Encountering Jesus ~ Not so much about filling tummies... but lives...

I drive myself crazy when I write or make note of a quote that catches my attention and captures my considerations for a chunk of time... and forgot to include to whom that quote is attributed...

So I googled it and have included the attribution that I found... no guarantees as to accuracy ~ 

"Too often we fail to have eyes to see and ears to hear the God who is present in our lives, through either the sacraments or the events of everyday life."

(from the IVP New Testament Commentary Series "John")

I really liked this quote, however, because I think it relates to this passage in John that I've been studying.  I even touched on it last night while giving a testimony as we  made our first-for-this-furlough visit to one of our partnering churches: We like to quote verses like Romans 8:28 for all the hard or unexpected or bad times in our life - but it is also true for the amazing and the beautiful. It is also equally true for the mundane and everyday. God takes everything and intricately, magnificently, weaves it into His plan.

Apparently (if my source quote info googled correctly) the IVPNT Commentary writers agree.

“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. 

On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (John 6:43-59)

Jesus makes powerful, unheard of before sorts of claims in this passage. He refers to God as His Father... He tells His listeners He is the path to God, He is the One with resurrection power... He is the One about Whom the prophets prophesied... He is the Godman teaching about God...

And then He brings it back to something a bit more mundane... easier to wrap the mind around...

He is the Bread of Life.

Bread. Such an everyday thing. And yet EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I eat it, I could allow my thoughts to linger on Savior and what He did, does, is doing for me - continually. 

EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

Let me say that again: EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

Stop and think of how often we eat bread... or some form of grain. Think of how that simple act could cause us to give thanks and spend a few moments meditating on the sufficiency of and eternal provision from God. That simple, often multiple times daily deed can qualify as one of those everyday "all things work together for good" 

...if I will let it work like God has designed it to work.

Talk about living life in His immediate Presence!

I don't, though. 

Instead, like the skeptical Jews, I let myself get caught up in the debate and questions of "How can this be?" instead of accepting and rejoicing that it is... or rather, that He is. 

Or even worse, like those who started to follow Him, I try and totally wrap my finite mind around His "unfathomableness" and let it discourage me and wander away, saying it just doesn't make sense... or it is too "hard..." instead of exulting in eternity clothed in flesh and given to me... for me...

Go ahead and please hold me accountable. Any time. 

Ask me where my meditations focus as I munch my daily bread.

 this week's gratitude list

(#'s 4182 - 4203)

watching my little boy figure out how to do multiple digit multiplication in his head... and then having him beat me at multiplication/math jeopardy

walking into the dentist office Monday morning for an appointment I was quietly dreading and seeing my daddy's name on the sign in list before me. He was already gone... 
but it helped to  know he'd already walked a similar path on his Monday morning... 
and was on with the rest of his day.

a rip-roaring fast week

loaning fans

loaned fans returned

fall weather

numb toes while running because of that fall weather

Tim took Nadia squirrel hunting on a Monday morning

a rainy day before this hunting adventure... he says it helps 
with the silent stalking side of things 

waiting for them to get home and hear about the adventure

our first furlough meeting with one of our partnering churches - under our belt

the kids' delight at Taco Bell for dinner on the way home

REAL maple syrup... be still my heart, and taste buds!

Daddy and girls dancing (sorta) at a cousin's wedding

beta fish bowls with inhabitants making all the kiddos smile and easing ever so slightly that compelling need for a pet

awakening to the sound of balloons filling and lifting and flying... like right out our window (photos to come, later this week!)

laundry that needs to be done - simply because it symbolizes my full house... and full heart

little girl curled up into a ball, snuggled under her sister's giraffe blanket, looking forward to another day of first grade

no bake cookies in the mail shared with all by the birthday girl

bright pink hat, bright pink bike, bright pink bike helmet... all to celebrate 7 years

listening to our oldest-at-home giving a testimony of ways 
God allowed her to serve this last term in Niger

my "adopted" girlie feeling free to just pop by and hang out for that time in between school and church Wednesday night... and  that her presence makes my little girlies
smile so very much

  

Ten most recent posts in this series: 

• It's the beginning of a showdown!
• Jesus speaks with the Jews in charge
• "And what would YOU have said? What would YOU have done?"
• When seeing God at work just isn't what I expected
• "When did You get here?"
• "How do you know you are making God happy?"
• Because He says, "It is so..."
• Wanted "Every When"
• Bread of Heaven... Bread of Life
• "gong-good'-zo" - Go ahead and say that, just like it looks like it sounds.
• "Stop grumbling among yourselves!"

Click here for all of the titles and their corresponding links in the Encountering Jesus series.