I Wish I Had Been There!Sample

Jesus feeds 5,000

There were thousands of people coming up the hill! Everyone was excited to see Jesus perform another miracle. My abba, ima, and I had been following Jesus since he crossed over the Sea of Galilee. We were right up front, ahead of most of the crowd. I hoped He would heal a leper today. That would be cool!

We were prepared for a long day. Abba had the mat, ima had the water, and I was in charge of lunch.

Suddenly, one of Jesus' disciples came over to me and asked me what I had in my lunch bag. "Five barley loaves and two fish," I said warily.

"Come with me," he said. I looked at abba, and he nodded, so I went. We walked up to the front where Jesus was, and the man told Jesus, "There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”

"Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus replied. The man (I heard them calling him Andrew) and the other disciples shouted for everyone to sit down. What is going on? I wondered to myself. Then Jesus looked at me with a smile, "Mind if I borrow your loaves?"

"S-sure." I fumbled in shock that Jesus was actually talking to me. I pulled out the loaves and gave them to Him. He took them, gave thanks, and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the crowd. Wait! He is going to feed all of these people with MY five loaves? This is crazy! I thought. Jesus looked down at me as though he had heard my thoughts, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, "Watch."

So, I watched. It felt surreal. I was standing with Jesus! And He was using my loaves! The disciples had distributed to a good bit of the crowd now, and the bread had not run out! "Wanna give them some fish too?" He asked me. I couldn't talk anymore. I just handed Him the fish shakily as He flashed me a broad smile. "Go eat with your family, Joshua," he said, "and thanks for lending Me your lunch."

"Welcome, Rabbi." I managed as He tousled my hair, and I walked off.

My parents were beaming as I walked back and sat down next to them. "Did you see that!" I asked.

"We sure did. Good job helping Jesus," abba said. Ima just smiled and hugged me. Somehow, everything looked different now. The grass was greener, and its scent mingled with wildflowers filled the air. The sounds of laughter floated across the hillside, and a feeling of familial warmth settled over everyone as we shared a meal together.

It was a miracle! Everyone couldn't stop talking about it!

To top it off, after everyone had eaten their fill, the disciples came around and gathered twelve baskets full of leftovers. The people were even more amazed, and a buzz of excitement started to ripple through the crowd. It felt like something was about to happen. A group of men came up to look for Jesus, but He had disappeared. That seemed to put a damper on things, and the crowd started to disperse.

I will never forget that day as long as I live! I still have that lunch bag. It is my most prized possession.