Sam – Chapter 4

The next morning Sam opened his eyes, he could see the light beginning to peek around the window shades. He didn’t know why, but he just had to see what the sunrise looked like. He sneaked out of the bedroom so as not to wake Angela, and headed straight for the east facing living room window, drawing back the curtain in that room he saw the most amazing thing, the sunrise was surrounded by billows of clouds in gorgeous colors he had never seen together, all in one place, purples and mauves, pinks and corals,and the most unbelievable gold, the gold had him fascinated, here and there it was molten, in other places it seemed solid almost tangible, like any moment it would fall out of the sky as nuggets. Sam stood transfixed, for a few seconds, then he remembered to breathe.
‘Oh Angela,’ he thought, ‘she must see this.’
He quickly retraced his steps, he noticed that Angela’s eyes were open when he entered the bedroom.
“Honey, you’ve just got to see this,” he said catching up her robe and holding it out for her to slip into. “The sunrise is unbelievable.”
She was a little sleepy yet, but she was more curious about Sam’s excitement than sleepy. When they reached the living room, Sam was awestruck again, the gold had expanded and was gilding nearly all of the other colors, outlining them, defining them.
“Oh, Sam isn’t this a wonderful piece of God’s handiwork?” Angela sighed.
“I think it is the grandest sunrise I have ever seen,” Sam said, trying to soak in the glorious light.
Sam was disappointed but, he realized that he really couldn’t remember that many sunrises, He thought, ‘I was always hiding from the glory of them behind the sun-visor in the car, hurrying to work, well no longer will I make that mistake.’
At last the colors became subdued, Angela turned away murmuring, “Well, I better get a shower.”
Sam was starting to turn away himself when he felt rather than heard “I did this for you,” after last nights chat with the Lord he knew better than to ask who it was. He went into the kitchen to put the coffee on.
“Lord,” he said softly, “are You going to always speak to me from now on?”
“Yes Sam, the hurdle was for you to allow yourself to believe that you could hear Me.”
“Well You sure took care of that last night, and by the way thank You.”
“You’re welcome Sam, I will not be bothering you, but I may chime in occasionally to tell you how I feel about something, I will also prompt you to ask Me things, so try to stay sensitive to it.”
“OK, Lord, You know this is all extremely new to me, so bear with me,” Sam said.
“Oh I will Sam, Try to set aside some time during the day to spend with Me, we’ll get to know each other.”
“Don’t you already know everything about me?” Sam asked.
“Well technically yes, but I sort of lay that aside so that we can talk a little more like regular folks do.”
“Oh, OK, hey that was a great sunrise Lord, I bet there aren’t many that pretty.” Sam said feeling a little forward.
“Don’t bet Sam, you’ll lose, I make every morning new, and in the artistic sense the sunrise you saw wasn’t the same as the one someone else saw from, say a different angle, so from the human perspective I made millions of sunrises this morning. You will see many more just as intense, but quite unique, I know you will enjoy them.”
“I am sure I will” Sam said, then he saw that the coffee carafe he had been filling with water, was overflowing, “oops, whoa, I guess I had better finish this.”
“Ok, I’ll talk to you later.”
It was like He said good-bye but Sam knew He really hadn’t gone anywhere. Sam thought about this as he measured out the coffee for the coffee-maker. ‘Why do I feel reasonably at ease with this?’ He thought, ‘Shouldn’t I be falling down as if dead like Daniel or John. I will ask Him about that when We talk later. After all He wants to talk in a very friendly way, not strike me dead. I should not worry too much about it.’
So Sam proceeded to work on breakfast, that is to get the needed things out, a surprise perhaps for Angela.
Angela came into the kitchen, “Sam you might want to dress, the children will be here soon.”
Sam looked down at the robe he had thrown on earlier, “Uh-Oh, thanks Dear I totally forgot.”
He hightailed it to the bedroom and he had just finished tucking in his shirt when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” he called to Angela, ”OK,” he heard in reply.
Carly was so sleepy, Hannah just about had to hand her off to Sam, Mac bounced in on his own steam.
“Alright Carly,” Sam said, “See you later, Hannah,” He called after her.
Sam gently spun Carly around and steered her to her seat in the breakfast nook.
“Ooomf,” she said as she plopped down.
“Carly, are you alright?” Sam asked
“Moomf.” Carly replied looking at him from half closed eyelids.
‘Well she’s too young for coffee yet,’ Sam thought. He approached Angela carefully since she might turn at any time to put something on the table.
