Raul Garcia III

July 29, 2018

Let us Pray:

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing to you my Lord my rock and redeemer.

Amen.

Can you imagine the overwhelming feeling the disciples felt when they saw this huge crowd of people approaching? The disciples were like, hey Jesus you know the sun is almost over us so it’s noon and we should have lunch and maybe we should send them home to have lunch too. We don’t have the resources to feed all these people. It would take a lot of money. I really think Jesus had a good sense of humor because he asked Philip, where shall we buy bread for all these people to eat? Jesus knew already what was going to happen. Jesus was the ultimate Jedi and using his jedi mind tricks with the disciples and testing them.

It’s funny that Jesus tests his disciples because you know he tests us all the time. Two weeks ago I took a few middle school youth and two adults with me to Rockford, IL. I have been going to Rockford, IL for a middle school mission trip for the past 12 years. I have gone to Rockford the past two summers here at Family of God. I have made many friends in Rockford because of the service we have done there. Doesn't seem like much but we have made some good impact in Rockford. I am going to invite Trinity who was on this mission trip to come up and say a few words about what we did in Rockford.

Trinity speaks…

Thank you Trinity. All the little things we did made a difference for our brothers and sisters in Rockford. From the food pantry, pulling weeds and just sitting and talking with people. I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Ruth Fairchild and Miss Janice Carpenter long ago when I first came to Rockford. They are both whirlwinds and a fountain of love and service. This past spring Miss Ruth passed away from a car accident but her legacy lives on with what she was involved with. She gave so much of herself to better Rockford.

In the Gospel the disciples were worried about feeding the big crowd. Jesus says what do we have, 5 loaves of bread and and two fish. Great, lets bless this meal and let’s eat. This story is written in all four Gospels but John is the only Gospel in which Jesus blesses the food and he distributes the bread and fish. The other three gospels has Jesus blessing the meal and having the disciples distribute the food. John wanted us to know the Godliness of Jesus. The importance of who Jesus was.

When they have all eaten the disciples took up the leftovers and there were 12 baskets full of leftovers. Now the gospel story doesn't say anything about what they did with the leftovers but my assumption is that Jesus gave one basket to each disciple and told them to do likewise. Go feed the hungry and tell them about me. Tell them about the little we had and the abundance of Love, Hope, and Grace God has for them.

We live in an age where we want want want more more more. How many of us can be like the little boy in the Gospel story and share your lunch with strangers? Jesus used this little he had and multiplied it to feed thousands of people. God blesses us with so much more than we need sometimes. When that happens what do we do with the extra?

I know that in Rockford at the various places we have served and with Miss Ruth and Miss Janice they do so much with the little they have and that makes a big impact. I know many places here in the twin cities and non profits like churches that do so much with the little they receive and that’s okay. Don’t get me wrong big donations and big givers help tremendously also.

Some of us may have been blessed with only a little and some of us may have been blessed with much much more than we need. Either way. God is pleased when we share with others.

Amen