hey team, i know about half of us are at home and the other few are finishing up school and whatnot, but i just wanted to drop a line and say hello to everyone out there and see how we're all doing?
i have been home now for a few days already and it has gotten hard quick!
just wanted to encourage everyone with some Word and what Jesus was teaching me:
30 The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught.
31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.
32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. 33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.
34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.
36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”
37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”
“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
38 “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”
They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.
42 They all ate as much as they wanted,
43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.
44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!
mark 6:30-44
i was looking at this story for today on that list Erik gave out and it was originally John 6 but decided to read all of the same stories of Jesus feeding the 5000 and i liked this one a lot. this comes right after Jesus has sent the disciples out to minister and perform miracles and healing acts and then his best friend John the baptist has been murdered. so the i'm thinking the disciples have been super busy and are tired and frustrated and they come to Jesus and he tells them they must rest. but, because of what Jesus has been doing, giving signs and such, people are following him like the paparazzi, then the disciples get pissed because they are probably tired of being around people. anyways, what i like best about this, was in the John version (6:4) it says "the time of the passover is at hand" and so thinking through that and the disciples being hungry, what does Jesus do? HE feeds them, he tells the disciples to rest and eat. why does it say that the passover was at hand? because this event is symbolic of the Ultimate passover and the whole reason Jesus was living on this earth, to give His body as the bread to eat and "be satisfied" by.
this blew my mind, Jesus wanted the disciples to rest by eating food He gives, by being satisfied by Him and Him alone. i know school has been crazy (or still is) and then transitioning to home for the summer can be hectic and stressful too, but Jesus wants us to "come away and rest for a while" by resting in the food He provides; rest in His work, eat of His body.
i know i'm struggling to do that, but ask that you guys fight with me, let's all fight to eat of Jesus while we're at home and not our own agenda. and let's fight to pray for each other and Malaysia! we're only weeks away!
love you all,
rach
