Where He had Given Thanks

Where He had given thanks

Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks (John 6:23 ESV).

That is not how I describe it. I call it “the feeding of the 5,000” or “the loaves and the fish.” But when John refers it, just telling the reader the setting as he usually does, describes a stunning miracle as “the place where they had eaten…” When? After He did a miracle, right? No. “After He had given thanks.”

That was the most important part of that miracle for John. The place they ate after Jesus had given thanks.

We moved to Toronto in 2024. I can hardly believe it’s been a year and a half. We came with no jobs, no school, and no home. It was what God had been pressing on our hearts for years. Especially after moving to inner city Detroit. So we did.

Honestly it was much harder to move to Toronto with all the financial concerns than it was to move to Detroit — a city with a bad reputation, but where we had worked and gone to school for 12 years already. Toronto was much, much scarier. But I’m so glad we just obeyed even though we were afraid. It’s ok to be scared and do it anyway.

We’ve learned so much. So much about fear and obedience in the middle of it. How to trust Him more than our own understanding or anyone else’s. How the Kingdom is so much more important and real than our bank accounts.

Today we are settled in a home that meets our needs beautifully. The girls attend a school we shouldn’t afford. Joel has been offered a full-time position. I have a thriving business and am leading a non-profit ESL school that serves almost 70 people, mostly immigrants from China. There are so many opportunities to speak Chinese and I am surrounded by people from all over the world, including those from unreached people groups of the world.

Who did this? He did. We came with nothing. And He multiplied it. But that’s not the point. The point is we had Him. He’s the real treasure. The real food. This is the place where we have eaten after giving thanks.

And when we taste Him, we can’t help but share Him.

I live and work among people that don’t know it’s a miracle I’m here. But I do. This thought brings me to my knees over and over again — He taught me to thank Him for Him. He lifted those loaves on a windswept hillside and thanked God for them. Thanked God that He had provided the tiny amount that was used to feed at least 4,999 more than it should have.

Because there was one day, on a hill enveloped in darkness, He would be lifted up and broken to provide for millions to be fed with the living bread. He broke the loaves and taught us that they were a picture of His body broken for us. And that Living, Loving Bread is still being passed out.

May I be daily, hourly filled with the stunning knowledge that He was broken and poured out so that I might live. Let it sink into my soul that He took my place and gave what I never could.

So that as I stand on my own hill this new year, this city full of teeming millions that He loves, I lift Him up for all to see.

And thank God for His Son. Before passing Him out piece by piece to the hungry thousands that will be fed…by Him.