Fish and Chips

5 loaves.
2 fish.
MORE than enough food for 5,000+ people.
With 12 baskets full of leftovers.

If you have spent any time reading the Bible or heard anything about Jesus and his miracles, you most likely know the story.

Crowds of people flock to Jesus to see Him heal the sick, give sight to the blind, cause the lame to walk, and raise the dead back to life.  They sit for hours on end listening to Him teach and tell parables of lost sons and sheep.  And they get so caught up in the moment they don't realize supper time has come and gone.  Worse yet, they were in such a hurry to get out the door and find where Jesus was speaking today that they didn't think to bring any food along with them.  The nearest town is now miles away.  Stomachs are starting to rumble.

The disciples want to send everyone home.
Jesus tells them not to be rude, but to feed the people.
Now how in the world does He expect them to find enough food to satisfy 5,000+ growling tummies?!  And even if they should a bakery equipped to supply them with that much bread, how does Jesus think they are going to PAY for this massive potluck?  Doesn't He remember they are mere fisherman, not millionairres?!

Jesus doesn't give them any answers.
Just the seeming impossible task of feeding the people.
Find food or have a riot on their hands.
Easy enough.

And so they frantically - I am assuming - go off searching for some tree that miraculously grows loaves of bread and slices of cheese.

Andrew is the only one who has any luck, if you want to call it that.
He finds a young boy whose mother was a planner and thought ahead.  She must have been the only one that morning, for she is the only one who sent her son out of the house with a lunch.
Probably famished himself and completely unsure how his measly snack can do anything to help the disciples, the boy graciously offers his meal.

5 loaves.
2 fishes.

I'm not sure how the disciples presented their meager find to Jesus, but it was all they had come up with and didn't know what else to do.

Jesus doesn't mock them.
He doesn't laugh in their faces, asking where the rest of the food is.
He doesn't belittle their efforts.

Rather, He takes the boy's little lunch and thanks God for it.
He then instructs the disciples to have everyone sit down so they can pass out the food to them.
As if getting 5,000+ people to be quiet and sit a cirlce "criss cross applesauce" - that's how I picture it as a former elementary school teacher - isn't hard enough, Jesus then tells them to make sure everyone has eaten until they are full.

Does Jesus have some bread and fish hiding somewhere?  Has He been holding back on them?
Nope.
He's looking at the same 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish they are.
BUT, as the disciples obey Jesus, the bread multiples.  So does the fish.
Not only does the hillside become like Golden Corral or Ryan's where everyone can come back for seconds and thirds and fourths, but the people simply can't eat enough.
Twelve baskets of food - one for each disciple to gather up - are left over!

As I read this familiar story to my girls before bed the other night, I was struck.   HARD.
If we give Jesus our "little," He can turn it into something BIG.
Bigger than we could ever imagine.
He will blow us away with what He can do.

I should know this.
Ephesians 3:20 promises me that God will do "infinitely MORE than I could ever ask or dare to dream."

In case I didn't get that idea from the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, later He went on to provide supper for over 4,000 people in much the same way.

Or there is that time Peter didn't catch any fish, so Jesus told him to cast his net on the other side of the boat.  Why that would make a difference, who knows?  But apparently it did.  Because Peter brought in a boat load of fish that day.  His nets couldn't carry all the fish.  His boat actually began to sink it was so full of mackeral and tuna or whatever kind of fish live in the Sea of Galilee.

Way back in the Old Testament, we have the story of the widow whose oil never ran out, and she was able to make enough bread for her, her son, and Elisha to live on for months on end.

The Israelites never once went hungry the entire 40 years they wandered in the wilderness.  Every morning they woke up to manna and quail on the ground, ready for them to pick up and prepare.  All they had to do was get a basket and gather their daily portion.

You may also remember how God constantly came through for His people, time and time again.
The Red Sea.
The Jordan River.
Gideon and his 300 men.
David defeating Goliath.
Daniel having a sleep over with lions.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego hanging out in a fire.
Mary giving birth to a baby boy despite being a virgin.
Lazarus walking out of the grave to hug his sisters Mary and Martha.
A blind man washing mud off his eyes and being able to see for the first time in his life.
Naaman taking a bath in the river and coming out leprosy free.
Hannah finally having a son after years of infertility.
Sarah giving birth when she was 90.
Moses floating down the Nile and landing in the Princess' arms rather than the mouth of a crocodile.
Jericho's walls tumbling down at Joshua's feet as the Israelites shouted.

I could flip back and forth from one book of the Bible to another.
We could read the entire thing, beginning to end.
From Genesis to Revelation we would see countless times where God does "infinitely MORE than we would ever think possible."
God tends to excel at the impossible.
It's His speciality.

Feeding 5,000+ people that day wasn't an issue at all.
Not for Jesus anyway.
All that He needed was for His disciples to TRUST Him.
And for that little boy to graciously give up his lunch.
5 loaves and 2 fish might not have seemed like much.
But he had it.
So he offered it.
And God multipled it.
BIG time.

As I finished the story with my girls, I couldn't help but believe God was telling ME to be like that little boy.  To give my "fish and chips" up to God and trust Him to use them for His glory.  He can take my talents and abilities - however small or insignificant I think they may be - and use them to build His kingdom.  He can take my time or my words or whatever resources I may have and use them to change the world.

Just this weekend, a friend shared with me how 3 little words totally transformed their family.  All I did was take a second to pause and ask, "How are you?"  Little did I know those 3 little words would mean so much.  I hate to think what might be if I hadn't asked them...

I'm reading Erwin McManus' book Seizing Your Divine Moment, and he assures me over and over that God can use the mundane, the ordinary, the "little things," to make a HUGE difference.  BUT, we have to be willing to let God work.  To give Him our "fish and chips" so He can turn them into something so much more.  Only as we surrender to Him the ordinary can He make it extraordinary.  As we seek God in the mundane, He turns it into something miraculous.

What do YOU have to offer God today?
Don't let the idea of your "fish and chips" not being enough keep you from giving it to Him.
Don't let the enemy trick you into believing it won't make a difference.
Instead, graciously surrender what you DO have.
And watch to see how God does "infinitely more than you could ever ask, imagine, or dare to dream!"