Community BBQ Miracle
My mate and I were manning the barbecue, cooking for our church's community meal night. We'd put invites out saying free kai, free movie, everyone welcome. What we didn't expect was the line of people that formed. It snaked through our church car park in a Z-shape, doubled back on itself, and stretched all the way to the road.
I was flipping sausages when one of the women from church came out with a worried look. “These are the last two packets we've got,” she said, handing me a pack of sausages and a pack of chops. “That's it.”
I looked at that line of people still waiting. Easily another hundred or more. Then I looked at those two small packets of meat.
I tossed them into what had been an empty chilly bin and my mate said something that still gives me chills: “Let's just keep cooking.”
When You Run Out of Resources
Here's the thing about serving in ministry, in your community, in life, you will hit moments where what you have isn't enough. The resources run dry. The tank hits empty. You look at what's in front of you and what's in your hand, and the gap is impossible.
That's exactly where we were. Empty chilly bin. Two packets of meat. A line of hungry people that seemed endless.
But my mate had the right instinct. Don't stop. Keep cooking. Keep serving. Trust that God sees what we're doing.
So I reached into that chilly bin without looking, just grabbed whatever was there and threw it on the BBQ. Then I reached in again. And again. Every time my hand went in, there was another tray of meat. Not just any meat either, nice cuts, good quality stuff. We weren't just pulling out pre-cooked sausages. There were steaks, chops, portions that shouldn't have been there.
Both of us were reaching in, pulling out meat, cooking it, serving it. Meanwhile, our rubbish bin was filling up with packaging. I glanced at it, then at my mate. He just nodded and said, “Keep cooking, bro.”
That's when I started to sweat, not from the heat of the barbecue, but because the Spirit of God was anointing us right there in that car park. I was watching something that shouldn't be possible.
A Familiar Story
It reminded me of another story. A boy with five loaves and two fish. A massive crowd. Disciples asking Jesus how they could possibly feed everyone. And Jesus saying, “You give them something to eat.”
In John 6, Jesus took what was impossibly insufficient and made it more than enough. Five thousand men, plus women and children. Everyone ate. And they collected twelve baskets of leftovers.
That's what was happening in our chilly bin. We'd put in two packets. But we kept pulling out meat, portion after portion, tray after tray, until every single person in that line had been fed. And when the last person walked into the church with their plate full, the woman came back out and said, “That's enough. We've got enough.”
I looked in the chilly bin. Empty. Just like it started. But the rubbish bin was overflowing with packaging from meat we never bought.
What It Means to Trust Him
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” But in that stillness, in that moment of trust, stuff is happening. God is working. He's downloading provision. He's recharging us. He's preparing us for what He's about to do through us.
We didn't stand there with our hands in the air shouting “Miracle!” We didn't high-five or make a big scene. We just quietly said, “Thank You, Lord. Do it again. Do it again.”
Because here's what I've learned: God doesn't just perform miracles to wow us. He performs them to ignite us. To inspire us. To get us off our seats and into action, serving our churches and communities. To remind us that when we step out in faith with whatever little we have, He multiplies it beyond what we can ask or imagine.
The Invitation to Serve
Sometimes we wait until we have enough – enough money, enough time, enough resources, enough confidence – before we step up to serve. But God doesn't ask us to have enough. He asks us to be faithful with what we have and trust Him for the rest.
When that woman brought us the last two packets of meat, we could have shut down the barbecue. We could have sent people away. We could have made excuses. Instead, we kept cooking. And God kept providing.
What's God asking you to do that feels impossible? What line of people are you looking at, knowing you don't have enough to meet the need? What empty chilly bin is staring back at you?
Don't stop. Keep serving. Keep trusting. Keep reaching in.
Because our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The God who multiplied loaves and fish is the same God who multiplies meat in a chilly bin in a church car park.
God is still in the miracle business. He's still a provider. And He's still looking for faithful men willing to use with what they've got and trust Him for the rest.
Thank You, Lord. Do it again.
God bless you!
Ants Puki
Taken from Ants Puki’s message at the PK Refiner’s Fire Christchurch Event.
Ants Puki serves on the Promise Keepers New Zealand Board and is involved in a men's group at his church.