A DROP IN THE BUCKET
Day: 6
One of
the disciples—it was Andrew, brother to Simon Peter—said, “There’s a little boy
here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But that’s a drop in the bucket
for a crowd like this.” … Then Jesus took the bread and, having given thanks,
gave it to those who were seated. He did the same with the fish. All ate as
much as they wanted.
John 6:8–11 (MSG)
Taylor first heard about Cans for Africa while serving on a
leadership council at the University of Central Oklahoma during his freshman
year. A man from Kenya by the name of John Kipsitet came and talked to the
leadership about Cans for Africa—an organization he started because he wanted
to do something to help African children affected by AIDS. His desire was to
raise money to build a shelter, a clinic and a school for the orphans of
Africa.
The concept behind Cans
for Africa was birthed when John first visited the US and saw empty aluminum
cans lying discarded everywhere he went. He was dumbfounded by what he saw,
because in Africa, cans are a valuable commodity. You never saw a can on the
ground, because to the people there, it represented money. John realized that
if people would just collect the cans and turn them in to a recycling center,
they could raise money and make an eternal impact in the lives of millions of
kids affected by AIDS in Africa.
When Taylor heard about John’s vision, he was compelled to act.
At this point, Cans for Africa wasn’t much more than the vision of one man, and
John had come to the leadership council at the University of Central Oklahoma
asking for help. As John spoke, Taylor recalled the words Jesus had spoken in
the Sermon on the Mount: “If you love only those who love you, what reward is
there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much” (Matthew 5:46).
He realized that Jesus didn’t do things for others based on what He could get
back from them; He did it out of the overflow of His heart.
Challenged to step out of
his comfort zone, Taylor decided to get involved. He was appointed as the
leadership council’s chairperson responsible for overseeing the Cans for Africa
project. He made it his mission to galvanize support for the organization by
creating thousands of flyers and spreading the word as much as possible. And
together, Taylor and John have raised 20 thousand dollars by collect almost one
million aluminum cans.
What’s an aluminum can to
you? Probably nothing whatsoever. It’s little more than a drop in a bucket. But
to those whose lives are being impacted by Cans for Africa, a can is the
difference between life and death.
The Bible tells us the
story of a boy who didn’t have much but turned what little he had over to the
hands of Jesus, and as a result, thousands of people were fed.
Jesus had been teaching
and healing people all afternoon, but now it was getting late and people were
starting to get hungry. Not wanting to deal with the prospect of a hungry mob
of people at least ten thousand strong, the disciples came to Jesus urging Him
to send the crowd home so they could get food for themselves. But rather than
heeding their advice, Jesus told His disciples to go out themselves and give
the people in the crowd something to eat. The disciples were stunned. There was
absolutely no way they could get enough food to feed such a large amount of
people. They would all have to work a month just to get enough money together
to give each person a tiny piece of bread!
The disciples
halfheartedly made their way through the crowd, checking to see if anyone had
brought any food with them. Peter’s brother, Andrew, happened to stumble across
a young boy who had brought his lunch with him to come hear Jesus that day. We
don’t know much of anything about this little boy. We don’t know his name, his
age or where he was from. What we do know is what he did … he gave his
lunch—everything he had—to Jesus.
The lunch wasn’t much. It
was simply five pieces of bread and two tiny fish. It amounted to nothing more
than a drop in a bucket compared to what they needed to feed a crowd of five
thousand hungry men, plus their wives and children. The boy was probably
reluctant to even offer his lunch. In the face of such an overwhelming need, it
must have seemed puny. Nevertheless, the boy surrendered his lunch of two fish
and five pieces of bread. He didn’t make his decision to give Jesus his lunch
because it was logical or practical; he made it based on faith.
Jesus took the bread and
fish, thanked God for providing it, and gave it to His disciples to disperse to
the crowd. The disciples looked at each other in confusion, shrugged their
shoulders and proceeded to obey Jesus although they probably thought He was
going crazy. As they distributed the bread and the fish, something miraculous
happened. The more food they gave out, the more food kept appearing! Not only
were the disciples able to feed everyone in the crowd until they were full, but
they were able to gather twelve basketfuls of leftovers!
To the vast majority of
people, five pieces of bread and two small fish or an aluminum can are totally
insignificant. It’s a tiny drop in a massive bucket. But a tiny drop in the
hands of God is more than enough to feed a multitude of more than ten thousand
people or build a shelter, clinic and school for orphans in Africa.
What about you? Will you
give everything you have—whether you think it’s much or just an insignificant
drop in the bucket—and surrender it into the hands of God? If you’re willing,
God can take what you’ve given and miraculously use it to bring glory to Him.
Take my
life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee … take my heart, it is Thine own;
it shall be Thy royal throne.
Frances
R. Havergal
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