Feed 5000? No Big Deal.

I was reading the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand in the gospel of Mark (you know? the five loaves & two fishies story?). It was followed by yet another miracle where Jesus walks on water. All of this is pretty gnarly if you ask me... or if you ask anyone, for that matter. But as I was reading, something struck me as even more crazy. When Jesus came over to the disciples in their boat... through a storm... while walking on the water... the text says "They were totally amazed, for they still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in"

What the WHAT?! From my standpoint, I hear this story and say "Whoa, how can they not let that penetrate their hearts?! He turned these itty bitties into copious amounts of food!! It's sooo obvious!!"

And then I live my life and don't even acknowledge the goodness granted to me.

I know God is God and He can do anything. It's literally no big deal for God to do great things. He's God! But much like the disciples in this story, I treat it like it's no big deal. I feel like I probably take advantage of the knowledge of His infinite ability and hardly let it strike me!

So here's the thing... God is good. He provides. He doesn't even need us to be like "Oh look what You did!". He just takes care of His sheepies. But... at the same time... I want to see Him at work. I want to recognize His work! I want to thank Him for all His goodness!

I wonder how many miracles I encounter every day... but am so preoccupied and hard-hearted that I simply cannot see or recognize?

Death Is Dead

This is a broken world.
I am broken. You are broken.
But Jesus stepped into our broken mess.
He carried our pain.
He experienced our injustice.
He was crushed by our sinful ways.
Beaten. Bloody.
All the things wrong with us tore Him apart.
He was broken for this broken world... broken for us.

And because of His sacrifice, we have been healed and completely saved.

I love how the song below tells the story of how death met its death.

It's Fairly Sweet

I'm a bakesta' and if you're a fellow baking-obsessed-person, you know that a featured ingredient is sugar. Sugar is a big deal. And apparently a world issue.

In the last year, the truth of injustice has been rapping at my life's door. There are so many things going on but I keep coming back to something near and dear to me. Here's a hint... it's tied to baking. Sugar!!

The sugar industry is kind of ugly. There is physical pain, exploitation, and even precious kiddies hurting... for the sake of sugar. The joy and comfort that sugar brings to so many baked goods disintegrates when I think of the torture endured for such sweet granules. Don't get me wrong, I will never not accept the baked-love of a friend or family member because they choose to use whatever-brand-of-sugar-that-may-or-may-not-promote-this-ridiculous-practice-across-the-globe. But since this whole baking ordeal is a common occurrence in my life, I've made a choice in my own baking practices. Not that every situation and circumstance in this world is guaranteed, but I'm going Fair Trade Sugar baby! It's not saving the world, I know. But it's a step forward.

So here's another component to all this. You know how food is a love language? Well I like to think about the people I food-prep for. But in the case of sugar, I'm challenged to reverse that. I want to be in prayer for those who are oppressed and abused for the sake of something I don't even consider a sweet luxury, but a "right". How dare me! As I am baking up a cake or cookie and use my fair trade certified sweetness, my hope is to pray for those who are on the flipside. Some say that's not much. But prayer is kind of powerful. Just ask God (if you ask Him, I've basically just tricked you into praying).

For me, this is not a social movement or anything. I'm really bad at being a part of those actually. This is about being mindful and prayerful towards those around me... near and far. We live in a broken world and while we cannot fix the entire mess of it, we're empowered by the One who can. So we pray and take steps as led to seek justice here on earth. Justice and hope aren't so far off as our days in eternity. We've been equipped with brains, hearts and convictions. We shouldn't ignore any of that.

In the grand scheme of life it may seem like my sugar endeavor is just a tiny little thing, but as this blog indicates our lives are about using what we have... whether it's knowledge, skill, passion, connections or a combo of all the above. I think it's pretty sweet.