Praise the Lord for this
summer day. This week we spent a few days at Sky Lake, one of the camping and
retreat centers of our church. Sky Lake is beautiful and splendid. When our
children were young we spent a few days every summer at Sky Lake camping. It was
a great blessing to be at Sky Lake once again. One of the days we drove to
Watkins Glen where we hiked all the way up to top of the Glen and came back down
again. We took our nieces and nephews with us; it was their first trip to
Watkins Glen.
Yesterday Alice and I
celebrated our 37th wedding anniversary. The Lord has been gracious and merciful
and always generous to us. Out of those 37 years we have spent the last 22 years
at Union Center. The Lord has blessed us abundantly and amazingly.
Janice and Jeremy, along with
Micah, Simeon, and Ada, are coming home for the weekend. Jessica and Tom are
also coming home. Sunita and Andy spent the whole week with us and Laureen spent
several evenings with us, too. We all will be home for this weekend - a rare
event. Praise the Lord. Since all our family will be together for this weekend I
am planning for a big cook out.
Last week our church was
engaged in our annual Vacation Bible School ministry. It was a blast and a
treat. VBS culminated with our annual church carnival and Chicken Barbeque at
our beautiful church grounds. The carnival was organized and staffed by our
youth. It was a great community event. We had a horse, goats, a variety of old
tractors, and all kinds of booths for children and youth. Another highlight of
the carnival was our mega Chicken BBQ. It was great day of sharing in the simple
gifts of the Lord. It was a great day of rejoicing in the rich gifts of His
salvation and fellowship in Christ. It is a wonder to behold how the church
grounds become transformed into picnic grounds and an amusement park.
Our Lord Jesus must have
loved the outdoors. Much of His ministry took place outdoors: by the beach, by
the mountains, and in the hills. Imagine going out with Jesus on a fishing trip
or on a picnic. He had a fish fry for over five thousand men alone. The story of
Jesus feeding the five thousand is one of the few told in all four Gospels, and
in every version the disciples were hung up on trying to do the math by
themselves. Five thousand men plus women and children, and all were hungry. The
disciples did not have enough money to buy food for them, and they could only
scrounge together five small loaves of dry bread and two fish that belonged to
young boy whose name we do not know. Providing for the crowd was deemed to be
impossible, so they would have to leave and fend for themselves. The math is
more than obvious. Five small loaves plus two fish equals over five thousand
hungry men, women, and children.
Jesus, however, was completely untroubled by the unbalanced equation. He knew a new math, the math of the Kingdom, where whatever you have plus the power of God always equals whatever you need. He divided the group, multiplied the loaves and fish, and there was not only enough food for everybody, but 12 baskets of leftovers.
This was not a new concept to Jesus. Going back hundreds of years we find the prophet Elisha doing much the same thing. So along came a man with a tithe of his agricultural production, giving it to Elisha, the man of God. Elijah told him to feed a hundred people with it. "But what I have won’t feed a hundred people!" cried the man. "It’s not enough…(do the math!)" Elisha, like Jesus our Lord, knew about God's new math. In effect Elisha said, "Let God worry about balancing the equation. Put the food before the people." The man did so, and there was not only enough, but some left over.
Jesus, however, was completely untroubled by the unbalanced equation. He knew a new math, the math of the Kingdom, where whatever you have plus the power of God always equals whatever you need. He divided the group, multiplied the loaves and fish, and there was not only enough food for everybody, but 12 baskets of leftovers.
This was not a new concept to Jesus. Going back hundreds of years we find the prophet Elisha doing much the same thing. So along came a man with a tithe of his agricultural production, giving it to Elisha, the man of God. Elijah told him to feed a hundred people with it. "But what I have won’t feed a hundred people!" cried the man. "It’s not enough…(do the math!)" Elisha, like Jesus our Lord, knew about God's new math. In effect Elisha said, "Let God worry about balancing the equation. Put the food before the people." The man did so, and there was not only enough, but some left over.
One of the lessons of our VBS
was to Trust in the Lord at all times. There is nothing impossible with our
Risen Lord. If God could create the entire universe with a Word, a few more
loaves of bread are not going to be a big deal. Our Lord is not just bigger and
more powerful, but He is qualitatively different from us. Furthermore He is
alive and well today, and He is the same yesterday, today, and
forever.
Let us continue to love Him,
worship Him, serve Him, and witness for Him.
In Christ,
Brown
