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PROVISION 

During the days of Communism in the former Soviet Union, the peasant farmers often enjoyed telling a humorous story that lightened their dreary lives. According to the story, a government official came to a farmer and inquired about the year’s potato crop. “Oh, it was wonderful,” the farmer replied slyly. “It was so big it reached up to the very foot of God.” 

The Communist official scowled. “But comrade, this is a communist state and we are atheists. You must not forget, there is no God!” 

“That’s my point,” the farmer replied with a grin. “No God—no potatoes.” 

The farmer recognized that God is the source of all things. The official saw no connection between God and potatoes, but that didn’t mean it didn’t exist. —Our Daily bread, August 28, 2002, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell 

Colossians 1:16-17 “For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Not long ago, NASA crashed a rocket into the surface of the moon and examined the resulting cloud of dust looking for traces of water. After the announcement that there are traces of water on our nearest celestial neighbor, the agency discovered they had evidence of water year ago, but were not aware of it. Recently, a team of researchers used an electron microprobe to bombard samples of lunar materials brought back during the Apollo missions. The results revealed magna from the moon contains traces of water. Water was there all along.

Forty years ago, when the Apollo program landed men on the moon and brought back lunar rocks, technology was not advanced enough to detect water in those rocks. Researchers say they are still not sure where the water came from. The source could be ice-covered comets that have collided with the moon over the years. Another possibility is that water was present on the moon when it was formed. New technologies may reveal more information in the years to come. Gary Lofgren, lunar curator at NASA’s Johnson Space Center said, “Only in the last decade have instruments become sensitive enough to even analyze water at those kinds of concentrations.”

--Study: Apollo Moon Rocks Contained Water All Along, 
http://www.aolnews.com/science/article/researchers-say-apollo-moon-rocks-contained-water-all-along/19395555; March 14, 2010,  Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell. 

We don’t need better technology to see all God has provided, we just need to open our eyes and hearts.

Acts 14:16-17 (NIV) “In the past, he let all nations go their own way. (17) Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." 

 A remote mountainside in Norway contains what could be the Noah’s Ark of plant life on planet Earth. In 2008, the Global Crop Diversity Trust opened what some people refer to as the “doomsday vault,” a storage facility that protects and stocks seeds that could be used to replant the world. Inside the frozen repository lives the last hope should something unthinkable or unforeseen happen. 

Wars and a typhoon have destroyed other seed banks. The new remote location can withstand earthquakes and even nuclear strikes. It contains mold resistant beans, a German pink tomato, and a wild strawberry plucked from the edge of a Russian volcano. The seeds inside are considered so valuable that anyone wishing to access them must pass through four locked doors, including two keyed air-locked doors. Executive Director of the Global Diversity Trust, Cary Fowler said the site “is a fail-safe backup to be used whenever a depositing seed bank loses part or all of its collection, but we should focus equally on averting the disasters in the first place.”

--Inside Norway’s ‘Doomsday Vault’, http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/03/11/inside-norways-doomsday-vault ; March 11, 2020,  Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

The seed repository may be a wise idea from a human standpoint, but we have a greater promise from God to hold on to. 

Genesis 8:22 (CEV) “As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat; winter and summer, day and night.” 

A family facing foreclosure and the possible loss of their family home can say their home was saved through the provision of a fictional superhero. As the unidentified family was preparing to move, they began searching for extra boxes to use. In one box they found several old comic books, one of which saved the day. Most of the old comics were worth between $10 and $30 dollars, which is common for that kind of thing. One of the comics was a lot rarer.

Hidden with the other comics, the family found a copy of Action Comics #1, the first in which Superman ever appeared. The book sold for ten cents in 1938, and the cover pictures the Man of Steel lifting a car over his head. It is considered by many to be the comic that ushered in the era of Superheroes in America. Vincent Zurzolo, co-owner of a Collectibles company in New York said, “It’s a tremendous piece of American pop culture history.” He added,” You couldn’t have asked for a happier ending. Superman saved the day.” The bank has said they will hold off on the foreclosure until the comic book is sold at auction, where it could bring as much as $250,000.

