Feed Me!

Just a few weeks ago, we as a church headed down to Panama City Beach, FL for a week of Family Camp. It was an awesome experience for everyone who attended. I as well as everyone else came away with some great blessings, spiritual insight and some memories that will last a lifetime. Throughout the entire week, I tried to be a sponge...soaking up as much God moments as possible as to refresh, rejuvenate and revive my spirit. There were quite a few of them and today, I will mention just one.

On the last full day of our week, myself and others headed out for some deep sea fishing via a charter boat. The winds and the waves didn't cooperate much and it seemed by luck of the draw that the side of the boat that we were placed on was the side that for the entire time had to deal with tangling in each others lines. We will not talk of what we did/didn't catch! That will be for another BLOG, maybe one about lying!

Anyways, after a long day and a three hour tour, a three hour tour we arrived back at the dock. We all agreed that the sea had made us hungry to the point where we could not wait to get back to the camp to eat so we decided to stop off and eat a quick fast food lunch. A red headed, pony tailed girl called out to all of us and it wasn't long that we all were sitting in Wendy's enjoying burgers and their new "Sea Salt" fries...imagine that!

As I sat there enjoying my fries and wondering if the fishy smell I was smelling was from my nasty, squid hands or that Wendy's was actually trying to make these new "Sea Salt" fries more real like, I heard something yelled out that I am not sure I have ever heard before. As I looked to see, so did everyone else I was sitting with. I quickly grabbed my phone and tried to video what was being said but I didn't want to look like some kind of weirdo video taping someone elses kid so I just placed the camera down on the table and took a quick, sneak picture!

What I had witnessed was a young boy, sitting next to his daddy. He was standing up in his chair, rubbing his stomach and yelling these two words to his mother who was in line, ordering their food. After the young boy said it about three or four times, his father quickly shut him up. What the young boy said as he stood there facing his mother was..."FEED ME"!

As I watched that young boy, I knew that he was hungry. I knew that he was in need by the way that he was acting. Based on his age, he rightfully so was dependent on someone older which happened to be his mom to meet that physical need.

As a pastor, I am still amazed at how many believers out there are a lot like that young boy. They know Christ as their personal Savior. They have trusted in Him with eternity and yet they are dependent on me and others to "FEED THEM"! Now before you get all upset, I know and am aware of what the Bible says. I know that in John 21 Jesus tells Peter that if you love me then feed my sheep. I know of my responsibilities as a pastor and am learning more and more of them each and every day. I know if I am going to love Jesus and others like I should that I am going to have to do some feeding but I wondered about that word...FEED...and what it meant. I looked it up in the dictionary and one of the definitions was...to give to or supply food.

I remember as a parent when my kids were babies how my wife or I could place them in their high chair seat, put the bib around their neck, turn on Barney and have the best baby food that money could buy and yet there were still times that they would refuse to eat what was being fed to them. As a parent I or my wife did what we were suppose to do and yet the child still refused to be fed.

So what am I trying to say? Hopefully you're not the church attender that shows up each and every Sunday and stands on the seat and yells out to the pastor "FEED ME". If you are, maybe you need to understand that we can have the building set at a comfortable temperature. We can have your favorite Chris Tomlin song playing in the background. We can even keep all guest away from sitting in your seat. The table can be set and the Word of God can be presented in a way that would satisfy your soul but when it all boils down to it, at sometime you have to open your mouth and chew on and swallow what has been fed to you!

Are you Hungry yet?

Consider Your Ways...Pastor John