see me soon.
He remembered him now, but it seemed too late. Here he was in the same place his dad might have been. Here he was alone and trapped by the same man that had taken his father. Here he was in more pain now than ever before. Here he was in need. Here he was crying out. Here he was alone and broken.
Just then, a loud noice. Commotion. The smell of the room turned from misty woods to smooth smelling smoke. He lifted his head to get a view, but he only saw the man running to the door. He looked at him, and the man told him to keep quiet. He saw through the trees men running toward the house. He recognized those men. They were his friends and his family. How did they know where he was, he thought to himself. Could they know that he was in here tied up and on the verge of expiring? No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the door blew open. He could see them pouring in. So many men who knew him since he was little. His wife and his children there with them. Their eyes full of love. Their hearts being seen in their faces. They were there for him, and he knew it. The man that had abused him for so long was in the corner crouching down trying to keep himself from sight. His friends all noticed him and with one voice cried out, “Be gone…leave this place…never return.” He cowered down, slipped past them, and escaped out the door…running as he turned around. His eyes were full of fear and his face was long and drawn. He knew this was different and he knew that man was now protected.
What’s the moral of the story?
- Life is full of pain…
- The world has many offers for the pain, but they only enslave all the more…
- A person is never too far gone…
- Christ came to earth to live the life we couldn’t live, to die the death we wouldn’t die, and to be raised from the grave promising us that, “A man is no fool to lose what he cannot to keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” – Jim Elliot.
- In other words, our lives are lived in the present, but their echos of blessing are heard in eternity…
- Thus, we press on…faithful…remembering our friends and family…remembering that though we face heartache and pain, Christ is with us. He will never leave nor forsake us…
- We press on…
“These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.””
John 16:33
— May 13, 2021