"Cast Your Bread Upon The Waters"
- The Rev. Jamey Russell
- Aug 8
- 2 min read
Hello Saints,
I thought I'd continue on the theme from Tracey's letter last week. I wanted to share a story with you from the Alpha Course that we run at the Washington County Jail. It's a ministry which can be incredibly rewarding, but also at times frustrating. Many of our courses will start with a bunch of people only to diminish as people get transferred to other locations or get in trouble and are sent to "the hole." (What the guys call solitary confinement). We often don't get to follow up and find out how people are doing afterwards.
Sometimes, though, God is gracious enough to show us what the ministry has done that we are not aware of. Recently, one of the men who is taking the course was talking about his walk with God. "I've always believed, but I keep on ending up back here. But this time, something is different," he said. I asked what was different this time. He said that he had never been filled with the Holy Spirit before, never felt the love that God has for him. This time he does. One of the other inmates prayed for him to be filled with the Holy Spirit and God did so on the spot. I asked who this other inmate was. He was one of the men who attended our first Alpha Course we did almost two years ago!
We often don't get to see the results of ministry but that doesn't mean God isn't at work. The book of Ecclesiastes calls for us to "Cast your bread upon the waters," even though we may not see the results of our generosity. God is always at work, and no expression of loving your neighbor is ever wasted.
In Christ,
Jamey+
Song - For some reason right before writing this letter I was listening to Peter Gabriel. His song Solsbury Hill (1977) is about a time when Gabriel had a spiritual experience where He saw what God was doing in his life. Also, I found his video talking about his latest song, One by One, a wonderful reflection on how something broken and rebuilt is more beautiful and valuable than the original. Check it out here: Link to Interview
Spotify Link
YouTube Link (with the original music video)
Prayer:
Ecclesiastes 11:1-5
11 Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
4 He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.
