One
bright, sunny day, Jenna Mae Isaacson,
age 6, was sitting in
her
room in Madison, Wisconsin, looking at the
pictures in her bible around lunch time.
"Look
Lisa,
Allison, and Robbie," she said as
she turned the pages. "Here is a picture of a
little boy just about my size. He is sharing his lunch with Jesus."
Jenna
began to imagine what it must have been like near the Sea of Galilee and
pictured herself there. In fact,
she could even sense a cool breeze blowing
across the water, feel the soft, green grass swaying around
her, and smell the sweetness of the beautiful
flowers growing along the mountainside.
"Lisa, Allison,
and Robbie, come here quickly!"
Jenna
yelled. "Look at all these people scattered across the mountainside. I
wonder what they are doing? Let's race to the top and see what's going on.
Ready, get set, go!"
As
Jenna
reached the top first,
she shouted, "Hurray, I
won!"
After running so hard for such a long
distance,
Jenna
was very tired.
Lisa, Allison, and Robbie suggested to
her that they should sit down and rest for a
while in the plush, soft grass.
"I'm getting a little hungry," said
Jenna. "Let's have a picnic under this shady
olive tree."
Lisa, Allison,
and Robbie agreed that having a picnic in such a beautiful place
would be a wonderful idea.
Before they began eating, some people
from the crowd approached them, noticing the food that
Jenna
had just spread out on a cloth.
One of the men spoke to
Jenna, "We are very hungry and noticed that you
have five loaves of barley and two fish. Will you share with us?"
Jenna
remembered
Lisa, Allison, and Robbie telling
her it was polite to share, so
she answered, "Yes, I will be happy to share
my lunch with you, though I am afraid I only have these five loaves of
barley bread and two fish. "Surely this is not enough to feed this many
people."
The man, who was one of Jesus'
disciples, replied that he would take it to Jesus.
Now
Jenna
was very curious to see how many people would be able to eat from such a
small amount of food.
She
recalled Lisa, Allison, and Robbie telling
her about the many miracles Jesus had performed
and thought something very exciting was about to happen.
When all the people were seated in
groups of fifties and hundreds, Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two
fish from the disciple. He looked up to heaven, blessed the food and gave
thanks for it. He then gave the food to the disciples, who in turn passed
the food to Jenna and all the other people.
All five thousand men, women and
children ate and ate until they could hold no more.
When everyone had feasted, Jesus
commanded the disciples to collect any food that had not been eaten.
Jenna began to count.
"Wow! There are still twelve baskets
full of food. I was right; something very exciting did happen!" exclaimed
Jenna.
About this time
Jenna heard a growling, rumbling noise.
She
realized that it was her stomach reminding
her how hungry she
really was.
"We really had fun picturing the
story of Jesus feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish,
didn't we Lisa, Allison, and Robbie?
This is one story I will never
forget!"