"Bread" as in Food and Money

John 6:9

"There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?"

The feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle of Jesus mentioned in all four Gospels before the resurrection. I have to conclude that God has purposes for such. Rather than do an exhaustive treatise on this verse, I think it wise to focus on the main point: God can do a lot with a little. When He is in something, God brings to bear a multiplicity than transcends human understanding.

Start where you are with what you have. Sweep your own front stoop and then keep sweeping once you set your own affairs in order. Pray in faith that God will prosper the work of your hands. Find a small cause and make a big difference. "Do not despise the day of small beginnings." More is at work than just you alone. If your cause is just, true, and loving, God will prosper it in His own way. Be like the lad in this story who was willing to hand over what he had to Jesus and many were blessed and fed by this small act of obedience.

Skeptics laugh at small works of faith...somehow expecting that greatness comes all at once. It rarely does. I instead scorn a 3/4 of a Trillion Dollar Stimulus Plan where we have to borrow the money from our world creditors to underwrite the projects. We are going back to the poison well again and again to slake our thirst rather than dig wells anew. We might just have to put down our TV remotes and Fritos and pick-up a shovel. Gasp!

Russell H. Conwell (see article in early 1900's NY Times about him) started Temple University...one teacher (him) teaching one man (a student) Greek at night. (The man worked all day and was of limited means but wanted to be a pastor). It did not take long until the class was full. All work, just like a great work of literature starts with a word, then a sentence, then a paragraph, then a chapter, and then a book, so too we have to write our small acts of faith.

I am in the process of writing a book (almost finished) and I have tried to be faithful day-in-and-day-out to put some words to paper (actually to computer screen and hard drive). Behold, I stand at nearly one hundred pages. I am also engaged at work at Northeastern that is starting small but shows great promise if I just don't get discouraged and keep at it. May it all be used of God to prosper others.

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