God Uses What's Available

In John 6, Jesus had taken his disciples up into the foothills.  A large crowd followed them to that place.  He knew they would get hungry so he asked what was available and from where? 

Simon Peter brought a small boy who was willing to offer his meager lunch – 5 barley loaves of bread and 2 small fishes. 

Can you imagine the thoughts of the boy?  “My Momma packed this for me.  It’s my usual lunch on a day such as this.  It usually satisfies me.  But I guess I can share it.  It’s not much, but it’s all I have.”

And Jesus accepted it.  “And He gave thanks for what He had.”  That concept struck me yesterday as I taught my Sunday school class.  He “thanked God for what he had.” 

And God took over from there. 

The rest of the story … Jesus and His disciples fed five-thousand men, and a whole passel of women and children. 

And they feasted on what was offered – five loaves of bread – two fish. 

Not much to go on, was it?  And as the old gospel song says, “Little Is Much, When God Is in It.”

Last week a homeless man came into the bank where I work.  He wanted to open an account.  In the highly regulated world of banking, I was unable to help that man.  You see, he only had one piece of ID and government regulations adamantly require two pieces. 

What a dilemma.  What a snafu.  What a conundrum.  A good man with a small amount of money and he needed a safe place to park it.  He was down on his luck.  He lived in a tent in the south part of Seattle.  He was out of a job and a home, and my hands were tied by regulations. 

I made a few phone calls.  No bending of the rules could be allowed. 

I asked if he was on the radar of social services.  There might be food stamps, or perhaps some housing accommodations that could help.

It was all I had to give.  He didn’t ask for a handout.  He didn’t ask for a meal or a place to sleep, or a bathroom in which to clean up. 

He simply wanted to open an account.  And I couldn’t do that.

He thanked me and as he was leaving, he said, “Thank you for trying.  You are a good man with a good and caring heart.”

I’ll probably never see that man again.  He fades in and out of the fabric of the homeless population in Seattle. 

Maybe I gave him hope.  Maybe he saw in me that there are some people in this world who do care, even though I couldn’t meet his need of the moment. 

I did what I could do in the moment. All I had to offer was a caring spirit.  I didn’t quote scripture to him.  I didn’t give him a Gospel tract.  I didn’t invite him to church. 

I simply showed compassion and attempted to help in that moment.  And in Jesus’ name, perhaps that was enough.

I felt like the boy with the fish and bread.  So little to offer to such a great need, but God, if you can use it, it is yours. 

What was at hand that day on that hillside by the Sea of Tiberias wasn’t much.  But God used what was available.

Maybe He wants to use something in your hands today.  Perhaps a kind word, a gentle affirming hand on a shoulder, an act of love.  I know a lady who tends to the flowers and shrubs at our church.  Her name is Penny and she is doing what she can with what is at hand, and God is using her work. 

If you make the offer, God will make the miracle.

Watch this appropriate song - Ordinary People 

Daniebelle Hall - Ordinary People

Internet Church Blog Site

Offering Words of

Hope Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time

When Pride Meets Shame

Pride says, “I don’t need nobody.  I’m just fine.”

Shame says, “Nobody could love the likes of me.  I’m too bad.”

Pride says, “Look what I am.  I am

SOMEBODY.”

Shame says, “Look what I am.  I am nobody.”

And along comes grace.  Along comes THE one who overlooks both the pride of the moment and the shame of a lifetime. 

Grace is the amazing ingredient that God offers to you and to me.  He dispenses it liberally, willingly, and freely. 

He bathes our wounds, both physical and emotional.  He offers help in restoring a lifetime of failures, and He offers forgiveness.

Forgiveness for those moments when we think we are King of the World and everyone knows our name, and forgiveness for those deeds of despair, the self-loathing, the self-deprecating, and the self-inflicting thoughts of worthlessness. 

When our past, or our present, is a memory that binds us; when the pain still lingers like a bee over honey, God sees and He is only a breath away.

Then, perhaps, is the time to call out, or silently whisper the name of the one full of grace and mercy.  The God of grace is ready to enter into your pride and your shame and do a major restoration.

Between our pride and our shame, God slides in a wedge of grace. Remember his words?  “I have grace enough for you … My power shows up best in weak people.”  2 Corinthians 12:9

In Ephesians 2:8-9 we find this: “It is by FREE grace that you are delivered through faith.  And this is not of your own doing; it came as a gift from God.”

And now … now is the time to receive your gift, the amazing grace of God.

Internet Church Blog Site

Offering Words of

Hope Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time

When God Gives Second Chances

Pete didn’t deserve another chance.  He was bold.  He was brash.  He was boastful.  He was the kind of guy who would spout off and then realize he said too much.  He was not the winner of “How to Win Friends and Influence People.”

And yet, he was offered a second chance. 

In Mark, Pete, better known as Peter, had denied knowing Christ.  He even swore his lack of association with this man Jesus, even though he was indeed a disciple, one who followed and worked along-side him.

And yet, at a critical moment in the story when fingers pointed to him and he was guilty by association, Peter denied such an alignment and friendship.

And he did it three times.

But wait … there’s more.

Peter was given a second chance. 

In Mark chapter 16 we read this.  It’s short.  Only two words tell the story, but the ‘second chance’ offer is there.

“But go, tell his disciples, and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee.”

The angel at the empty tomb is speaking, and he singles out Peter.  It’s not a slam, it’s an invitation into grace, into relationship – it is a second chance.

I can think of a few others who have been given second chances.

~The woman at the well

~The woman caught in adultery

~Zacchaeus, the tax collector

~David, after his affair with Bathsheba

~The repentant thief on the cross

Even in the great parable of the prodigal son, there is a picture of God offering a wayward son a second chance.

I like second chances.

I’ve been offered a few in my life.

It’s like God is saying, “My child, you get to bat again.  I know you struck out last time, but this time, this time you may just hit it out of the park.”

A second chance.

A third chance.

A life-time of chances.

That is what God is offering. 

He wants us to get it right.  And He is standing nearby, cheering, helping, encouraging, inviting. 

Internet Church Blog Site

Offering Words of

Hope Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time