What can you do?

People are always telling kids what you can't do. You can't ride the roller coaster at the Great Escape because you're not tall enough. You can't ride your bike alone because you're not old enough.

Jesus had that problem, too. People always told Him what He couldn't do. Even when he tried to teach about God, they couldn't believe Him, because they didn't have enough faith!

But in this week's Gospel (Matthew 14:13-21), Jesus proves He's right.

Jesus healed the sick and taught a crowd of 5,000 people about God. When it got late, the Apostles wanted them to go home, but Jesus said, "Feed them yourself." "But we only have five loaves of bread and two fish!" the Apostles said. So Jesus had everyone sit down. He blessed the food and passed it around -- and suddenly, there was enough for everyone, with lots left over!

Jesus could have acted that way, too. There were 5,000 hungry people in front of Him, and the Apostles were telling Him that He was crazy for saying He could feed them all. It would have been easy for Jesus to get angry and give up.

When someone tells you that you can't do something, you might look at all the other things you can do. Maybe you're not tall enough to ride a roller coaster, but you like water slides better, anyway! Then you see that there's lots of things you can do.

Jesus found the same answer. Even though He only had a little bread and fish, He knew that God could feed all those people. He prayed about it, and just like that, there was enough food for everybody!

Jesus didn't look at what people couldn't do -- He looked at what God could!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me see all the good things I CAN do! Amen.

(07-29-99)