Update time!

Hi guys,
Yesterday, I read John 6, and it just rocked me out. Straight up. I can see Jesus and His disciples hiking up a mountain, people with kids hanging out with them, then sitting down on some grass and playing with some rocks (It's Israel, right? Full of rocks). Jesus stops for a second, lifts up His eyes and looks out at all of the people scrambling up to reach Him on the mountain, leans over, and nudges Philip.

"Pssst . . . Philip . . . hey, Philip!"


"Huh--what?"

"What if we fed ALL these people? Where could we get some bread? Heeheeheehee . . . ."


"Wha--bread? What do you mean, bread? With what money?!"


Jesus raises His eyebrows suggestively, wiggles them. "But what if we fed them, Philip. Wouldn't it be fun?"


"Jesus! Seriously, thousands of dollars wouldn't be enough for each of them to have a little."

Jesus giggles. Andrew, who has been listening in, looks around, says, "Hey, kid! You with the lunch basket--what have you got?  Hey, Jesus, this kid has five rolls and a couple of sardines--Kid! Bring that over here! But seriously, Jesus, that's a lot of people down there."

"Mwahahahahaha! We're totally doing this. Tell them to go sit down."


Jesus takes the bread, gives a blessing, breaks it. And breaks it, and breaks it, and breaks it. The disciples stare dumbfounded for a second, then scramble to start handing it out. Same with the fish. Suddenly everyone has a piece of bread and a fish in his hand. Jesus breaks the bread and the fish, laughs out loud, breaks some off and pops it in His mouth as He hands some to Philip. His eyes shine with suppressed mirth. Philip laughs too, finally in on the joke, full on a little kid's lunch--bread and fish no store could provide.

- - - 

Every now and then I get this glimpse of Jesus' humor and mischief. The text says that He asked Philip about feeding all the people, testing them because He already knew what He was going to do. This is a pretty astounding divine practical joke. It's like Candid Camera, only the audience is God and us. I wonder how many of their campfire stories started, "You should have seen your face!" But what I love are His humor, His spontaneity, and His supreme enjoyment of feeding people. Anytime I meet someone who loves feeding people, my heart warms. I just love that quality in a person. It's just so welcoming, so loving. And that's the heart of my God. How often I worry and complain; I forget that He's playful and warmhearted and totally intent on taking care of me, even initiating the feast. He's so beautiful. 

As the mare Hwin says in C. S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy, "You're so beautiful . . . You may eat me if you like. I'd rather be eaten by you than fed by anyone else." What a wonder He is! And he comes back to the people the next day, and they just want more bread, and He keeps telling them--"I am the bread. Eat Me and live." I just want more of Him.

Another beautiful thing is that He takes the boy's lunch, multiplies it so it feeds everyone, and then He doesn't waste even a crumb, but supplies the disciples with lunches for later. He wastes nothing we give Him, uses it all so beautifully.

Praises

• For some of the people I work with--the husband's brother and family have finally been able to come to Canada after 4 years in refugee limbo. It's awesome having them here. They are just learning English, so I'm having to stretch my limited Farsi skills in translating, but it's really good motivation to get back into learning it.
• I've started a class on dealing with cultural transitions. My first class was on Saturday. Several people came, and they said it was really useful. 
• I've gotten to meet a couple of new ladies recently.
• My landlord allowed this guy to move in upstairs and rent a room from here, and she's asked him to move out this weekend, which means that we'll have the house to ourselves again. Makes me feel a little more secure. 

Prayer requests

• Please pray for me as I continue to structure this class and put it together each week before I teach. I want it to be really useful for people.
• Please pray for divine appointments with ladies.
• Please pray for wisdom about the future.

Thank you for reading and for praying for me!

-Jennifer