God is such a show off, and I love it.
Before starting the race in January, I decided to go to Bolivia over Christmas to volunteer with an organization near and dear to my heart. While there, I witnessed some amazing works of God. One of my favorites was what God did during our day of baby washing.
The ministry we helped washes an average of 30-40 babies and young children on an average Saturday. When we arrived the plaza was busier than normal. We had a line of babies greater than the amount of water available. However, we were determined to wash as many as possible with the water we had. About half way through, we looked at the water, looked at the line and knew that we were going to have to turn away some children. We wanted to wash them all, but couldn’t thoroughly wash every kid and have enough, and it’s better to thoroughly wash the ones we can than to partially wash them all, right? Here’s where it gets a little crazy… as we were accepting that not every baby would be washed that day, I was given an empty jug to sit on while I washed. When I went to move it I felt a little water inside. So I gave it back to be poured into the bin and sure enough, after already being emptied there was still water in the jug! We ended up washing every child in line for a total of about 85 with enough water for 40. And we washed every kid thoroughly, with a bucket of water to spare! Does this story remind you of anything from the Bible? Maybe a story involving Jesus, the disciples, a boy with some fish and bread, and 5,000 hungry people? Yeah, I spent the rest of the day in complete awe of God’s divine intervention.
Let’s refresh on Luke 9:10-17. Jesus is speaking to 5,000 individuals about God’s glory and Kingdom… I bet Jesus had A LOT to day on those topics, so after a while the crowd gets restless and hungry. (I can relate, being raised Baptist you learn that rarely do you gather at church without food being served. Feed them = they will come.) The disciples search for food and all they muster up is a boy with two fish and five loafs of bread… I guess Wal-Mart wasn’t opened 24 hrs a day back then. So the disciples are freaking out, but Jesus? He’s was like alright, let’s eat! He blesses the meal, breaks up the food, and they all ate until they were satisfied. THEY WERE SATISFIED! 5,000 people, satisfied, by two fish and five loafs of bread. Not only that, but they had bread left over! (Did I mention earlier that we washed each baby completely and still had some water left?)
This passage and experience was even more impactful on me because right now I have a lot to prepare for the race and I’m looking at my fish and looking at the crowd thinking, “I don’t have enough.” However, I’ve been reminded that:
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It’s not about me. I will never have enough.
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God is, always has been, and always will be enough.
Whether you are lacking hope, lacking faith, or another racer lacking funds, remember, God is everything you need to be satisfied. At the end of the day HE will be the one to wash all the babies and feed the 5,000 and that is thoroughly, completely satisfying.
Here’s a video from my week in Bolivia:
Photo and Video credit: Nick Mills
