Anyone who knows my family knows that we love weird experiences. So on our vacation, we made sure to dine with Medieval knights while feasting on half a chicken with our fingers. We also ventured into a local spot in Orlando that had around 20 food trucks where English was not spoken. We used a lot of gestures and pointing, but ate well.
So trying new places is pretty common for us. My husband and I visited my son at college last night and decided to try a new restaurant in town. After a 40 minute wait to sit and another 40 wait for food, we were practically drooling. Keep in mind that one group after another left the restaurant praising the food. Since they specialized in seafood, I ordered the specialty shrimp. I was so excited until the large serving was placed before me. It was a mixture of the frozen medley that you get at Walmart- the one with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. It was mixed with rice, some sauted shrimp, and pineapple from a can.
It was the same sweet-and-sour shrimp that I make at home when I'm on a budget. One of my son's friends ordered a burger because that's what he always orders. We made fun of him.
Now, as I looked at my plate and his yummy burger, I felt envy. Look who's laughing now. It wasn't me. I bit into my cauliflower and noticed it was cold. Dread crept up my spine. I ventured toward the shrimp and bit into it. It wasn't bad, but nothing amazing. I took another bite and chewed, and chewed, and chewed. Something felt wrong. I spit my shrimp into a napkin and noticed that the other shrimp on the plate were raw. They were still translucent! My restaurant streak continued.
Usually when I order, the restaurant will be out of whatever I order, will forget my order, or, my favorite, will tell me that I don't want to order that because the chef can't make it well and I'll regret it. Thoughts of every bacteria that could be contracted by eating raw shrimp started going through my head. Was I going to be puking by midnight?
As I stared at my shiny shrimp, my husband asked if I would like to order something else. I responded, "Yes. I want to order Krispy Kreme." We went there afterwards, and all my sadness faded away in the splendor of glazed goodness. Today we had a missionary speak from
Matthew 15:29-39. In this passage, Jesus is healing and speaking to four thousand men, along with many women and children.
After three days of teaching, the people are going no where, but Jesus shows concern for his followers and their hunger. He asks his disciples to gather some bread and fish, and they come up with seven small loaves of bread and some small fish. Keep in mind that Jesus has already multiplied bread and fish to feed five thousand, so this should be nothing new for his disciples, yet they still doubted His abilities. Jesus prayed, broke the bread, gave it to the disciples, and they distributed it out to everyone. All were filled to the point that they were no longer hungry. As the missionary spoke this morning, two things stood out to me.
First, he mentioned that Jesus showed compassion on His people. The people were not complaining about being hungry.
He knew them well enough to recognize what they needed even before they knew it. Second, He would not send anyone away still hungry. We all are hungry for something. It may be a vacation and peace, more money for a stable life, love from others, acceptance, value, respect, or to be wanted.
We may not even be aware that we are hungry for something, but God knows what we truly crave. He wants to meet the need before we even ask, so He sends people to tell you how valuable you are. He sends His Word to tell you that you are accepted, loved, valuable, and wanted. He tells you that He wants to provide for you, whether it is with peace when things are hard, or giving you love or provision through others.
He knows exactly what you need before you even ask and does not want to send you away hungry. So what do we need to do in order to be filled? The four thousand just went to Jesus, opened their hands, and took it.
He asks you to just come to Him, open your heart, and take His love. It's free and never-ending. His love will fill every hunger and is way better than a thousand Krispy Kremes.
Have a great week high-heeled warriors!
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