In our experience of Changing Lives so far, we have found a challenge to our faith! We are a very small team, and several of the team already have personal responsibilities which demand their time and energy. But we have found that when we offer what we can do in an attitude of love, faith and worship, then God takes it and multiplies it in a way that we could not dream of.

The story is told in the Bible (in the gospel of John chapter 6) of Jesus being followed by a vast crowd of people.  His fame had begun to spread and many people wanted to hear what he had to say and to see if he would do any amazing miracles, particularly among the sick.  During the day one of the disciples, Philip,  came to Jesus as he was concerned at the number of people who were there, and who did not have anything to eat.  He asked if anyone had any food at all. Philip told Jesus that there was a little boy there who had a packed lunch. It consisted of 5 small rolls and 2 little fishes. Philip asked the question that many people must have been thinking ‘But what is that among so many?‘

Jesus told his disciples to get the people organised in groups, sitting on the grass. I like to picture this challenge in my mind! There were thousands of them! The Bible suggests that there were at least 5000 men, and that did not include the women and children. I can imagine the little boy nudging closer through the crowd. This man Jesus had taken his lunch. He had more reason than anyone to know what happened to it!

The story may be familiar to some. Once the people were finally organised, Jesus held the bread and fish out on his open hands and spoke to his Father God. He asked a blessing on the food and thanked God for it. Then he started to hand it out to the disciples and asked them to share it out.

Everyone watched to see what would happen. A hush settled on the crowd as the food seemed to keep coming…more and more…and more and more…until everyone had some! It was incredible! Not only did everyone get a bite – but they had enough to eat and there was some left over because they were all so full!

‘Now gather up the broken pieces so that nothing is wasted’, said Jesus. Why would he say that? Was it to leave the countryside clean and tidy? I think not. Surely the birds would have come and done that without the disciples having to go round this vast crowd yet again.  In any case, the bread would have been rock hard by then. It was not worth saving for later. This question puzzled me. Why bother with broken pieces?

It was then I felt God speak into my heart. Broken pieces are precious to him. Nothing is wasted. Many of us have ‘broken pieces’ in our lives. Broken homes, broken relationships, broken dreams, broken health. As we come back to our story, we see that we are not told what happened to the broken pieces of bread. And I believe that God would speak to us today and say that there is no standard answer to the fate of broken pieces because he touches us individually. Each broken piece of our lives is of great importance to him. ‘Let nothing be wasted’, he said. And the message is still the same today. Jesus wants to take the broken pieces of our lives. He wants us to gather them up, bring them to him and let him take them and touch them with his amazing healing power.