He
blessed,
He broke,
He gave
to the disciples who
then gave to the crowds.
He gave more then enough.
The disciples wanted to send the crowds away at first and Jesus said,
“They don't need to go away. Give them something to eat
yourselves!” The
disciples told Him they didn't have enough
and He said, “Bring them here to Me”.
I don't have enough but
I serve a God who gave more then enough. Praise the LORD that I can
bring the people to Him because I have nothing on my own to give.
This past weekend us girls spent some
time meandering through the quaint little shops of downtown Jo'burg.
We found ourselves in a small bookstore tightly fitted with antique
books and decorated uniquely. We wandered through, laughing and
cracking jokes as only we know how. As we rambled around I kept
glancing over at the shop owner, he was certainly an interesting
character and fit his store completely. So yes, I guess I am
likening him to a character from an antique book with his long hair,
small spectacles, linen stripped shirt donned with a vest (better
yet, just picture Benjamin Franklin). Intrigued I walked over and was
slightly surprised to see him on Facebook (haha!) and we struck up a
conversation. We chatted about books and history and I told him what
we do here as a ministry and how awesome it is that the Bible is the
only book that transcends culture. He told me he had read through the
New Testament and grew up as a Christian but wasn't a Christian
any longer. I decided I was in this conversation for the long
haul so I settled down on the floor next to his desk and did a whole
lot of listening and observing. He talked about how he didn't think
faith should be forced on children, how he thought it was prying of
God to know his every thought and how hard it was for him to share
with others how he had struggled in his faith. I appreciated that
through his eagerness to share and desire to be clear he kept an open
mind- he willingly listened to what I had to say and pondered over
what I shared. He was well versed in church history, as he shared
about Constantine and Martin Luther I was praying and asking the Holy
Spirit to direct me and speak to this man (in the back of my mind I
was wishing I knew my history better!). I gathered that he was
tired of religion, He had so many questions that were unanswered. It
truly is a wonder how one can one be so full of knowledge yet still
so lost and confused. I wanted
to prove the truth to him but felt the Holy Spirit's nudge saying
“This is not a battle of the masterminds”
and so I listened and asked questions. A lot of times he would answer
his own questions that he didn't realize he had, for an example he
was caught up on seeming contradictions in the Bible but he said,
“They're just different brush strokes, the overall
painting is still the same”.
Finally I said, “David, can you do something? Can you
come to the LORD and read your Bible without any preconceived
notions? You ask Him who He is. He created your mind, He isn't afraid
of your hard questions, He has the answers. Yes,
He knows what you're thinking but there is no condemnation in Christ!
Forget what Christians say, what I say, what the Roman Catholics say, what Constantine did, and what
your parents said and come to Him like a child, completely
trusting … it even says in
the Bible that one must become like a child to enter the kingdom of
heaven”. As I shared I could see walls crumbling, his face softened
as he soaked up every word. He said that when a person gets older
they tend to become extremely analytical, locking themselves away in
boxes and that maybe it was time for him to step out of his box, look
over his life and rethink his faith. I encouraged him to ask Jesus to
see life through His eyes and he allowed me to pray for him.
Wow,
the conversation didn't go at all how I expected! The LORD had thrown
my expectations out of the door and challenged me to simply trust Him
with that childlike faith. It is amazing to see the LORD
probe at the hearts of people knowing their very need, their very
thought and loving them all the while.
David
comes into my mind and prayers a lot. My heart aches with just a
small beat compared to His Maker's. Oh, I pray he comes to Jesus!
