we are sometimes like the people of Israel
      wanting to be free
      yet wanting everything
            to be safe
            to be predictable
            to be harmonious

we want our freedom
      to do what we please
      to go where we desire
      to say whatever we want
            to tell others what to do
            to tell others where to go
            to tell others how to be

like them we are more willing
      to blame than to bless
      to condemn than to commend
      to criticize than to empathize

we often find ourselves in that tension
      wanting to be free
      wanting to be taken care of
      wanting to pursue our own pleasure
      wanting to deny responsibility
            for consequences
            we do not like

but our Lord said
      that you shall
            know
            experience
            understand
      the truth
      and the truth shall set you free  

                                                            --rus

                       MIRACLES OF FOOD AND DRINK 
           Living on daily bread requires that one trust God.
                                       Exodus 16 & 17

    1The children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, between
Elim and Sinai, on the second month after they departed from
Egypt.  2Then the whole congregation complained against
Moses and Aaron 3and said, "You have brought us into this
wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."  11The Lord
spoke to Moses, saying, 12"I have heard the complaints.  Speak
to them, saying, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning
you shall be filled with bread.'"
    13So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the
camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around.  14When the
layer of dew lifted, there was a small round substance, as fine as
frost on the ground.  15When the children of Israel saw it, they
said to one another, "What is it?"  Moses said, "This is the bread
the Lord has given you to eat.  16The Lord commanded: 'Let
every man gather it according to each one's need, one omer for
each person, according to the number of persons in his tent.'"
    17The children of Israel did so and he who gathered much
had nothing left over and he who gathered little had no lack.
19And Moses said, "Let no one leave any of it till morning."
20Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses.  Some of them
left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank.  21They
gathered it every morning, every man according to his need.
When the sun became hot, it melted.
    22On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much.  23"This is
what the Lord said:  'Tomorrow is a holy Sabbath.  Bake what
you will bake today, boil what you will boil; and lay up all that
remains, until morning.'"  24So they laid it up till morning, and
it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.  35The children
of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to Canaan.
    1Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out
on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the
commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there
was no water for the people to drink.  3The people complained
against Moses, and said, "Why is it you have brought us up out
of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?"
4So Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people?''
    5The Lord said to Moses, "Take with you some of the elders
of Israel.  Also take your rod.  6Behold I will stand before you
on the rock in Horeb; you shall strike the rock, and water will
come out of it, that the people may drink."
            _{This Bible passage was condensed from the NKJV}

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