A Reflection on Bread in my Life Experience.

This Christmas I feel very sad about my world. Bethlehem,just 5 miles from Jerusalem, will have no outside celebrations. There's a blackout, The lights are lowered. The other night on television I saw youth throwing rocks and soldiers firing bullets at these young people in a place where I have walked several times.

One Sunday I was the guest of Dr. Lambie in Bethlehem. He operated a hospital. He helped found an orphanage. I'll never forget the blind children from the orphanage; blinded so young through filth and an eye disease that destroys their eyes. They sang, about 20 of them, and after the service I hugged them. What did they sing? "Though I am blind and cannot see; I know Jesus and He loves me." How pitiful and saddening. I cry again over the Bethlehem tragedy. After that service, before I was asked to say"Grace" over the meal in Dr. Lambie's home, he said :" Pastor, remember that Bread means "Bethlehem". That's the word. This same bread comes down from the local seeds that made the bread that Jesus once blessed." So when I hold a piece of bread in hand I often think of this. Bread is the staff of life.

THE SMELL OF FRESH BREAD does something to me. BY FOCUSING MY MIND I CAN SMELL IT NOW from childhood days AS MY GRANDMOTHER WOULD TAKE IT OUT OF HER OVEN. I WAS MYSTIFIED AS SHE PREPARED IT WITH HER KNOTTY HANDS ROLLING THE DOUGH, LETTING IT REST AND RISE AND THEN PLACING IT IN THE OVEN. THERE WERE WARM FEELINGS IN MY MOUTH AND STOMACH AS SHE WOULD CUT A HEEL AND HAND IT TO ME. OFTEN I WOULD EAT A FEW BITES AND THEN SMEAR BUTTER AND JELLY ON IT. MY, IT WAS DELICIOUS! BREAD: THE SOURCE OF living. .

FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS CAROL AND I HAVE HAD FUN MAKING OUR OWN BREAD. OUR DAUGHTER SUSAN ON A VISIT TO COLORADO GAVE US A PANASONIC BREAD MAKER. FRIENDS IN FLAGLER WHO PRODUCE THOUSANDS OF TONS OF WHEAT EACH YEAR WOULD GIVE US SEVERAL BUSHELS OF THEIR WHEAT WITHOUT CHEMICALS. SON JOHN HAS A LITTLE MILL WHICH WE BORROWED AND GROUND OUR OWN GRAIN INTO WHEAT. ONE OF THE JOYS OF THESE RETIREMENT YEARS HAS BEEN TO HAVE GUESTS OVER FOR LUNCH SERVING THEM WITH FRESH BREAD AND SOUP.

ONE OF THE FEW THINGS WE BROUGHT TO WESLEY-PALMS FOR OUR RETIREMENT YEARS IS OUR BREADMAKER . THE HOUSE FILLS WITH A PLEASING AROMA WHENEVER THE BREADMAKER IS IN USE. .

Much of my life really centers around "Bread".. Two of my uncles, Henry and Charlie, came from Oklahoma City to Los Angles following World War I. They, with two Scalzo brothers, started what was known as The 4S Baking Company. They specialized in making bread for restaurants. Their business grew and they purchased land along the Los Angeles river bed below Riverside Drive. Other uncles and their families joined them, coming from Oklahoma and Kansas. While I was still in Highschool my Uncle Lee who became a driver let me accompany him on his downtown route. He would pick me up about 3:30 a.m. and we would drive to the Bakery. I was known as a "swamper' and helped him load the truck. By 10 a.m. we were through with our deliveries. I slept in his car until he was through checking in and making out his order sheet for the next day deliveries. Then he would drive me home and I would go to bed until late afternoon. Many of my cousins spent their working years related to this Bakery.

I chose to go to college. I am grateful for my family supporting me in my decision. Uncle Henry and Uncle Charley gve me $200 each. My mother shared what she could. I became a car-hop at Carpenter's Drive-In restaurant located on the busiest corner of Los Angeles. We car-hops wore green pants and yellow vest jackets with green hats. We called out the names of the cars that came around the corner of Wilshire and Western. If the car came into the restaurant we served the occupants of the car. I learned lot about life. Favorite customers and good tippers were Jack Benny and members of his band, Jack Dempsey and Estelle Taylor, his wife, Nelson Eddy, Jeannette McDonald, Jackie Cooper, Mickey Rooney, etc. I worked all summer and weekends for 5 years. I would drive down from the University of Redlands each weekend. My closest friend in those years was Dale Weber Jr. His father started the Weber Baking Company in their backyard. After graduation from the Los Angeles City College, the first Junior College in the State, I attended the University of Redlands. I attended the Berkeley Baptist Divinity School. After our graduation, Carol and I lived in The Oakland Friendship Center as Social workers, ministering to some fourteen nationality groups. We often gave them day-old bread and potato chips, clothing, etc, which I picked up from various establishments. I have seen many children and adults literally starving in the Oakland Slums. To give them bread and help was a meaningful chapter in our lives.

Another unforgettable memory occurred when I was chaplain speaker at a summer camp on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound. A young camper, Harold Fisher, was in the Camp, soon to leave for military Service over-seas. I dipped pieces of bread in the grape juice and placed the stained bread on the palms of each participant, asking them to notice the stain and remember that Christ died for them and would always be with them. After the war, Harold returned. He had been badly wounded in the "Battle of the Bulge." In the months of suffering, he said the memory of that service and the thoughts of Christ's nearness sustained him. I close marveling at the mystery of sustenance from the bread we eat. Truly life is a miracle and a mystery.

Caleb Elroy Shikles. December 2000