Loaves and Fishes

I was talking with a deeply skeptical friend yesterday about the possibility that God actually exists. She asked why there haven't been any miracles in the last two hundred years. I said I had heard of more recent miracles, including a barrel of food that miraculously stayed full, but I could not remember the details.

I may have found the details:
[Maybe. The way I remember the story, the miracle happened in a refugee camp in a war-torn African nation, and lasted for days. Maybe the same sort of Divine intervention happened twice in recent years; more likely I just remember the story wrong].


Subject: Miraculous Provision

A close friend of mine, Gayle Smith who has been shown some of the forthcoming tribulation events, was told by the Lord on one occasion that, "I will feed you, I will clothe you, I will put a roof over our head. I will protect you. All that I require is that you believe I will do it." Here is a perfect example of just that.

The following is copied verbatim from the July, 1999 Newsletter of Agape Harvest Church Ministries, Blue Springs, MO pastored by Dr. Daniel E. Bohler.

This month we want to share with you about a Miracle Provision from the Lord. It happened with Tom and Wanda Shaw, Founders and Directors of Tree of Life Ministries, including a home and school for underprivileged children in Honduras, Central America:

"We, His servants, occasionally have the privilege of being where He is moving in a big way. Such was the case when our ministry team went to feed the refugees who were flooded out of their homes as a result of Hurricane Mitch. The storm had stolen the lives of 6,000 people in Honduras. Thousands more were left homeless. We learned from the authorities that 3,500 people were being sheltered at Camp Agas, the refugees flood center in San Pedro Sula. My wife and I were shocked to hear that many of those people had not eaten for three days! "Our school was not damaged by the hurricane and God had blessed our crops and ministry so that we had ample food with which to feed our students.

However, when Mitch hit, schools all over the nation were abruptly forced to close. Our school was no exception. Thankfully, we were in a position to help those destitute people, now stranded on what had been the San Pedro Sula fairgrounds. "When we arrived there, we turned over several hundred five pound bags of corn, rice, and beans to the authorities. We knew it could take quite a while...even days...before the officials could organize the cooking and distributing of that dry food.

The situation was so grim, that we also brought in three 20 gallon tubs of cooked food for immediate distribution to these starving victims. While we knew it was impossible for us to feed all the refugees, we were hoping to at least be able to feed the children.

"The pastor who took us in warned me that our reception could be crude. It seemed the government was moving too slowly and desperation was overwhelming the hungry families. One of the camp's main officials had come to assess the situation just one day earlier. In anger and frustration, the people threw garbage and shoes at him and drove him off.

I knew my team would have to face several challenges. The first one being that we only had enough food for the children. "When 1,000 children lined up, I became panicky. Beside the line of children was another long line of elderly people. Mothers with babies were in still another line. We had only two tubs of cooked rice and milk mixture and one tub of cooked beans. It appeared we were facing devastation!

The first half of the children who passed through the line quickly consumed the two tubs of rice and milk. We had just one tub left. It contained the beans, which were to be accompanied with a tortilla.

"We brought the rest of the children on through the line, but I began to feel anxious sorrow. I could see we were not going to have enough food to make it to the end of the line. There was no way for that tub of beans to stretch to feed all those children! Despair overwhelmed me as I stood looking at the line trying to judge how quickly the food would run out. It was an impossible situation!

To make matters worse, some of the children would try to slip back into the line for another helping. The scenario was growing increasingly chaotic and the line difficult to control. I could not bear to observe this hunger inspired chaos any longer!

"As I walked outside the building, I cried out to the Lord in my heart. Then, for 15 or 20 minutes, I just stood there watching the line of people pass into the building. When I went back inside, I expected the tub to be nearly empty. That meant I would have to cut the line off and turn the rest of them away, still hungry. Yet, when I looked, there was more food in that tub than there was when I left! The supply of beans did not seem to be diminishing. The servers just kept on scooping up beans and handing them to the hungry children.

My daughter, Brenda, was one of the servers. She remarked later, "Dad, it seemed strange that there was no change in the amount of food left in the tub. It just stayed at the same level, no matter how many people we fed!"

"Soon, I realized that all the children had been fed, and still the tub of beans remained lull! We were able to serve the entire line of adults and everyone else we could beckon to come and eat! A 'MIRACLE OF PROVISION" was happening right before our eyes.

It was just like the miracle Jesus did when He made two little fish and five small barley loaves stretch to feed five thousand men, plus women and children! "We do not really know how many we fed. One thing is certain. Everyone was fed who wanted to eat!

"Afterwards, we knew there was one more very important thing we had to do. So, after we fed everyone, we gathered the people into the bull ring. It was sad to watch as whole families tried to assemble themselves on their little cots so they could sit and hear us.

Then, we boldly proclaimed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and made sure they knew that God was not the author of their pain and that He cared about them. We made certain they understood that what we had done for them was just a small expression of what God would like to do for them. We were able to give them the most valuable food of all!" "TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY."