5000 men

Jesus fed 5000 men (plus women and children) with five loves of home made peasant bread and 2 small fishes.   We can read about this amazing miracle in Matthew 14:15-22, "And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.  But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.  And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me.  And he  commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.  And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full.  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children. And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away."   This was a super miracle. Everybody had been there all day and many of them had not brought anything with them to eat. One little boy had a lunch his mother prepared for him. He was willing to share it, and then Jesus prayed, and shared it with the disciples, who shared it with the people. And when all was said and done, after all the people had eaten all they wanted, 12 baskets of fragments, of leftovers if you will, were gathered up.   Where did all these people come from? Five thousand men, plus woman and children. That is a whole lot of people. Jesus did not advertise, "come to hear the gospel by the sea." There were no newspapers, or radio or television in those days. They did not have the internet with UTube to promote things. In fact, Jesus did absolutely NO advertising of any kind.   These people could have all been someplace else. They had jobs. They had other things that probably needed doing. So what was it that caused them to skip work, to stop their house cleaning, to set aside all the plans for that day to go and listen to Jesus instead?   I am trying to put myself right into the story. WHAT was the thing that drew these people to Jesus.What could he have possibly said or done that would make all these people from all different walks of life, from poor people to wealthy people, from the leaders to the lowliest followers come  out to hear Jesus?   It was the fact that Jesus LOVED them. He was talking to them about a kingdom founded on LOVE. His ideas and concepts were so startling and innovative, so mind boggling and yet compelling that these 5000 men (plus women and children) not only came to hear what Jesus said, they stayed all day. They were spell bound by what they were hearing.   It made sense. It fed the deep longings of their hearts. Jesus showed them he loved them. There were entire villages  where Jesus had passed through where there was not even one sick person. Jesus had healed them all. He LOVED them.   He did not just TALK about love, he WALKED the walk about love. He healed them all. And here we find that the disciples were concerned. These people had been listening to Jesus all day!!! They had not gone anywhere. They could not get enough. And now it was almost night. The disciples were suddenly aware that THEY were hungry. They said, "Jesus, send the people away so they can go into the surrounding towns and villages and get something to eat." And Jesus said, "no.I have a better idea. YOU feed them."   With WHAT? the disciples asked. Even if we had thousands of dollars, we can not buy a meal out here away from all the towns and villages. There are no facilities here to cook anything. How are we supposed to feed this vast multitude. There were probably at least 10,000 people there including women and children as well as the men. Imagine the expense of catering for that many people. It would have cost a fortune, if it could have even been done. I mean a simple wedding meal today costs several thousand dollars for a few hundred guests.   And Jesus said, YOU feed them. One disciple said, "all we have is this one little boys sack lunch." All it is is 5 small loves and two tiny fishes. What good is that among 10,000 people? It barely will feed the boy who brought it. You have got to be kidding Jesus. Feed these people. HOW???   Then Jesus blessed that tiny bit of food and started giving it to his disciples. They started handing it out to the crowd of people. And everyone ate all they needed, and there were twelve baskets of left overs. One basket for each disciple. YES!! It was a miracle.   The disciples knew it. The people knew it. The little boy who shared his lunch with Jesus knew it.   Imagine the story he had to tell his mother.   "Mom!! You won't believe what happened!! Jesus took that little lunch you gave me and fed over ten thousand people."   Why did not Jesus send the crowds away hungry? It would have been the sensible thing to do. It was what the disciples suggested.   I would suggest that he did not send them away hungry because He felt their need. He loved them. This was just a graphic illustration of God's love, of Jesus love. He was teaching everyone, including the twelve apostles, a lesson. It was a lesson that they never forgot. And now we can read about it in the bible.   The reason all those people came out to hear Jesus was that he LOVED them.   Sincerely, David A. Youngs

Crazy People IV

Note: the names have been changed to protect the guilty and the crazy.

Will the craziness ever end? One evening my telephone rang. It was Adam.


"I need your help. My wife Eve is in jail."

"What!? What happened?"

"Well, it is all a big mistake. Eve and I were fighting and she beat me up. Then she threatened to kill herself and I called 911. The police showed up and after they questioned us both, they hauled her off to jail."

"Why did they do that?"


"Well, she did not deny she had hit me, and I have a small scratch on my forehead. So they took her off to jail. She is being charged with a felony, and her bail is set at $50,000. You gotta help me."


