I remember the evening clearly. It was a rainy night. We were having dinner at a club a little down the road from P.J.’s famous first A & W restaurant. He was one of the elders of a church that was standing with me at a very dark time in my life. He had asked me out for dinner to encourage me. And he did. I never forgot.
He then moved to another country. I subsequently moved to Singapore. We have not met up in a very long time. We met up a few days ago. He was passing through the region and was spending a few days in Singapore. We met up for tea and I took the opportunity to thank him again for the times he took me out for dinner to encourage me and what it had meant to me. He laughed and said it was just that one time. I said it couldn’t be. He said, well, maybe twice. But it was that one time that I remembered.
There are times when we wish we could do more for a person. We feel frustrated that we couldn’t do more. We know they deserve more, that they needed more. But we do what we can. It feels so inadequate, so much less than the person and the situation required. The person may need many dinners of encouragement. But we could only give them one.
My encounter with my friend taught me a lesson. Sometimes we can only do one dinner. But that one dinner may be spiritually multiplied by God to be something much more. Like the boy who gave his two fishes and five loaves; so little in the face of the thousands who needed to be fed. But he gave what he could. And Jesus turned it into something much more.
So do what you can. Jesus knows what you can do. He will do the rest.
