JESUS WALKING ON WATER

To see more great pictures go to photobucket by clicking the link on the title above the picture.

DOING A LOT WITH A LITTLE

For more of this art go to Biblical Art on the WWW and look for the artist, Isabella Colette.

Do you ever wonder how to get more bang for the buck, more go to the gallon, more bounce for the ounce? One of the secrets of doing more with less is given to us in the miracle of feeding the multitude, with just enough for a boy’s lunch.

Almost apologetically, Andrew announces: “There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people” (John 6:9, Contemporary English Version)? They estimated 5,000 men in the group; how many women and children? No wonder Andrew felt embarrassed to even mention it.

During those wonderfully exhausting and stressful years of raising five children on the modest salary of a pastor and a gifted stay at home mom, who with her homemaking skills got the most out of every dollar; I found myself, at times, slipping into the Andrew syndrome: What a limited budget with so many mouths to feed, how can we possibly make ends meet?

One week as I was preparing to preach on our Lord’s miracle of feeding the multitude with five loaves and two fish, I made a great discovery. As John records it: “Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave thanks to God.” Anyone can be thankful after the marvelous miracle of multiplication. Jesus gave thanks before this embarrassing scarcity became an amazing surplus. The story tells us that after everyone had eaten their fill, the disciples gathered up the remaining fragments and they filled twelve baskets.

The trick is to be thankful before the miracle occurs. Isn’t it true that those who are less than thankful seem to need more of everything and have less to show for it? It’s so easy to grumble about what is lacking and fail to celebrate what God has provided as limited as it may look to our financial calculations.

Now, with the children gone and providing for their own children, my focus of gratitude has shifted a few degrees. When I walk into church I want to say with Andrew: “There is a boy here,” and there is a girl there. They are growing up all around us. We dare not look past them as if they didn’t count until they grow up. The young lad in our story counted when he turned his lunch over to Jesus. Do you suppose he thought of holding back a portion for himself? But when he surrendered it to Jesus his little suddenly became a lot. Some of these children are in our church family and believe me; God will use them to change the world.