I Saw God Today

The line of crowding, hungry people stretched as far as the eye could see. Little ones whimpering for their dinners, women calculating how many mouths they had to fill, men impatiently shuffling from one foot to the next - all waiting for the food, wherever it was coming from, to materialize before them.

At the front of the line, standing tall and resolutely behind the three food tables like so many soldiers - and in truth, they were soldiers - the servers cast apprehensive glances, one to another, each reminding his neighbor to be frugal with the helpings. The meal was far from plentiful.

Scurrying around in the kitchen, the cooks were a smattering of mixed emotions. While some bemoaned the lack of food and the surplus of people, most reminded each other, in hopeful tones, that God would provide.

And they knew He would. For there, standing in a corner of the gym; and there, stirring a crock pot of gravy in the kitchen; and there, peering through the doors at the thick, unyielding line of hungry individuals; were the prayer warriors. As their eyes roved to and fro over the crowd, these faith-firm soldiers prayed blessing after blessing down on those who came seeking food. They asked that those lining up for dinner would come to crave the true nourishment of the Word. They asked that those being offered a free meal would have their ears opened to hear the ultimate offer of free and eternal life. And they asked that, if it would be to His glory, the Lord might provide for all 300 people who sought their evening fare at the "Lord's Gym" that night.

And provide He did. It was with amazed and awestruck giggles of pure glee that I, after helping prepare only two-thirds of the normal dinner amount, and serving it to nearly twice the typical number of guests, filled and set aside seven spare containers of chicken-and-gravy. Yes, the stuffing, salad, bread, and dessert were gone, but we still had leftovers. Leftovers. Left. Overs. Extra.

"Well," said Grandma Vi, Queen of the Kitchen, and one of the many people I must do a post on one of these days, "I asked the Lord what to do about having too little chicken, and he told me to put in extra gravy, and that it would all work out if I did. And it did."

God provides in miraculous - and such amazingly cool - ways! It boggles the mind to think of how He intervenes for us, doing it in such a way that we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it was His hand which saved the evening. Not our foresight. Not our ability to collect resources. Not our hard work. Not our time spent. Not our ingenuity.

It was our King, the Ruler and Creator of the universe, interposing His will on our circumstances.

I saw God today.