We needed loaves but I guess we didn’t need any fish

Hello again and Praise God. I know I say this every week but this was a really exciting week for us. In my opinion a few amazing things happened this week. The first started when my family and I were making the sandwiches on Thursday morning. Lately we have been making 40 lunches per week. So as I have been buying supplies, I buy in of denominations of 40’s (80, 120, 200 and so on) Well a lot of things I stock pile when they are cheap or on sale. The exception to this is the bread, I really can’t buy it ahead or it would go bad before I could use it. SO, that being said I went to make sandwiches on Thursday and God really put it on my heart to make 48 sandwiches instead of 40. So, OK no biggie, He tells me to make 48, we make 48. As we are putting the lunches together it is going along fine until we get to the sandwiches and I realize that I have plenty of everything but only the normal amount of bread, 4 loaves. I buy 4 loaves each week, 1 loaf makes 10 sandwiches so 4 loaves is what it takes, no leftovers. I say to Jenn what I just told you, so I go to the bread box and grab the Heinz family bread and say well Jenn you are about to donate a loaf of bread. So we start making the sandwiches and as we are laying out the bread and putting the meat and cheese on and it is not adding up. I am not coming out right. As it turns out we make 48 sandwiches out of the 4 original loaves, not using any of the Heinz bread and we still have 3 slices left over. I am not sure if in the bread I bought the slices were thinner making more slices or what. All I know is that God wanted 48 sandwiches and He provided the way and I still can’t quite understand how it happened. All I know is that God is in this, and He loves that we make sandwiches for Him.
 
I had a Jamie Sellers from Good News here in St. Augustine come with me to hand out sandwiches. He was very excited to go and I was very thankful for the assistance. We started out pretty much like normal, handing out sandwiches around the neighbor hood until we got to the Bible study. We get to the bible study and there seems to be a few people around and it seems after 2 weeks ago (see Bible Study and Beer?) People are starting to come back. It seemed like it as going to be pretty thin but as we started to gather together to pray people were coming out of the woodwork. I opened us up in prayer and then something wonderful happened, one lady Rene asked is she could pray also and I said please feel free.
 
I am about to quote her prayer as best as I can recall it, because I feel that it is important for you to know exactly what she said. I am also not betraying her trust by doing this because she wants other people to know what is going on here on this street every week.
 
“God we thank you for these men, we thank you for this man that comes every week. We thank you that when they see us here they don’t see alcoholics, drug addicts, prostitutes or any other stereotype, they just see people that they love and want to help out and share Your word with. Father I ask that you strengthen them and encourage them to keep coming back and to keep doing this each week. Because they are not only feeding us physically but also feeding us spiritually. Let them know that this is appreciated and looked forward to by many in this neighborhood. God I just pray that a special blessing be over them and inspire them to continue. Amen”
 
Now put yourself in my shoes and imagine having to then lead a study after that. I wanted to just melt right where I was after hearing such touching words. But God gave me the Peace that surpasses understanding and I was able to carry on.  
 
Someone in the group really wanted to read Psalm 136, so we started there. I love it when people in the group have passages that they want to read and share we everyone. I encourage you to read it as well. We then moved on to 1 Corinthians 10. Through the study I tried to touch on that we all have struggles and none are perfect and that we are all just works in progress, I was still trying to diffuse the Beer incident from weeks ago. The group picked up on this and an older gentleman put it this way. We know that eating or drinking really isn’t wrong if its received in thanksgiving and does not cause another to stumble. But he should not have had that beer during the study out of respect for what you (us) are doing here in our neighborhood.

So that was that. I think our group just made it through its first dispute and now has made it a stronger group. So, we will just have to wait and see what next week brings.

I want to thank you again for your prayer support and just know that it is working and is appreciated and making a difference in the lives of people. Thank You. For His Glory, Mitch

comments (3)

1. Frank & Darlene Helmly Says:
June 25th, 2006 at 6:20 pm Amen! Thank you for sharing Rene’s prayer - may the Lord answer it in your life and may He work the same way in all our lives!

2. Debbie King Says:
June 26th, 2006 at 10:26 am Mitch, I can’t put in words how much I look forward to reading your update every week and see how wonderfully God works in your ministry. It is so heart warming and gives me such a lift each week. Thank you for being such a special servant. I am so proud of you. Lots of Love….

3. Kara Watson (Blackburn) Says:
June 26th, 2006 at 7:45 pm Mitch, I can’t tell you how excited I continue to be for you and this ministry! I hope to see you and Jen when you visit in July. I’d love to share stories. Keep fishin’ Kara