What if i stumble.....

I use to listen to this song all the time and I heard it today on the way to Life Group. I do believe that this is a fear for many if not all of us as Christ followers, but none of us are perfect.....we will all stumble from time to time.

When I hear this song I can't help think of the little eyes that watch me every day and the little ears that hear and it brings me to my knees. I also can't help but to think of the students that have been in my life, are in my life and will be in my life. This is so very much the cry of my heart when I feel the weight of leading this next generation. God help me lead them, love them, guide them, protect them and teach them. And God help the majority of that be done just by them seeing the life I live myself.





"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today
Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

With what you have....

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

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 (NLT)

I love this story for so many reasons. But what sticks out to me the most is Jesus wasn't worried about what his people had to work with....he simply asks what do you have "How much bread do you have?". When they brought what they had Jesus multiplied it and they had plenty to feed the crowd.

This makes me think of my own experience in ministry and how I've felt inadequate at times. Jesus doesn't tell us to wait to do his work until we have enough bible knowledge or money...he tells us to GO and GO now. Yes, we need to study and read his word so we may be prepared in any circumstance. But sometimes I think that is used as a crutch. I know I have...."God, I don't know enough. How can I teach others about you?" or "God, I just don't have enough money right now to do give, but when I do have enough I will". See if we wait until we know enough or have enough we will never see our full potential in Christ and we will miss what he has for us. God doesn't care what we lack because he sees the outcome of our faithfulness. He knows that when we give out of what we DO have he will multiply that.

The disciples only had five loaves and two fish and they were looking at approx. FIVE THOUSAND men to feed (not including BTW the women and children). They were also tired and worn out from a day full of work! I'm sure that was quite over whelming. I believe my logical thinking would have been to send them away too! But no, Jesus says give me what you have. There are MILLIONS...BILLIONS of people who need to know the love of Jesus and guess what.....there's not enough time to wait until we have or know enough.