Thursday, May 3, 2012

PART 4: A Safe Journey

Do not work for food that spoils, but food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.  John 6:27

The story in the bible that tells of Jesus feeding the five thousand has really come alive for me lately.  This story can be found in John Chapter 6.  I have heard it told so many times, but am now beginning to see new truths in the same verses I read over and over again as a little girl. 

This story is about feeding a crowd of people who had a need.  A need to be fed.  Jesus had compassion on them and told his disciples to feed them.  The disciples, who were extremely uncomfortable and very unprepared, focused on their limitations, rather than on His power. 

“This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late.” 
“We don’t have enough money… it would take more than half a year’s wages to feed this crowd.”

Jesus, knowing in advance what he was going to do, told the disciples to bring to Him what they had.  And all they had were five loaves of bread and two fish.  The disciples were so focused on what they lacked, that they forgot they were with Jesus, the One who can take anything, even our inadequacies, and use them to do mighty things. 

Jesus not only fed the five thousand with the bread and the fish, but he also taught them, nourishing their souls.  In John 6:35, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” While reading this story of a beautiful miracle, I realized that there is so much more He wants me to give.

One morning, not that long ago, I woke up and knew that there was another step in loving this group of people God has put on my heart.  Completely 100% out of my comfort zone, I hesitantly asked God that morning, “You want me to pass out bibles, too?”  And the answer that my heart received was, “Yes.  Tell them about me.”

My sister-in-law, Bri, shared with me that many of the local Dollar Stores carry bibles.  So, that day, the kids and I went to the Dollar Store and bought a stack of bibles. 

The very next morning, I met Frank.  Very conscious that the bag of bibles was still in the backseat, I panicked for a second.  Passing out bibles and sharing my faith with complete strangers is extremely new territory for me.  I admire people who can do so without any fear.  I am not one of those people.  What this man said to me will stay with me forever.  It reminded me in such a mighty way that I have to be willing to say yes completely and trust that God will lead me in the direction He wants me to go. 

After introducing myself and offering Frank a bag of food and toiletries, I asked if I could pray for him.  With such a sincere look in his eyes, he said, “Oh, yes, please pray for me.”  When I asked him what I could pray for specifically, his reply was, “a safe journey.”  He had been on the road for eleven days, on his way from Michigan to San Diego, and he was tired.  He could have asked for a lot of things.  But all he asked for was prayer that he would get to where he was going safely.  All of us journey through this life.  And isn't that what all of us want? To be safe.  To be secure.  To be loved. 

Sometimes the journey we face is hard.  Sometimes the journey is lonely.  Sometimes we get tired along the way.  But Jesus is waiting on the side of the road, ready to walk with us and hold our hand.

Before I drove away, I asked Frank if he had a bible.  I couldn’t pass up the chance to share one since God had obviously already planned this in advance.  Then he said to me, “No, Ma’am.  That is the only thing I do not have.”  With tears in my eyes, I handed him a bible, and he was so grateful.  So very, very grateful. 

When I turned my car around and headed the opposite way, I saw him from a distance, standing there by the side of the highway, under a truck stop sign that vaguely resembled a cross, reading his very own bible.  I love being able to hand a bag of food to someone that is hungry.  But it will never compare to the feeling I had that day as I helped to feed a hungry soul. 

Jake and Lilly clasped their hands together and helped say a prayer for Frank that night.  I want to teach my kids to love like Jesus did.  God is showing me that if my prayer for my children is sincere, then I must love like Him too. 1 John 3:18 says, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.“  I am beginning to see that what I do speaks volumes louder than what I say. 

My story is a very ordinary one.  I am just a stay-at-home mom with two kids who has fears and struggles and needs to be reminded constantly that God loves me.  But I believe that God has given me this story to tell.  My prayer is that this very ordinary story (which is continuing to unfold) will encourage you to ask God how you can reach out to the hopeless and the forgotten, the “least” in your life.  I pray that our children will be involved, either in filling bags with food for the hungry or watching us love on strangers.  If He can use me, He can use you.  God takes the simple things, the inexperienced things, and the weak things of this world and uses them in a way so that He is known.  So that He receives all the glory.  All He needs is a yes.  As my friend Jackie told me recently, “God can do anything with a yes, and absolutely nothing with a no.”

 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.  But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.  1 Corinthians 1:26-29

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