This is about a little 5 year old boy named Fran. One day while we were doing door to door ministry a little boy ran out in the street to ask Eric what time church was. Eric answered him and he ran back to his house only to return a moment later with another question, then another. Within a few minutes Eric was sharing the gospel with his mother and we were welcoming a new sister into the body of Christ. We soon learned that her husband has left, she has 4 children to feed, and nothing in the cubbard. A few nights later Fran was at the church with us around dinner. As he peeked his head around the door, I asked him if he was hungry. His big eyes got bigger as he reluctantly nodded yes. I am not sure he even took a breath as he scooped heaping spoons of rice into his little mouth. My heart broke.
Feed my sheep Jesus said, feed my children, what you have done for the least of these, you have done for me.
Here is the miracle. The next night, Marta (Fran’s mother), Fran and his three sisters were at the church just before dinner. As we left the main room and went to the kitchen to eat, I noticed that there was not much food this particular night. It turns out the ladies had not made it to the store, so we pretty much had left overs. a modest bowl of rice, a few slices of queso, a small bowl of beans and a few bananas. Moments later, Fran peeks his head around the corner. And he was hungry. Each of us has our own individual story about this night, the internal struggle we went through. Do we have enough to feed him, will there be enough for us to eat, are we willing to sacrifice our meal to feed this child, wait, there are more children next door, but there is not enough food, what should we do? For most of us this conversation in our heads was short lived, and it happened simultaneous to us taking our own bowls and scooping up rice for Fran, then for his 3 sisters, and for his mother. Feed my sheep Jesus said, the moment had come. What are we here for? Is this some cool adventure vacation, or will we really do it. Will we really step up and be Christ for a lost, hungry, and hurting world!
We fed every one of them with joy! And then we fed ourselves… stop with me a minute so you can really grasp what is happening here. Picture this, a small wooden table, a few bowls of food, 7 hungry World Racers, 4 hungrier children and a desperate yet proud mother. A few small bowls of food. The children ate until they were full, in fact the girls left some food in their bowls. Each of the racers ate, and our guys even had seconds. We ate together, we laughed together, we shared way more than a meal with them that night. We shared the love of Jesus Christ. And the Lord blessed us.
Did you ever wonder what it looked like when the Lord fed 5,000. I mean really were there just thousands of fish flopping around everywhere? Bread overflowing from the basket?
I don’t think so. I think what it looked like is a small bowl of rice, that simply never got empty. The Lord multiplied our food that night, and blessed us with abundance, more than we started with. It is still hard for me to grasp the magic and the miracle of what happened that night. The Lord multiplied our food!!! I don’t know why I am so shocked, it is what He promises to do.
“Feed my sheep Kelly, if you love me, feed my children and follow me!” – Jesus
Jn 21:17 –Jn 21:19 (NKJV) He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”