“Honey, is there anything I can do to help,” Sam asked.
“Oh, you already did help when you laid out the eggs, sausages and bread, thank you Sam. Oh there is one thing, could you put the syrup on the table both sugary and sugar-free? We’re having french toast this morning.”
“Sure, and you’re welcome, I was kind of energized by that sunrise.” Sam wondered when he should tell her the rest about the Lord and all.
Mac’s ears seemed to swivel around at the mention of french toast. “Oh boy!” He exclaimed. Even Carly roused a little and said “Oooh, yeah.”
Sam was rummaging in the refrigerator for some syrup “Oh, Angela should I get out this strawberry syrup?” He said.
“You’ve got strawberry!” Carly’s head shot up like a steel spring, “that’s my absolutely, positively favorite.”
“I’d say that’s a yes,” Angela observed wryly, she served Mac and Carly each a piece of french toast while giving Sam a mischievous wink. “Alright you can start with this.”
“Oh, Oh, Oh, French Toast and Strawberry syrup Mmmmmm!” Said Carly, Oh yes, she was definitely awake now.
“We only ever saw strawberry syrup once at that pancake place.” Mac observed, however he stuck with the tried and true maple syrup.
“That’s when it became my all time favorite,” Carly said already half-way through her piece, “are there seconds?”
“A cook never turns away from that kind of compliment, sure you may have seconds, just be careful not to gulp too fast you’ll get the hiccups, sweetie.” Angela said as she flipped another piece.
Sam, who was still waiting for his first piece marveled at the combination of youthful enthusiasm and energy, as he watched Carly inhale the toast.
Suddenly Carly tried to cough but only made a hoo-ah kind of noise. ‘Oh no, she’s choking’ Sam thought. Carly’s face turned beet red, Sam thought, ‘next she’ll turn blue.’ He jumped up and said a little desperately, “Lord, I need Your help.” He heard the Lord say “Sam, she will be alright, you know the heimlich maneuver and I’m right here with you, go ahead I’ll guide you.”
Sam got behind Carly and found the bottom of her rib cage and placed his hands below it. “OK, Sam now pull quickly and firmly, not too hard.” Sam pulled just as he had been coached by the Lord. To his surprise the bolus of french toast shot out and bounced soggily on the floor. When she caught her first breath, Carly was crying loudly, Angela was quickly by her side with a towel and a bottle of water, “Ok, Carly you’ll be alright now just take a breath as slowly as you can. come on lets go rinse out your mouth, blow your nose, and let you catch your breath.” Angela whisked Carly into the half bathroom.
“Wow, Sam where did you learn to do that?” Mac’s big eyes looked up at him.
Sam patted Mac on the back, a heartfelt “Thank you Lord,“ was all he could say for a while, then he said “Mac, I took a CPR course for work, but I tell you, I’m thanking God for keeping me calm enough to do what they taught me. Thank you Jesus!”
After a while the retching and coughing sounds from the little bathroom died down some and Angela and Carly came back into the breakfast nook. Carly made a beeline for Sam with tears in her eyes.
“Mr. Sam, I was so scared, thank you,” She grabbed him and hugged him tightly around the waist.
“I was glad to do it, but it was the Lord who kept me calm and He told me you would be alright.” Sam gave her a little squeeze back and then he thought ‘Uh-oh the cat is out of the bag now.’
Angela looked at him with one of those she-treasured-all-these-things-in-her-heart looks.
Sam noticed the twinkle in her eye as he said, “Let’s thank Him for saving you Carly,” and he caught up Mac and Carly’s hands. Angela was quick to catch their other hands.
“Lord thank you so much for saving Carly, without You Lord I couldn’t have done it.” Sam prayed.
“Thank you Jesus” Carly said simply.
“Thank you,” said Mac
“Thank You Lord, and Amen” Angela said
“Do you just want to rest for a little while sweetie?” Angela asked guiding her to her chair.
“Yeah,” Carly said sadly eyeing the wreckage of her breakfast, “I’ll be alright in a little while.”
Angela took Carly’s plate saying “We’ll make you a fresh plate when you are ready, I imagine you will feel hungry again after while.”
“I am still hungry, but you know I don’t exactly feel so good about swallowing,” Carly said and gestured toward her stomach.
Angela served up Sam’s French toast and then her own.
Sam asked, “Carly, it won’t bother you too much if I eat in front of you will it?”
“Oh no,” Carly gave him a shy smile, then she scooted her chair close to his, “Mr. Sam did I hear you say that God was talking to you about me, when I was choking?
