As Joe watched in the food bank, the one thing that caught his attention was a shelf of cans of soup.
The soup cans were extra large, 2 litre cans of Campbell's soup, donated by a local company, the kind that had enough soup for more than just a mouthful!
We would put them on the shelf in the morning, and then give them out, only to the large families, because we didn't have enough to give one to everyone, and plus, we wanted to be fair in our distribution, so we would give the smaller families the next size down. The singles we would give a small can of soup, or one of those dry noodle soups.
i can remember racing home, all excited about what had been given that day, and how God had shown Himself for the people, and being grunted at. It was frustrating, knowing that i was seeing miracles, today, of multiplication, and trying to share them with the people in my house, and being cut down. I began to pray that God would prove Himself to them, so that they would believe for themselves, and not have to hear it just from me.
Anyways, week by week Joe would watch that shelf of soup cans, counting how many were put on the shelf, watching the hampers being packed, counting how many hampers went out, counting how many soup cans went into each hamper, making sure that no one was putting extra in the hampers, or stashing soup cans in the garage for later. He watched that shelf like a hawk, without telling anyone what he was doing.
Little did we know that he was trying to catch us lying, because he really thought that i was stretching the truth, that i was exaggerating the stories that i would tell him when i got home about how God had intervened, about how people had shown up at right the exact time we needed them, with exactly what we needed. I'd actually had people ask me why he was just sitting there, watching, and i'd made some excuse about him being bored at home because of his injury, but i knew that he was beginning to make people kind of nervous!
Finally one day, he came home, after sitting on his stool in the corner, watching the goings on in the food bank, and he said, "I think I finally believe you."
I was a little mystified, and i asked him what he meant.
"Well, you would come home all excited, with all these stories about what 'God' was doing, but i didn't believe you, so i decided i was going to watch the soup can shelf. I counted how many cans were loaded in the shelf, i counted how many cans were put into the hampers, i counted how many hampers went out. It didn't add up. So, for the last few weeks, i've been counting soup cans. It still doesn't add up. Today, i watched them put 38 cans in the bin, and i counted them. So i know. And then i counted as they gave out 52 cans of soup. I made sure i stayed there all day, and marked down every single can of soup they gave out. I know i didn't miss one. And they gave out 52 cans."
There was a small tear flowing, as he said again, "I think I finally believe you."
This is a true story - only Joe's name has been changed, and he is still alive to tell the story! The loaves and the fishes miracles still happen today.
Jesus Christ is still in the miracle business.
Don't ever let anyone tell you any different! He still multiplies food.
In God's Kingdom economy, 2 and 2 don't just add up to 4, they always add up to whatever you need, and usually more than you need, just for good measure!!
We just need to pray over the food, give it to Him, and ask Him to glorify Himself, and then trust Him that He knows how much we need! And then stand back and watch.
It doesn't always happen the same exact way, because we have a creative God, and He never operates the way we expect Him to - He likes to surprise us!
I think too, that God will do extra special things, just to prove Himself when someone has issued a challenge, sometimes even going over the top, just to make it so obvious to that person, because He so wants to reveal Himself - He wants us to believe that He is who He says He is!
I also think that sometimes He will hold back if we are getting too complacent, in order to make us desperate for Him again. He loves to reveal Himself faithful to a thirsty, desperate heart!
The disciples gathered up 12 baskets full of left over bread! To God be the praise! His mercies are new every morning!
