June 1, 2003
By Bob Rockford

"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that among so many?"

It was a miracle if Josh ever made it to dinner on time.  For him, life was an adventure.  His grandmother used to say, "that boy is always at one end of trouble - either going in or coming out."  But he was a good boy - a curious ten-year old who loved to go exploring in the hills near his home.  He'd gone out exploring that morning and had himself quite an adventure!  He couldn't wait to get home to tell his mom about it.  She met him at the door as he rushed in.

"Josh, where have you been all day?  I was worried about you!  Do you know what time it is?  And just look at you!  You're all dusty and dirty!  And you're an hour late for supper!  Where were you?"

"Ma, you'll never believe it!  I've got to tell you about it!"

"After supper, I've saved you a plate."

"No ma, now.  Besides I'm not hungry."

"Well I guess it's a good thing I packed you a large lunch today.  Did you eat all of it?"

"No, I shared it!  That's what I was trying to tell you about."

"You shared it!  Who did you share it with?  That Samuelson boy down the street?"

"Yeah, and Matty and Johnny and Johnny's mom and."

"You shared five barley loaves and two small fish with all those people?"

"Yeah, and a whole lot more."

"Were you trying to get out of eating those fish?  I told you they were good for you!"

"Ma!"

"Okay, so how many people did you share your lunch with?"

"Five thousand."

"Five thousand!  Do you expect me to believe a story like that?"

"Well, yeah.  This man, Jesus, and his friends came up to the hill where I was jumping frogs, and even though his friends seemed to be wanting to move on, he just stopped right there and sat down with me!  A grown-up man, Ma.  He sat down there and jumped frogs with me!  So then his friends, I think, there were twelve of them, they sat down too.  But we didn't get to play for very long.  Pretty soon this crowd of people starts coming up the hill and wanting Jesus to talk to them.  He looked kind of sad, so I asked him what was wrong and."

"You asked Jesus?"

"Well, sure.  Anyway, he said they were all hungry for what God had for them.  So then I knew why he was sad, because if they were all hungry, I sure didn't see where he and his friends had any food there to give them.  So I asked him if he wanted me to go buy some bread for him."

"What did he say?"

"He looked at me kind of funny, and then turned to his friend, Philip, and said, 'Where are we going to buy bread for these people?'  And then I felt bad 'cause this was my hill and I hadn't offered them anything from my lunch bag.  Then I was too embarrassed to say anything to Jesus, but I told his friend, Andrew, who was sitting beside me, that they could have what I had with me.  Well he just laughed and looked at all those people who kept coming up the hill.  Then he told Jesus like it was some kind of a joke, and then I really felt dumb.  But Jesus didn't make me feel dumb.  He put his hand right here on my shoulder and thanked me, and then said we could be hosts together.  Then he took my lunch and we fed everybody with that bread and fish.  Me and Jesus, we fed five thousand people today."

"Who is this Jesus?  You make him sound like he can walk on water."

You know I've fed 200 people before, but never five thousand.  Now the Bible says that there were five thousand men that were fed, but it doesn't say anything about how many women and children.  Some theologians believe that there could have been upwards of 10,000 to 15,000 people that were fed that day.  They also say that the people were satisfied. Not just enough to take the edge of their hunger.  They were satisfied, something like my grandpa use to be after the holiday meals.  You know that type of satisfied, the unbuckle your belt; sit in the recliner and fall asleep satisfied.  So Jesus took the five loaves of barley bread and the two small dried up fish, blessed it and fed all those people.  He had the people sit in groups of 50 to 100 reclining on a hill, like they would do at a fancy feast or banquet. Then the disciples passed out the bread and fish.  After they were finished Jesus told them to collect what was left.  And like the song says, "Afterwards they gathered twelve full baskets more."  And most of those people probably unbuckled their robe because they were satisfied.

Now I looked at the story several different ways.  The food and the multitudes that were fed, the miracle that Jesus performed, what part the disciples played, and who was this boy?  And I wrestled with what this story was saying.  I was talking to someone one day and they said, "Think about the abundance the story talks about."  So I took out my Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, and I looked up the word abundance. 

"Abundance, n. An extremely plentiful or overly sufficient quantity or supply.  Overflowing fullness.  The number of atoms of one isotope of an element divided by the total number of atoms in a mixture of the isotopes."  I have no idea what that means, but it's got to be a lot.   

"Abundant, adj.  Present in great quantity.  More than adequate.  Over sufficient.  Well supplied.

Abounding.  Richly supplied.  Overflowing."

There was an abundance of food on that hill and an abundance of God's love.  So then I went to the Bible.  Remember what Jesus says in John?

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it. 

What? 

More abundantly!   

God assumes that we are living in abundance!  And I'm sitting at home one day and the doorbell rings.  Ding-Dong.  And it's this little guy who looks like George Burns dressed in brown shoes, brown shorts, brown shirt and brown ball cap.  He's got a brown two-wheeler with two brown boxes and my name on each one. 

Here's your monthly shipment of abundance, sign right here. 

Oh, could you just wait a second?  Let me just check with the wife.  Debbie, there is a guy here with our monthly shipment of abundance.  Do you know anything about that; did you order that on line?  What. Uh-huh.  Right.  That's what I think.  OK, I'll tell him.  Hi, just checked with the wife.  We don't do abundance here, we have a whole roomful of scarcity, in the back yard we're building a shed called not enough time, and actually we're thinking about adding another story called we don't know how to do that.  So thanks anyway.   

God believes you're in abundance and he shows up with more.  What's Jay Leno say on the Doritos commercial?  "Eat all you want, we'll make more."  God is making more abundance, has warehouses full of it and doesn't know where to send it to because some of us haven't opened up our first box.  Some people may ask, "How do I know that?"  Let me ask you this; what do you love?  If there were no strings attached and failure was not an option, what would you do?  Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16

 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. 

