Breaking Bread

To Sabbath School teachers: This story is for Sabbath, October 14.

By Andrew McChesney

B

y 6 o’clock in the morning, little David was dressed and ready to leave home

for kindergarten.

Mother handed over his backpack stuffed with textbooks, paper, pencils, and, most importantly, breakfast. Breakfast was a delicious, chewy chunk of bread.

Kindergarten started at 7 o’clock.

After a few lessons, it finally was time for breakfast. David eagerly pulled the bread from his backpack. He was hungry!

As he prepared to eat, a little boy sitting beside him spoke up.

“Could you share with me?” he asked.

David saw that the boy didn’t have any bread. His mother hadn’t packed a breakfast for him. David tore a piece off the bread.

“Here you are,” he said.

As the boy accepted the bread, another boy came over.

“Could you share with me?” he asked.

David saw that this boy also didn’t have any bread. His mother also hadn’t packed him a breakfast. David tore off another piece of bread. “Here you are,” he said.

Then a third boy came over. David guessed right away what he wanted. He saw that the boy didn’t have any breakfast and must be hungry. Sure enough, the boy had a question.

“Could you share with me?” he asked.

David didn’t have much bread left. He wondered what to do. Then he remembered a Bible story. In the story, God’s prophet Elijah was hungry, and he went to a poor mother for help. He asked the mother, “Could you share with me?” However, there was a famine in the land, and the mother only had enough flour and oil to bake one last loaf of bread. She had planned to eat the bread with her son, but she shared it with Elijah. God rewarded her with a miracle. God provided an unending supply of flour and oil, and the mother was able to bake bread until the famine ended. She and her son never went hungry. David had heard the Bible story in Sabbath School. The Sabbath School teacher had told the children, “You need to share with those who are hungry.”

David broke the last of his bread in half.

“Here you are,” he told the hungry boy.

David and the three boys nibbled on the delicious, chewy bread. It was a good breakfast. David felt good that he had been able to help the other boys. His own breakfast wasn’t big, but he didn’t get hungry before kindergarten ended and he went home for lunch.

The next day, the same thing happened again. When David pulled out his bread for breakfast, other boys asked him to share. David shared again, and again he felt good. After that, children asked David to share his breakfast every day.

Many things changed when David finished kindergarten and started first grade. School started at 11 o’clock, so he ate breakfast at home. But now he ate lunch at school. Mother no longer packed bread for him. Instead, she gave him lunch money to buy bread to eat. But one thing didn’t change. Children kept asking David to share his food, and he kept sharing.

Today, David is 13 years old, and he has shared his food for eight years. His kindness has surprised some classmates, and they ask, “Why are you sharing?” David likes to tell them the story of how Jesus shared food with a crowd of 5,000. Or he tells the story of how Jesus shared food with a crowd of 4,000. Or he says that Jesus shared everything with His disciples.

“I want to share like Jesus,” David says.

David’s generosity has had a good influence on his classmates. When they saw him share his food, they also started sharing their food with those who had none.

David says he is happy that he can share.

“Sometimes I feel hungry because I give away so much food,” he says. “But I’m happy because I can follow Jesus’ example of sharing. I believe that I’m sharing the light of Jesus with my friends.”

Part of this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help open a Seventh-day Adventist school in David’s home country of Cameroon where children will be able to learn about the joy of sharing God’s blessings with others. Thank you for planning a generous offering.