Love In A Lunch-Box… Hello Weekend readers. As I write this on Thursday, Sept 28, my heart turns to so many who seem not to matter. Why? Well, if they do shut-down the government, millions of adults and children will be in danger of loss of medicine, food, etc. If you listen to the nay-sayers wanting to shut down the government, you hear no compassion for those who live on the fringes, no empathy for those who would lose their pay-check, no care for others but themselves.

Yet we elected them to take care of our government, take care of your constituents and protect our democracy. Obviously the pay no heed to the words of President Lincoln, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”  In listening to the political-tripe, I can only sum up this fact about what they believe: “people don’t matter, but our position and our status in politics do.”

In a country of abundant affluence, how can we say we have nothing else to give our people? Is it because we can’t—or we just won’t? This brings me to a day on the seaside of Galilee where 5,000 men (children/women didn’t count) were fed with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. Every time I relive this Bible event, I come away with feeling fed and a loving peace that I matter. And that is the crux of this story—Jesus loves us so much—ALL OF US—that he can take what is measly and turn it into a banquet! Oh—and this story is also a reminder of how we feel about others. Even though they didn’t count the women and the children, WHO came forward with the bread and fish—a young boy. Don’t you just love the faith of a child?! Maybe he wasn’t counted like the men, but he counted to Jesus—HE MATTERED!

Let’s take a gander into the Message bible on John 6: Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee (some call it Tiberias). A huge crowd followed him, attracted by the miracles they had seen him do among the sick. When he got to the other side, he climbed a hill and sat down, surrounded by his disciples. It was nearly time for the Feast of Passover, kept annually by the Jews. When Jesus looked out and saw that a large crowd had arrived, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” He said this to stretch Philip’s faith. He already knew what he was going to do. Philip answered, “Two hundred silver pieces wouldn’t be enough to buy bread for each person to get a piece.” One of the disciples (Andrew), said, “There’s a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket for a crowd like this.” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”

Don’t you love it when Jesus paid no attention to their unbelief and told them to make the people sit down? I would have loved to “hear their thoughts” on this one! What they forgot to remember was “all people matter” to Jesus. Ethnicity, status, faith—none of that mattered. And the disciples also forgot the goodness of God, the miracles they had already seen, and the fact that Jesus was God’s Son who had demonstrated those miracles before their very eyes. Oh, so little faith and so little empathy, as if they would lose their lunch because of so many other people. It’s like when I want to make a cake, or dinner, I have my ingredients ready (usually) and then I get busy providing something yummy for my family. Isn’t that exactly what God does? From one person to a global count, God provides—even those who do not worship God or have an inkling of who God is.

I find it interesting how God uses the people who many think “these folks don’t matter, they are nothing in my universe” in just the right time…even putting them smack-dad in the middle of a miracle? We find that over and over again from Genesis to Revelation and God is still doing it today—right in our midst.

We all have days where we feel we don’t fit in—don’t count for anything—don’t matter—and that is a travesty for both believer and non-believer. Remind yourself of this bread and fish miracle and never forget who came forward…a child—not worthy of being counted—until Jesus showed up and made that “box-lunch meal” a feast for thousands. O precious child of God, you are seen, you are counted, you are significant—in the love of God the Father, Jesus His Son and the Holy Spirit—YOU MATTER—always. AMEN.