Sometimes I don't see my light and I think, "I'm not smart enough or I'm not worthy."  Each of us has a light on the inside, a gift from God.  Now I want to tell you a "Youth Pastor Secret."  And you can't tell anyone, OK?  Take a Lifesaver candy and a hand held mirror and go into a completely darken room.  Stick the Lifesaver in your mouth; hold the mirror in front of your face and with your lips opened as wide as you can bite the Lifesaver in half.  You may see a tiny spark.  Now take a bigger mirror and twenty more people into your darkened room and do the same thing, on the count of three.  Then watch the room light up.  That's what we have in us, a spark.  And when we get together we can create Holy Fire!

There's an organization in Dallas called the Trinity Foundation.  They own the Door magazine.  The Trinity Foundation started a program where they challenged every church in the United Stated to adopt one family living in poverty.  Not every family in the church adopt a family, but every church adopt one family.  Just to keep an eye on them, making sure the kids have shoes, the family has food on the table, and if they fall short on getting the rent paid one month somehow helping out.  They don't want the churches to be welfare programs, but to just watch out for one family.  Olie Anthony, publisher of the Door Magazine did a press conference in Dallas about the program.  A Christian lady heard the press conference.  She was a widow and together her and husband raised 4 children and she was living alone in a big house.  So she asked her pastor if the church knew of any families that were living below the poverty level.  They found a family; a father and two teenage girls, and this woman said to the father, "Why don't you come and live with me?"   The father said they couldn't afford the rent.  She said there's no rent, I own the house, and everything was paid off and I have my husband's pension.  She said, "They are now my family and they can live here as long as they need to."  So what does Crossroads Church do?  We adopt a neighborhood.  I don't know how that happened, but some people got together and saw the possibility of adopting a neighborhood.  A neighborhood within walking distance of this building.  And they made it happen.  They put their sparks together, saw the abundance we have and became a Holy Fire. 

In Los Angeles, Habitat for Humanity did a Jimmy Carter blitz.  They acquired land in the industrial area of Watts.  They cleared the land and laid 21 concrete slabs foundations for houses that were to be built.  On Sunday they built one wall for each house and that Monday morning they invited all sorts of celebrities to come and raise one wall on each of the 21 houses.  They also invited the news media to come and watch.  On Monday morning, after Jimmy Carter prayed, the news media videotaped the celebrities rasing one wall on each of the 21 foundations at exactly the same time.  The image of all 21 walls being raised was very powerful.  Then the Habitat people challenged the news media to come back Friday afternoon.  At 5:00 Friday afternoon, five days later, the news media videotaped 21 families receiving keys, a document of ownership, and a family Bible as they walked into their new homes. 

Someone opened up their box of abundance and saw a possibility of, "Helping build simple, decent housing with God's people in need," and Habitat for Humanity got the land and had the 21 houses built.  

In the Mayan culture the woman is the giver and sustainer of life.  In Guatemala some of the women of San Lucas and the surrounding areas work in Guatemala City at Maquiladoras, or sewing sweatshops.  They live in the city and work 6 days, Monday through Saturday, and then travel the 4 hours back to San Lucas to see their families.  They get to spend Saturday night and part of Sunday with their families before traveling 4 hours back to Guatemala City.  Father Greg Shaffer is the Priest in San Lucas and some of us traveled there in 1998 and 2000 on Mission trips.  Later this month some of us are going again.  Father Greg and I were talking 2 years ago and got on the subject of sewing machines.  He had been trying to get some of the sweatshops to give him some machines to start a contract sewing company in San Lucas, to do contract sewing for the sweatshops.  I asked him if we were to bring some commercial machines down to San Lucas to start a sewing co-op, would he be interested?  His response, "ABSOLUTELY!"  I kept thinking about this for the next 2 years, until 5 months ago I decided to act on it.  My goal was to get 10 machines for this year's trip.  And today we have money and pledges for 8 machines.  I opened up the box of abundance that God gave me and I saw the possibility of mothers and wives being at home with their families.  Being the givers and sustainers of life in San Lucas.  And if you happen to open up your box of abundance and see the possibility of helping the women, children, and men of San Lucas we are still taking donations.  Just see Kathy Ralston.  

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves,

"Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?"

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine as children do.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same

Prayer:

If a prayer is us talking to God, and it is said that we are made in the image of God, and God is the Great Creator, then our life is a continuation of that creation.

Everyday,

Everyplace we go,

Everything we say,

And everything we do.

Whether we're spending some time with an old man on his front porch, playing with some children, or helping to paint someone's house.  Then our lives are a prayer.  Would you pray for yourself right now?

(Pause)

Would you reach over and touch someone and pray for them right now.

(Pause)

Mother/Father God, thank you for the awesome privilege of serving you.  For finding new and creative ways of shining the light of your life into the not so bright corners of the lives of others.

Give us courage Lord.

Be with us.

We need you.

Remind us Lord, that every day we have the power to do your work in your kingdom.

Be with us Creator God, through Jesus the Christ and Savior of Human kind and the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit.

And go with us into every corner of our lives,

At home,

At work,

Here at church,

With our kids and with our family.

Help us to find the wild things you have for us.  So we can create your kingdom and live in it powerfully.

And Mother/Father God, help make us a little bit wiser.  Wise enough not to feel the need to do everything out there.  And wise enough to take the time to be with you in your Kingdom.

Thank you for loving us.

We love you Creator God, and we pray all of this in the name of the Creator, Savior, and Comforter.

Amen