“Yes, Carly I did say that.” Sam’s heart said ‘Lord do you hear this?’
The Lord reassured Sam, “I’m right here Sam I’ll help you answer her.”
“Mr. Sam, my mom is studying how to hear Him, with Miss Angela, is that what you were talking about?” Carly asked.
The Lord told Sam “Yes Sam, it is the same thing”
Sam told her, “Yes, Carly it is the same.”
“So did you go to the bible study with them?” She asked.
“No, I didn’t go with them, but now I kind of wish that I had,” Sam said wistfully.
“How do you hear Him?” She asked.
The Lord told him, “Sam, I just got your attention because I saw that you were ready to hear Me, The creative part of your mind is able to hear Me, if the rational part doesn’t interfere. The rational part over-analyzes, and doubts what I’m saying. I could see that you were close to being tuned in, and of course there are few distractions in the middle of the night,” Sam thought about what the Lord had just told him. Then he told Carly.
“It’s kind of like when you have a tune that you never heard before pop into your head and you start to hum it. You can hear Him that way only it’s a little clearer than the tune thing. He also told me that I was pretty much ready to hear Him.”
The Lord said, “That’s good Sam, now Carly needs to know that if she finds a quiet place and asks Me to talk to her, when she listens for Me, I will be glad to talk to her.”
“He said if you find a quiet place and ask Him to, and then listen, He will be glad to talk to you.” Sam relayed what the Lord had said.
“Did He just tell you that?” Carly asked with wide eyes.
“Why, yes you know, I believe He did.” Sam said with a sheepish grin.
“Oh, Mr. Sam I could sit in the tent away from everyone for a while and listen,” Carly suggested.
“You know that’s a great idea, but remember our deal. It rained last night so it will be a good test to see if the tent stayed dry.” Sam said.
“Ok, may we go when you finish breakfast?” Carly asked.
“Yes, we will.” Sam said, he could see that introducing people to the Lord in this way with His direction was far simpler than he had ever imagined possible.
All this time Angela was hearing this conversation she was filled with wonder. She remembered that the bible study had mentioned that some people (mostly creative types) just have the knack to hear Him, but she had never imagined, Sam? She looked at him with a dizzying mixture of love, awe, and curiosity. As she made “seconds” for Mac, she thought ‘I just can’t wait to ask him what has happened.’
“Alright, I’m done, let’s go Carly,” Sam said as he rose from the table. He and Carly went out through the sliding glass door, and as they started across the rain bejeweled lawn it seemed the most natural thing in the world for Carly to slip her hand into his.
The Lord whispered to Sam, “I will give you many children like Carly. You will help many to find a deeper walk with Me.”
Sam opened up the tent when they got to it and was amazed that in spite of the considerable shower they had had, it was quite dry inside. Carly had brought along one of the sleeping bags she had found on the covered porch. so she just hopped right in, “Thank you,”She said, “I’ll see you after a while.”
“Will you be comfortable in there?” Sam asked.
“I’m just fine,” Carly said and she demonstrated this by pulling the unzipped sleeping bag up around her shoulders.
“OK, I’m zipping the door shut,” He zipped it up and walked back to toward the house.
“Sam, this is something I will be doing often with you, I will provide a way for you to talk to people about Me. But I will always prepare them to hear what I tell you to say to them.” The Lord said.
“Thanks , Lord, I’ve always been a little shy of just talking to people cold about You.” Sam admitted.
“Sam I never intended to send anyone out for Me unprepared. I can and I do prepare people to hear, and I am just as capable of preparing My ambassadors. If someone tells you “just go out and get right in someone’s face and witness to them,” I tell you they are wrong. The great results the apostles had in the book of Acts were the result of My preparing people, and the apostles willingness to heed My directions.”
“Wow Lord I never thought of it that way before. That’s neat.”
“Why thank you Sam, now I think there is a young man who might like to see a train set.” The Lord said
“Just what I had in mind,” Sam said. As he came back into the breakfast nook he noticed that Mac had finished his breakfast and was looking around a little anxiously.
“Have I got a surprise for you, Mac,” he said.
Sam took Mac out  to the garage, and whipped the cover off of the trains “Ta-Da” he said.
Mac was delighted he loved the little town and the train and he was tickled to watch the train move as he turned on the juice. Sam showed Mac how to operate the switches, and toot the horn, they played happily for quite some time, zooming the freight around the little houses and farms.