It’s a busy Sunday at church, but then I ask "when isn’t it a busy
Sunday"?! But this particular
Sunday, we had guests (potential colleagues in ministry plus their baby), a
young couple in crisis, a farewell to very dear friends who were going back
home to Africa, and a church council meeting that required Steve’s
presence. Oh, and did I mention,
that I was sick on top of all this?
The kind of “I don’t want
to kiss you (the common way to greet people in Belgium), or worse yet shake
your hand” kind of sick. The nurse
in me knew that I should have stayed home, but there was just too much going
on.
As we left Steve behind at the meeting, saying good byes in
the parking lot, getting one family cared for and approaching my car with the
other family, I realized that we would need bread for lunch. I remembered that
I only had a few morsels of crusty baguette bread at home, certainly not enough
and certainly too dry to share with my guests. And then, at that moment, God provided. Another friend came over in the parking
lot and gave me a sack of bread: leftovers from a dinner the night before,
something to share with the pastor and his family. God gave manna to the Israelites in their time of great need
in the desert. His gift to me in
this day: a bag of bread.
But more than that bag of bread, God is continually teaching
me to trust Him. I almost called
my friend (the couple in crisis that I mentioned earlier) to share with her
this overwhelming sense in my heart that “God is in control. He knows everything that we’re going to
need. Look, He just gave me a bag
of bread.”
Tomorrow will bring a new set of crises. There will always
be good byes in this life and church council meetings that the pastor has to
attend. Yet in the midst of it
all, the busyness of life, am I willing to trust that God will provide? He does give more than bread. I just have to be ready with my eyes
wide open to see His mighty hand of provision in my life.
It’s time to make a sandwich! Tuna with lettuce and tomato anyone??
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| My literally overflowing bread basket! |
