Jesus had just heard about the death of John the Baptizer and wanted to get away by Himself. Except people followed Him. Jesus had compassion on them and started to heal them. Later the disciples encouraged Jesus to dismiss the crowds so they can eat, instead Jesus told the disciples to give them something to eat. They had a few loaves and fish so Jesus took the loaves and blessed them. Amazingly 5000 families were fed with leftovers.

Like Jesus, sometimes we need to withdraw to a deserted place. This can be a time to disconnect from the world and reconnect with God. Even our church services can serve this function to get away from the world's stresses.

The disciples recognized the need of hunger in the crowd. Likewise, we can see the needs of those in our community; the need will always be greater than our capacity to fill....but we are only called to be obedient.

Jesus used His disciples to distribute the food to the crowd. Jesus' plans always include His followers, even today.

The disciples were doubtful of such a miraculous provision. They only had five loaves and two fish. Some days are like five loaves and two fish. We only have so much. So we should do what the disciples did: bring what we have to Jesus. He can make a feast out of a morsel!