"Well, I don't have any money. You promised me you would not call 911 any more. Remember the last time you did that, the police came over and wanted to see Eve? She wasn't there, and the police came back during dinner and demanded to see her to see if she was alive. You promised me you would not call 911 any more."


"What am I supposed to do when Eve threatens to kill herself?"


"You might just try talking her out of it. Every time you call 911, the police get involved. Haven't you figured that out yet? By the way, what were you and Eve fighting about any way?

"Oh, I don't know. I might have mentioned to her that I no longer loved her and that I loved our next door neighbor much more than I ever loved her. And then she just up and hit me!!"

"Hmmmm. I wonder why....."

"Okay. But what do I do now that Eve is in jail?"

"You might try waiting and seeing what happens."

"Oh, I can't do THAT. I am responsible for Eve being in jail, and I have to get her out."

"All right. So what do you think you are going to do?"

"I am going to call the district attorney right now and tell him what a big mistake has been made."

"Adam!! I am not sure that is such a good idea. You haven't done real well in calling people lately. It might be better to wait a while."

"Oh, I can't wait. No!! I am going to call the district attorney right now. Bye."

And with that bit of news, Adam was no longer on the line.

I waited about two hours and called Adam back.

"Hey Adam, how are things going?"

"Just terrible. Did I tell you my wife Eve is in jail?"

"Yes... about two hours ago you told me that Adam. Are you okay?"

"Well, I am okay. But I put Eve in jail. It is my fault. And the district attorney won't talk to me."

"Hmmmm. Why doesn't that suprise me? Why don't you get some sleep and call me back in the morning."

"Okay David, but I did get ahold of the district attorney's secretary. She says she doesn't know anything about the case yet. They don't even have the paper work yet."

"Look Adam, there is NOTHING more you can do right now. Why don't you go to bed and go to sleep?"

"My wife Eve is not going to sleep. She is in JAIL!!! And it is all my fault. I feel like going out and killing myself. But then who will feed the cats?"

"Okay Adam, I see your point. Why don't you just stay up all night. Then you will be in real good shape to face tomorrow."

"Oh I don't know David. I am so tired. I think I might go to sleep."

"Well if that is what you really want to do Adam. I will leave that decision with you. YAWN... I know I am really tired Adam. I am going to bed now. Goodbye."

When I woke up in the morning, there were several messages on my voice mail. Guess who they were from? They were of course from Adam. So I called him.

"Adam, this is David. What are the visiting hours so my wife and I can go and visit your wife in jail?"

"I don't know David. I will have to get back to you on that. The secretary to the district attorney said she will call me back just as soon as she gets any information on my wife's case. I have to stay right by the phone in case she calls."

"Well, Okay Adam. It sounds like things are all under control."

"But my dear wife Eve is in JAIL!!!"

"Yes, we have already covered that. She is in jail. I know that Adam."

"But you don't understand David. It is my fault she is there. I was the one that called 911. Then the police came and took her to jail. I feel like hanging myself. What am I going to do?"

"You are going to wait for the secretary of the district attorney to call you on the telephone. That is what you are going to do Adam."

"Oh yeah. Right. David, I have to go. She might be calling me right now."

"Okay Adam. Call me back when you find out the visiting hours, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Goodbye."

Several hours went bye. Adam did not call. Finally I felt like I should call just to see if he was still alive.

"Hello Adam. Hey, did you ever find out when visiting hours are? My wife and I would like to visit Eve in jail and encourage her."

"Oh I don't know when the visiting hours are. But you can't visit her in jail. She is OUT!! It was a miracle. The district attorney's secretary called finally. They had just gotten the paper work. I told her it was all a big mistake. I was NOT pressing charges. She finally asked me what I wanted to do. I told her, 'drop the charges against Eve.' And so she did. And now Eve is out and is on her way home on the bus. It is a miracle I tell you. A miracle."

"Wow. That is great news Adam. And you did not have to post bail or anything."

"No. I think Eve is coming in right now. David, Eve is home. I gotta go."

"Just don't call 911 any more Adam."

"Oh, I know better than that. I won't. I gotta run David. Eve is HOME!!!"

Later I called back and talked briefly with Eve. She had a rough night in jail. Nobody threatened her and she was treated real nice by everybody, but still she was in JAIL!! And she vomited everytime she ate anything because she was so stressed out. She was glad to be back home with Adam, and hoping that they could work things out.

Why do I think that there may be some more adventures before they get everything all "worked out?"

People are acting crazy.
Try to act like you are sane.

David A. Youngs