The world is full of things that we take for granted and many of them contribute to enabling us to get through our daily lives without even thinking about them. For example, we all know that when dark grey clouds appear in the sky, there is a good chance that it's going to rain. When you're driving down the street and a traffic light turns red, you know, and we almost all agree, it means you stop. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if you didn't stop, or most people didn't bother paying attention. That's why there are laws that provide penalties if you don't.

But some of the things that we take for granted don't always work the way we expect them to. When you get in your car and put the key in the ignition and turn it, the car starts. But I'm sure it's happened to all of us at one time or another when the car doesn't start. Then our world gets turned upside down. You expect the car to start when you turn the key. Or, at home, you turn on the faucet on the kitchen sink. You expect water to come out. If it doesn't, you've got a problem. You push the button on your car to raise and or lower the power windows and nothing happens, you've got a problem. You call a mechanic, you call a plumber. Or if you're a little handy you might try to correct the situation yourself. You have to make corrections, or adjustments.

Our Gospel lesson for this morning is such a story. Jesus and the disciples were out in a field, trying to catch a little relief from the crowds. This was during the period of time when Jesus was going about preaching, teaching, performing miracles and His fame was beginning to spread. Wherever He went He was besieged with crowds who wanted miracles, or to hear Him teach. Jesus and the guys were getting tired. And then it dawned on them that it was lunchtime.

This story works on several different levels and I want to talk about each for a minute. First, the story works on a literal level. Jesus is confronted with a crowd of about 5000 men. You all know, don't you, that in Bible times, when they counted people they only counted the men. So there were about 5000 men in that crowd, probably about the same number of women, and maybe 1.5 children per couple, so you're really talking about 17,500 people, more or less. The seating capacity of Radio City Music Hall is 6,799. Do the math.

Jesus saw this crowd and said to his disciples, Phillip and Andrew in particular, "Where can we buy bread for these people?" Philip did a quick mental calculation and said "Six month's salary wouldn't buy enough bread for this crowd!" Simon, who had a bit more imagination said there was a little boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish but that would just barely be enough for the disciples, forget about the thousands of others. And Jesus said, tell the crowd to sit down and he started passing out the bread and fish. And, you know the rest of the story, there was enough food for that entire crowd, with twelve basketsful of leftovers. Now, make no mistake – I believe that that really happened. Literally. And while we might think it nice that Jesus was offering these folks hospitality, what he was really doing was demonstrating to them that He was who He was. The people began to say among themselves that surely he was the prophet who had been predicted.

This story also works beyond the literal level, that it really happened. It also works on a symbolic or teaching level and imparts a couple messages. The first of these is "don't give up before you try."

The disciples, whom you might want to think were at least a little bit more confident in Jesus and His abilities, and who he was – the disciples showed a notable lack of faith in Jesus' abilities. Phillip said "No way." End of conversation. Simon had perhaps a mustard seed's more faith and he said, "Well, we've got a couple loaves of bread here. It's not anywhere near enough but maybe if we give out teeny pieces as far as they will go, it might satisfy some of the people. And as we've already said, there was enough food that everybody ate their fill and there were leftovers.

Here's the symbol – the disciples could only see the problem, but Jesus saw an opportunity. I am going to contribute a bit to an urban legend because it's a great story. But in the interest of full disclosure let me tell you that the following story uses a great deal of literary license. Sir Winston Churchill is said to have visited Harrow School, his alma mater, on October 29, 1941. The war was still going on but it was after the Blitz of England and things were looking slightly better for the empire. And Churchill stood up in front of the Harrow school collected faculty and students and (according to the legend) said: "Never give up. Never give up. Never give up." And he sat down.

If England had given up at that point in the war; if the disciples had given up on that hillside so many years ago, we would be sitting in a very different world today. So, don't be like Phillip. Never give up.

One more message from this story. When you work with God, dream big dreams. The disciples thought "no way." Jesus knew what he was doing. Jesus had the big picture.

Let me tell you a story, and this is not an urban legend; this is true. How many of you remember Tom Carvel? Remember his commercials on TV for Carvel ice cream? Big, gangly old guy, voice like gravel, talking about his ice cream stores. Do you know how Tom Carvel got to where he did? In 1929, he bought one of those ice cream trucks like you probably have in your neighborhood right now. They drive around, playing awful, annoying music, and kids come running out of their houses or yards, to get an ice cream cone. Well, Tom Carvel had a truck like that in 1929, purchased with $15 he borrowed from his wife-to-be, Agnes. On Memorial Day weekend in 1934, still struggling to get his business off the ground, he was driving down Central Avenue in Hartsdale, NY. I know that because I used to live just a few miles from there. And as he passed this particular strip of empty land, he had a flat tire. Here he was, truck full of ice cream, flat tire – couldn't get anywhere before the ice cream melted. So he got the bright idea to open the truck and sell ice cream right then and there. And guess what. He sold out. So next day he was back in the same spot, with the tire repaired, but just parked and sold ice cream. In 1934, he grossed $3,500 in sales. But Tom Carvel had the gift of being able to dream big dreams. A couple years later he bought the land where his truck had first broken down and put up the first Carvel ice cream store. I used to go there to get my Carvel "fix" from time to time. That store was just demolished in March of this year. In 1985 when he retired and sold the business, there were 865 Carvel stores around the country and the business was grossing $300 million a year. And this is not just a story about some guy who got rich. In the late 1990's, when he died, his wife Agnes took some money form the estate and built a hospital for children with chronic diseases. Tom Carvel had big dreams. And made big money. But he and his family did great things with that money as well.

While maybe not on the same level, the same can be true for us in our lives as well. Perhaps you or I can't change the world, but we can change a little piece of it where we are. Our youth on a mission trip this weekend. Our emphasis on trying to be more conscious of ecology and the environment. The lives there were touched by Vacation Bible School. The list goes on. And this is just one church.

The point is that God takes whatever little we have and does a great thing with it We can dream big dreams. Don't think that your problems are too big for Jesus. Jesus Christ is big enough for all our problems.

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