There is a story in the Bible about how Jesus fed over 5,000 people with just five loaves of bread and two fish. The people have been following him for several days, they are hungry, out of food and in the wilderness. Jesus' friends are worried about the crowd and go to Jesus for help. He takes the food they had, and multiples it, feeding everyone present, with food left over.
Here's an excerpt from the story:
"He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread and fish to the disciples to hand out to the crowd. After the people had eaten their fill, twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered up."
-Luke 9 (The Message)
Although I haven't recently seen God multiply the contents of my refrigerator, I have seen that "loaves and fishes" reality in preparing for this trip.
In this week, we have raised $5,425 for the Honduras trip! This is incredible - not only because it's a tremendous amount of money to have raised in a few short days, but because of the way it has all happened. See, we raised the money because individual people decided to do something....to act on a crazy idea they had....to pitch in and help out in whatever way possible (share their home, their time, etc)...to do their part.
And actually, as I think about it, that's the crazy part of the "loaves and fishes" story in the Bible too. The "WOW" factor of the story is not that Jesus was able to multiply the food. Now, don't get me wrong, that multiplication of food to feed 5,000 hungry people is pretty dang cool. But, I believe Jesus is my Lord and Savior and that God is the creator of heaven and earth....so a bunch of bread and fish seems like a pretty light day on the job for a God with that kind of capacity.
No, the amazing thing about the story is not that Jesus multiplied "loaves and fishes", the amazing thing is that He used the disciples to do it! Seriously, go back to the top and re-read the story!
Jesus uses us!
He wants us to grow. To be changed. To participate in His work in this world. He wants us to take the talents, abilities, and resources we have and use them. God doesn't need us to accomplish His work in this world, but rather, He invites us to be involved. The real miracle of the story, in the Bible (and my own), is that God allowed the disciples (and me) to participate in what He was doing.
And this week, God allowed a ton of people to participate in His work by raising money for the Honduras team. Thank you to all of you who listened to God and did something. And thank you, God, for the being willing to use me.
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1 comment:
It's amazing the way things are provided for all of us, isn't it? It just goes to show that money, possessions, and 'things' are simply tools--the hammers and shovels and concrete you'll use in Honduras are essentially the same tools as the money you raise.
Not sure about the part where God uses us to distribute these things--seems a rather poor plan, when you consider our track record. But since it is in fact the plan, I'm glad those of you traveling to Honduras are being the loaves and fishes yourselves.
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