Just a Piece of Bread

Jesus feed the Five Thousand. Who hasn't heard or read that Bible story? Let me refresh your memory, from the book of Matthew.

After John the Baptist is beheaded, Jesus heard what had happened; he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the village and buy themselves some food."

Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. "Bring them here to me," he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the
loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. Matthew 14: 13-20

Jesus was grieving the loss of John, yet Jesus did not ignore the people in the crowds. He "had compassion" and he use his Heavenly Gift and "healed their sick." Then he wanted the crowds to stay and instructed the disciples to "give them something to eat." They told Jesus there were "five loaves of bread and two fish." Can we identify with the disciples? How many times have we thought or said, "I only have one night a week that I'm not busy. I only have fifty dollars left after the bills are paid. I only have one talent and that's such and such."

Don't we often feel like the disciples did? There's not enough. It's not good enough.

Don't we often feel like the person in the crowd that gave up their loaf of bread or their fish? "It's mine, I worked hard for this and now you want me to share with all these people?"

Don't we often forget to do as Jesus did, "looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves." There are two important messages in that verse. The first being gratitude and recognizing from where our gifts come. The second message is that even Jesus broke the loaves. He did not expect that one person would need the whole loaf, he shared broken pieces of the bread and fish and the crowd was satisfied.

Don't we often think we have to give so much, like a whole loaf to God and his community? Don't we forget that a piece of bread can satisfy us? Don't we forget that a piece of bread that we share with our church and community is so much better than hoarding the whole loaf for ourselves? Our Lord doesn't need our loaves of bread or fish; He wants us to share our pieces of bread or fish. Our church, our community is not asking for ALL of our time, talents and treasures. Just a piece from me, just a piece from you, and you, plus you. It all adds up to feed five thousand, think about it.

Baby Steps

Repent is a word you read or hear about in church. One of the meanings of repent is "reverse the harmful effects of the wrong where possible." A month ago I wrote about my do-or-die feeling about my health. I'm now on medication to lower my glucose levels and a medication to resolve my acid reflux. I don't want to be on medications, in fact I want to get off most of them entirely. In the past month some changes have been made in my life.

Stop eating sweets - since I was taking by blood sugar daily, I figured that although sugar is not always the main culprit in high blood sugar, it probably does not help it. So I started to cut-down on sweets and then "gave it up" for the Lenten season. I have "discovered" fruit again and a tasty dessert is low-fat vanilla yogurt with raspberries.

Start chewing my food - one fork or spoonful at a time. With my acid reflux flare-up of a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly found myself unable to swallow without pain. In order to get some food into me, I started really chewing my food (over 20 times per mouthful) so that I could swallow more easily. I discovered that I tasted the food while doing this. I was able to savor the flavor of the food, something I don't think I really ever did when I would gulp down my food so fast. In chewing my food more, I found that I ate much slower, now hubby finishes way before me. What a complete turn-around! By chewing more, eating slower, I feel full or I get tired of chewing, so my portions have decreased tremendously.

At the hospital that I work at, we have a bariatric program and we perform lap-band, gastric sleeve and bypass surgery. A part of that program has a food program or diet. If you have these procedures, you can not survive or will have ill-effects, if you don't follow the above chewing process. Another aspect of the food program is to have a large glass of water 30 minutes before eating. Then you don't drink any liquids with your meal. At first it was tough not drinking any liquids with my meal, because I would drink at least one large glass of water or milk with every meal. Another complete turn-around!

I knew that I was a candidate for these bariatric programs because of my BMI (Body Mass Index) and my health problems, but I did not want to have surgery. I thought that since I would have eat and drink like this if I did have surgery, I might as well try it without surgery. I have been pleasantly surprised by the results. I taste food. I feel full faster. I love water (always have). I can live without sweets. I have lost 7.5% of my body weight since the beginning of 2010. The experts claim that even losing 10% of your body weight can have significant improvement in your body and your health. So, I'm excited!

To be truthful, I did not think or believe that I could do such a complete turn-around or "repent" - reverse the harmful effects of the wrong where possible. To be truthful, I did not pray or ask God to help me with this, other then my constant questioning Him, "Why can't I lose weight?" But I got a mixed-blessing in the acid reflux flare-up, when I had to chew my food. I've read that a person should chew their food enough so that you could take it and feed it to a baby. Gross, I know! But women did this for their baby many years before Gerber came along. Part of a turn-around is taking steps in one direction and then changing course and taking steps in another direction. I call this taking my baby-steps towards good health. I have changed my lifestyle. I'm not on a diet, I still eat what I've always eaten (exception sweets).

Baby, here I come!