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35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. -- John 6:35 One of the things that struck me this morning in my reading of John 6 is the word "whoever." Over the course of seventy-one verses, it is used seven times, always by Jesus. Perhaps it struck me because today is Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. While we lived in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to visit both the King Center and Ebenezer Baptist Church (where King served as pastor). In Memphis, where my in-laws live, is the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. It's impossible to walk through these exhibits and not be moved. What is possible ... is to return home and return to normal. To return to the way you had been before. You might be…

Alarm bells are rarely welcome but often needed. You set an alarm because you don’t want to oversleep or you need extra time to get ready. But they don’t ease you into the morning. They don’t reach over and gently rub your head -- even that might cause you to jump! I don’t normally set an alarm; my body knows when I need coffee and I just wake up. When I do set an alarm, it’s because the time I need to get up is really unusual – like a 3 am trip to the airport. Maybe you’ve had an alarm go off recently but it wasn’t on your phone or next to your bed. Maybe it was a high school friend who died unexpectedly. Or a husband who says, “We can’t keep living like this.” When my mother had breast cancer, the doctor told her “If you keep smoking you’re going…

I love bread. Back when we lived in San Diego, I remember having a conversation with a friend about what made a sandwich a great sandwich. We both decided it was the bread. The quality of the sandwich rises and falls with great bread. Most mornings, I enjoy wheat toast with Land 'O Lakes butter -- the kind made with olive oil and sea salt. Butter is important, but the bread is what makes the difference. In 2000, I decided to give the Atkins/low-carb diet a try. Overall, it was successful. I lost about 25 pounds and felt really good. Most of the diet is right up my alley: meat and cheese. But the hardest part of the diet was finding good bread. In those days, there simply wasn't any good-tasting bread that was made for low-carb diets. I was convinced that most low-carb bread was recycled cereal boxes. Low-carb pizza crusts weren't…

The crowd who had been given a free meal the day before had followed Jesus across the lake. Wouldn't you? If he had done it once, maybe he would do it again. Perhaps this time Jesus would add some fruits, vegetables, and hummus -- not impossible for someone who fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Upon finding Jesus, this conversation ensues: 26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” 28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” 29 Jesus answered, “The work…