...by Himself

The Gospel reading for this coming Sunday is the loaves and the fishes.  Jesus directs the disciples to feed the 5,000 and miraculously they do so with only 5 loaves and 2 fish.  A true miracle. 

But the predicate to the miracle is Jesus being broken by the death of John the Baptist early in the reading.  On hearing of John's death, Jesus "withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by Himself".  He was crushed.  But when he saw those in need again, he started healing and performing other miracles.

The point?  Life can suck.  Life can kick the _____ out of us.  Why that is, well, that's above my pay grade.

But the point is to take our hearbreak and make something good out of it.  Whether "God does everything for a reason" depends I suppose on what we mean by that.  

But I will tell you this: I have seen horrible things happen and I have seen good spring from the manure, so to speak.  That's our mission.  Don't discount that we, or anybody else, has just been dealt a horrible hand.  But try to find the strength to ante up and play the next round.

All love and peace.

- The Older Brother