Daily Eggs

In 2003, my wife and I took a group of 23 people to Ciudad Mier, Mexico. This was not our first “rodeo.” We had each participated in several international missions experiences, some together and some individually.  This one however was unique, as to the fact that one of our team members was 3 months pregnant.  What made this excursion even more personally challenging was the fact that this pregnant and hormonal team member…was also my wife…and…we were celebrating our 3^rd wedding anniversary.  We have always enjoyed taking trips for our anniversary…like when we took 21 students to Columbus, Ohio on an overnight bus ride, not to mention the occurrence of lodging in a sewer flooded dorm room at a Mexican orphanage.   

Until this season in my life, I had been unaware of the dietary demands of a pregnant woman.  In the weeks leading up to this immersive cultural experience, I had taken to learning to minister to my pregnant wife.  Some nights I would head out to Perkins at 11:00 p.m. for fried cheese sticks and chocolate shakes, and other nights it would be to Subway for a ham and cheese sandwich.

“Why can’t I just make you a ham and cheese sandwich?” I would ask. 

“Because I want mayo!”

“I can put mayo on it…that’s not a prob…”

“I WANT SUBWAY MAYO! OK?”

“Yes, dear.”

In this event, we were approaching the Rio Grande and the U.S./Mexico border and we made a final stop in Texas.  I tended the two 15 passenger vans, adding fuel, checking oil and kicking the tires of the two vehicles and an 8x12 foot trailer packed with luggage, tools and instruments.  While I ensured the vehicles to be travel worthy, the rest of the team entered the convenience store to purchase any last minute snacks.  I was just closing the hood and counting heads, when our ministry coordinator, Rick, approached me in a panic and cried, “Ryan! Your wife needs you!”

“What!? Why!? What’s up?”

“I don’t know! But she is standing in the middle of the store crying!”

“What did you say to her Rick?”

 “Nothing!...Really…Just that if she can’t find anything to eat here in an American convenience store I don’t know what she is going to do when we get to Mexico!”

“Hmmm…apparently they don’t have Subway mayo.”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

I went inside and found my wife standing in the middle of the store revealing all emotions known to mankind.  I went to her and attempted to sooth her…mostly unsuccessfully.  We navigated the store and finally were able to purchase a number of items to hopefully help satisfy her prenatal impulsions.  With our experience in cross cultural opportunities we felt confident in what we would encounter.

Our first meal at the orphanage was a breakfast consisting of unseasoned scrambled eggs and runny refried beans, followed by a supper of unseasoned eggs and runny beans.  The next day’s menu was different, as it consisted of runny refried beans and unseasoned scrambled eggs and to mix it up for supper we had scrambled beans and runny eggs.  Each meal of each day was the exact same and after 10 days of cramming down the high protein enriched meal…I…and NOT…my pregnant wife…was struggling.  My gag reflex was going overtime as I wretched with each bite.  I normally liked both eggs and beans, but by this time, my prayers had become “give me this day…my daily cheeseburger…with bacon and fries…and a coke,” as opposed to bread!

I felt guilty for my lack of appreciation, especially when my gestational wife was not having the same struggle.  I felt like the whining Israelites of Exodus 16 and Numbers 11, when they complained about their daily bread…the manna from heaven and asked for meat.  Yet, God provided for them, even giving to them what they had requested. Imagine my humility when on the next day I found sliced frankfurters on my plate…mixed in with the scrambled eggs and runny beans.  It was like…like…quail from heaven.  The salty goodness of the franks was like magic in my mouth. “Thank you Lord!”

Our God is indeed a gracious God.  I cannot fully understand His love and mercy for me and why he chooses to bless me so richly, yet he does.  I am still learning how to pray and how to ask Him for what I need.  Matthew 6:5-13, tells us that he knows what we need even before we ask of it…yet he longs to have our hearts aligned with his in prayer as we request it.  Thus I will pray, “Lord, give me my daily bread…or eggs…and maybe an occasional frankfurter.”

May you come to seek the Lord’s provisions as your heart aligns with His in prayer.