Jesus the Provider
One bright, sunny day, Julia Elizabeth Mumme, age 8, was sitting in her room in Chandler, Arizona, looking at the pictures in her bible around lunch time. "Look Pamela, Kendyl, and Megan," she said as she turned the pages. "Here is a picture of a little boy just about my size. He is sharing his lunch with Jesus."
Julia began to imagine what it must have been like near the Sea of Galilee and pictured herself there. In fact, she could even sense a cool breeze blowing across the water, feel the soft, green grass swaying around her, and smell the sweetness of the beautiful flowers growing along the mountainside.
"Pamela, Kendyl, and Megan, come here quickly!" Julia yelled. "look at all these people scattered across the mountainside. I wonder what they are doing? Let's race to the top and see what's going on. Ready, get set, go!" As Julia reached the top first, she shouted, "Hurray, I won!"
After running so hard for such a long distance, Julia was very tired. Pamela, Kendyl, and Megan suggested to her that they should sit down and rest for a while in the plush, soft grass. "I'm getting a little hungry," said Nola. "Let's have a picnic under this shady olive tree."
Pamela, Kendyl, and Megan agreed that having a picnic in such a beautiful place would be a wonderful idea. Before they began eating, some people from the crowd approached them, noticing the food that Julia had just spread out on a cloth. One of the men spoke to Julia, "We are very hungry and noticed that you have five loaves of barley and two fish. Will you share with us?"
Julia remembered Pamela, Kendyl, and Megan telling her it was polite to share, so she answered, "Yes, I will be happy to share my lunch with you, though I am afraid I only have these five loaves of barley bread and two fish. "Surely this is not enough to feed this many people."The man, who was one of Jesus' disciples, replied that he would take it to Jesus. Now Julia was very curious to see how many people would be able to eat from such a small amount of food. She recalled Pamela, Kendyl, and Megan telling her about the many miracles Jesus had performed and thought something very exciting was about to happen.
When all the people were seated in groups of fifties and hundreds, Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish from the disciple. He looked up to heaven, blessed the food and gave thanks for it. He then gave the food to the disciples, who in turn passed the food to Julia and all the other people.
All five thousand men, women and children ate and ate until they could hold no more. When everyone had feasted, Jesus commanded the disciples to collect any food that had not been eaten. Julia began to count. "Wow! There are still twelve baskets full of food. I was right; something very exciting did happen!" exclaimed Julia.
About this time Julia heard a growling, rumbling noise. She realized that it was her stomach reminding her how hungry she really was. "We really had fun picturing the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, didn't we Pamela, Kendyl, and Megan? This is one story I will never forget!"