--http://abcnews.go.com/Business/superman-comic-saves-familys-home/story?id=11306997; August 3, 2010. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

I don’t know how you process this story. For me, it is clearly the provision of God in a time of need. Not because I know anymore about the details than you do, but because I’ve experienced his provision.

Psalm 41:1 (CEV) (A psalm by David for the music leader.) You, LORD God, bless everyone who cares for the poor, and you rescue those people in times of trouble. 

Nagayama says eating habits in Japan are changing and there a trend toward more Western style foods and a busier lifestyle that makes it harder to find the time to cook rice.  He says the machine also allows people to know exactly what goes into the food they eat, because they add ingredients themselves.  Nagayama said, “People can eat the bread easily and it tastes good But Japanese have been eating rice for thousands of years, so there’s something about this bread that’s satisfying down to the levels of our DNA.”

--Rice bread making machine a hit for Japan firm, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AP33T20101126 ; November 26, 2010, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

Even if machines do all the work of preparing food for us, we must remember t is still the Lord who provides what we need each day. 

Matthew 6:11 (CEV) Give us our food for today. 
 

PROVISION

A visitor at a Russian shopping center captured video of a sparrow that had found its way into a store and inside the deli case. The video, recorded at the Lenta shopping center in Tyumen, shows the bird sampling several of the salads and other foods inside the case. The bird seemed oblivious to anything else. The person who captured the video explained, “In the shots, you can see how the bird jumped on each container with a salad.”—Jim Wilson and Jim Sandell

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2017/12/18/Sparrow-lives-it-up-inside-shopping-centers-deli-case/6561513624306/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=3

Matthew 6:26 (CSB)

Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

PROVISION

A ring that slipped off a girl’s finger while planting her garden turned up wrapping around one of the plants she planted. Madison Cooper said she lost the ring while planting garlic at a Foundation near her hometown in October 2019. She was upset because the ring was a gift from her grandmother when her grandfather died.  She never expected to see the ring, but when educators at the foundation were harvesting the garlic plants, one of them noticed something shiny around the stalk. She was shocked to see a ring around the plant and called the family. They said it was a coincidence that the garlic captured the ring as it grew through the straw that was placed on top of them. Cooper’s grandmother said the call about the ring came 23 months after the day Cooper’s grandfather has passed away. She said, “It was meant to be, she was meant to get that ring back.” –Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/07/30/Lost-ring-found-wrapped-around-garlic-plant-months-later/4071596133971/

Mark 10:27 (CSB)

Looking at them, Jesus said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God, because all things are possible with God.”

PROVISION

A Chinese man took a woman on a first dinner date. The woman brought 23 of her relatives along. The man looked on uncomfortably as the woman’s large family began ordering pricey dishes and drinks. She said she was testing if he would be “generous enough to pay for all 25 people.” When the man received the $3000 dollar check he walked out and left the date to foot the bill for her own family. 

The Week, November 13, 2020 p. 12

The woman made a costly mistake about her date. They both learned a lesson here. He avoided a bad relationship and perhaps she learned not to presume on the generosity of others. We certainly don’t want to make the same kind of presumptuous mistake about God. —Jim L. Wilson and Rodger Russell

Romans 2:4 (CSB)

Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

PROVISION

Reindeer are designed to survive the extremes of the Artic. “As they roam, they look for patches of lichen or moss to dig up from beneath the Artic snow.” A reindeer-nerd notes, “Somehow the reindeer doesn’t even mind the cold weather.” Many of these animals are no longer entirely wild. “The Sami people of northern Norway have herded reindeer here for at least a thousand years.” They go through the semi-annual process of herding them into “corrals” and sorting them into groups. “Some will get veterinary care, some will get ear tags or collars for tracking, others will be sectioned off for market.” Thus, the Sami can survive and thrive off of selling the bounty of the tundra in a kind of symbiotic dance. Their needs are met through the needs of the reindeer being met. —Jim L. Wilson and Jon R. Pennington

Wild Nordic, “Land of Ice and Snow,” Season 1, Episode 3, Released on Disney+ on December 2019

Numbers 11:31–32 (CSB)

A wind sent by the Lord came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet off the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction. The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered sixty bushels—and they spread them out all around the camp.