Hi everyone, it’s Mick here and welcome to Friday’s Podcast. Yes, it’s Friday the weekend beckons and the working week is nearly finished for many. That is, unless you have small children, when unfortunately the working week is never behind you. If you do have small children, let me encourage you today that you are doing a great job, and one day (probably when they are 30) your children will look back and so appreciate it! The nurture of children is a Godly calling! A quick hello at this point to our five grandchildren – Josiah, Anabelle, Abigail, Nathaniel and Ivy … lots of love from Granny and Grandad!

REFLECTION:

All this week we have been considering ‘conversations’ Jesus had with those around him, looking at the truths expressed and reflecting on how we can put those life truths into practice. Today’s Bible reading is John 6:1-24 and our focus memory verse today is v20 – hear this amazing statement from Jesus speaking to his anxious friends: ‘It is I, don’t be afraid.’

There are two famous stories in today’s passage – firstly, Jesus feeding the 5000 and then Jesus walking on water. Both stories contain two challenging conversations Jesus has with his disciples.

Story one: Jesus feeds 5000 people – we’re actually told it’s 5000 men as they only counted men in those days; that’s why Jesus’ inclusion of women in his ministry was so radical! Some scholars believe that the total number fed including women and children was nearer 14,000. That’s a lot of bread and fish! Jesus has this short and to the point conversation with his disciples about how these people are going to be fed – they didn’t know, so Jesus steps in and feeds the hungry people.

Two truths here – first, Jesus knows exactly what he’s doing even if his disciples obviously don’t! That should be a great encouragement to all of us today. Trust Jesus, he knows what he’s doing!

Second, every day make it your aim to be generous – not just in what you have or what you do but in who you are. You can never out-give God!

Second story: this begins at v16. Jesus leaves his disciples to get space to pray – they row across the lake planning to meet him on the other side. A storm blows up and they are frightened – in fact the word used in v19 to described ‘frightened’ gives us the English word ‘phobia’ which translates as ‘terrified’. These people were not just frightened, they were absolutely terrified, ‘scared senseless’ as the Message Bible puts it.

People experience fear in different ways and react to it in different ways; for some it is a mild anxiety which they get over quickly, for others they are so fearful that they literally cannot move. The Bible tells us that ‘God is love‘ (1John 4:8) and that ‘perfect love casts out (banishes) all fear‘ (1John 4:18). Christians believe that Jesus is God so… Jesus casts out all fear; when Jesus comes, fear goes. It’s what happens in this story.

Over this past week we have reflected on some deep conversations Jesus had with different people; this last conversation is incredibly short – in fact it’s just a clear statement he gives to his friends – in their distress he says to them, and to us today, these words: ‘It is I, don’t be afraid’.

As I write this reflection, the D-Day celebrations are being shown on TV. I was listening to one veteran speaking of his absolute fear as he stepped onto that Normandy beach seventy five years ago as a 19 year old soldier. I was deeply moved as I listened to him and especially as he admitted he was absolutely terrified, but he got on with the task before him.

We live in troubling times. Every day seems to bring another challenge. As a nation we are living in great political, social,