During our Taiwan Winter Mission Trip I learned what giving God my "five loaves and two fish" meant.
My prayer request was to be shown how I could contribute as a member of the body of Christ. I went in thinking I couldn’t do much. Being a fairly new Christian, I thought I still had much to learn and so wasn't ready to offer anything meaningful, but God showed me otherwise. During a time for basketball outreach, I decided to play tennis instead. Ben joined me, and we met a few students from the physics department playing tennis. Even though our conversations went well, we later learned that they'd probably be too busy to come out for Christmas Celebration. When the conversation started to die, and people began to leave, I began playing against one of their players. Meanwhile, Ben struck up a conversation with another player, named Larry (name changed to protect identity of the student). Apparently Larry was waiting and watching us play, and Ben seemed to be building a connection with him. Only when I finished playing did I actually meet Larry, but soon after meeting and chatting with him our group had to leave. When I walked away from the tennis courts, I was dejected. It seemed like everyone was too busy to come out.
During the Christmas Celebration I was apprehensive about who would show up. I couldn't help but search the crowds for a familiar face from outreach, but no one seemed to be there. Furthermore, after halfway through the show I became saddened by the people who turned to leave. When the show was over, we all headed out for snacks and discussion. Thinking I would just join some random group, I walked towards the snacks table when Larry saw and greeted me. I didn't really think he'd show up, let alone remember my name. But he was excited, stayed for the entire show, and willingly joined a discussion group afterwards. During the discussion group, I asked about how they felt about the skits. Larry opened up about how he connected because his parents went through a tough divorce, and he found sanctuary in computer gaming. When I heard this story, I was shocked because the story he just revealed to me seemed to echo my own personal background. I didn't think anyone would understand my background, but instead now was the opportunity for me to share a little of my testimony. We were both taken aback, and it really rung within me just how as humans, we have similar problems.
God took what I didn't even know I could use and used it. He took my background, my testimony, tennis fanaticism, and my moderate level of Chinese and used it to connect with others. He showed me what it really meant to present my “five loaves and two fishes”.