A story from the Bible that most of you are familiar with is the boy with the lunch of five loaves and two small fish. This morning I’m going to share a personal experience that is very similar.
My story is about a truck bed filled with broccoli.
Years ago, when our children were little Dave had a connection with a vegetable grower. He had acres of all kinds of vegetables and would occasionally tell Dave to stop by a field and “take as much as you want”. This particular day Dave came home with the bed of his mini truck filled with freshly harvested broccoli.
What in the world would we do with all this broccoli?
Since Dave was on his lunch break from work, the first thing I did was steam up a large pot of it, cover it with melted butter and served it up on his plate. He loved it! We were going through a particularly rough time financially. Work had been hard to find and we felt blessed that Dave had the job he did but after we paid the rent and utilities there was very little left for groceries. That made this lunch particularly delicious – God had supplied!
Before he left to go back to work, Dave unloaded the broccoli in the kids little red wagon. It was overflowing and I took the rest into the house, washed it and put it in the near empty refrigerator. And then I sent the kids up and down the block offering broccoli to any and all who wanted some.
As they left, I remembered the story of the little boy’s lunch and how Jesus blessed it and it multiplied.
“Late in the afternoon, the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, “No one lives in this place. Send the people away. They need to find food and places to sleep in the farms and towns around here.”
13 But Jesus said to the apostles, “You give them something to eat.”
They said, “We have only five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you want us to go buy food for all these people?” There are too many! 14 (There were about 5000 men there.)
Jesus said to his followers, “Tell the people to sit in groups of about 50 people.”
15 So the followers did this and everyone sat down. 16 Then Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish. He looked up into the sky and thanked God for the food. Then he broke it into pieces, which he gave to the followers to give to the people. 17 They all ate until they were full. And there was a lot of food left. Twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of food that were not eaten.” Luke 9:12-17 ERV
This is the story I read as part of my morning devotions today and every time I read it, it reminds me of how the Lord provided for us with a wagon of broccoli. As the kids headed off with their wagon I remembered praying, “Lord, I’m sharing this broccoli like the boy shared his lunch. Thank you for providing for my family. Thank you for giving us something to go with the broccoli to make a proper meal”.
When the kids got home they were very excited because the neighbors were all so happy to take some of the treasure from their wagon. We certainly didn’t want to waste anything the Lord had provided. So, the proper thing to do was to share.
I put the kids to down for their naps and went about my afternoon chores. Shortly before Dave was to be home from work there was a knock at the door. It was a friend; he had just come from the meat packing plant where he had picked up a beef they had butchered. He gave me a dozen packages of ground beef. He had cheese, butter and milk too – he was a dairyman and he had brought some of his surplus to share with us.
I was overwhelmed by God’s goodness. We had given broccoli and had received all the makings for a full dinner! Like the little boy who had given his lunch and received back more than he had given up, we received so much more than we had given.
I’ve never forgotten the lessons of trusting and giving that the Lord taught me in those early days of our marriage. God has always been faithful to His word and He has never abandon or deserted us.
“My God will use his glorious riches to give you everything you need. He will do this through Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 ERV
I don’t know the needs that you may have today but I know my God can and does bring the supply. Trust Him, give Him what you have – it may be a small lunch or a wagon full of broccoli – and watch what He will do.