DAILY BREAD

I once heard a speaker explain the Lord's prayer in context of the passage that followed it.  Jesus continued his message on prayer by going on to tell the story of a neighbour who came knocking at midnight, asking for bread.  And the speaker said our petition for daily bread is not only for us, but so that we can have bread to offer our neighbour as well.

Last weekend, I had a bit of a what I'll call a "daily bread" experience.  Tim and I were incredibly, disgustingly sick with a nasty cold and my brother-in-law was arriving back from his trip to Asia on that Sunday.  On his way over to our place to pick up his car (which we had borrowed), he called us.  He was jetlagged.  And sick.  And his fridge was empty.  Would we have any food to spare?

As I looked around our kitchen, I was overjoyed that I had made a huge pot of stew a few days before, not realizing that I would now be sick and have a sick brother to feed.  I happily (and somewhat groggily) packed him some stew, a couple cans of chicken noodle soup, and half a loaf of bread.  There, I thought, that should last him at least until he was well enough to get his own groceries.

I didn't make it to church that Sunday, but I had my own worship experience in my kitchen.  God had obviously provided my daily bread.  Not just for me, but for my brother-in-law as well.  And in the midst of my poverty, I discovered that I still had enough to give.