Have you ever wondered how Jesus went from feeding the five thousand, to only have a handful of people at the foot of the cross when He died?

The truth is, Jesus had His twelve disciples that He hand-picked and called to ministry with Him, but there were other disciples that also travelled with Jesus to the different places that He went to in the three years He taught, ministered, and served. Not everyone went everywhere the way the twelve did, but Jesus had a way of attracting followers just by nature of what He was doing.

How many things did you try to build your life on before Jesus? How many things did you try to nourish your soul with before His grace? What did you try to satisfy your heart with before you believed?

Before Christ, you can build your life on a number of things: a career, a family, an academic resumè, entertainment, the news– you name it, someone has probably tried it. But whatever that thing might be is like a sandcastle… it crumbles and amounts to nothing.

I made four loaves of bread this weekend– unleavened bread to be exact. Sam has always wanted to use real bread in Sunday communion and so I offered to give it my best shot.

I researched recipes until I found something that seemed as intentional as possible. I made test loaves, one with regular, all-purpose flour and another with whole wheat flour. I decided to halve the recipe to make a thinner loaf, to use a cast iron skillet to try and char it a little, and sprinkled a little salt over top of the finished product, just to add a little bit of taste.

The Israelites ate manna for all forty years they wandered in the wilderness. For a younger generation of Israelites, that was for all their lives. Think about that: Every day, for forty years, everyone would go out at the break of dawn and sweep up manna. And even though manna is known as “bread from heaven,” it didn’t drop down from the sky in loaves. Angels didn’t deliver it to the entrances of each tent wrapped in a tea towel and warm from God’s heavenly oven. No, every morning, Israel would wake up, head outside, and sweep up the manna– it materialized in the morning dew and as the sun rose, the water would evaporate off and leave behind a small seed the size of coriander or a mustard seed. Because it was so small and fine, most people swept it up rather than gathering it piece by piece; which they had to do early in the morning, because as the sun rose later in the day, that manna would also melt away.