Bread on the Water
Generosity without condition or expectation
by
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I sleep in my clothes every night because I want to be ready to go first thing. After the lamp is blown out, I get dressed in the moonlight and jump back in bed. As I catch that first whiff of baking bread, I roll out of bed.
Bread on the Water is our family’s market and sits in the heart of our small village nestled by the Sea of Galilee. My Abba’s been baking bread since he was my size. He helped his Abba bake bread for our village since, well, it seems like forever.
When Abba was my age, there were lean years with hardly any grain and only a little honey for baking. During those scarce times, our family continued to bake bread and be generous with neighbors. A little bread with friends is good for the heart. We choose to live the proverb, “Cast your bread on the water and in seven days it will return to you.” My Abba showed me how to live generously every day.
The teacher from Nazareth got the four best fishermen on the Sea of Galilee to walk away from their life’s work and follow Him. The hated tax collector, Matthew, joined them too. Jesus healed my friend, Anna. I have to see Jesus for myself.
Days drag on forever as they turn into weeks. Early one morning, Zebedee tells me that the boys are coming later that morning and that Jesus is with them. Today is the day I get to see Jesus for myself.
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About the Book
Jesus broke the cultural rules of his time. With the only miracle found in all four gospels, he focuses on the humble generosity of eight-year-old David as the catalyst for feeding five thousand families. In Bread on the Water, a fictional story steeped in the scriptures, author David W. Poindexter teaches we must have the faith of a child to enter the kingdom of God.
This work offers a fresh and meaningful story, creating faces and names around this miracle of Jesus. The miracle of feeding five thousand inspires us to ask, “What’s in my lunch?” and then find the courage to place it in the hands of the one who can do the most with it. The included journal allows families to write their own story of generosity.
Bread on the Water is the first book in Family on Purpose: A Series for Building Core Family Values. The stories are inspired by true, firsthand accounts of Jesus’s ministry found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; each miracle found in scripture stands on its own. This creative narrative offers direction in goodness and encourages fresh insight and deeper understanding. Other character topics include values such as grit, adventure, gratitude, and more.
About the Author
David W. Poindexter, a creative and entrepreneur, has served youth and families for more than thirty years in education, ministry, and nonprofits. A master’s in education and counseling provide a foundation for supporting children and families. He helps people discover their strengths, gifts, and passion. It could be leading mission trips to Haiti and Nicaragua, organizing service projects and soccer camps for refugee communities, or climbing Stone Mountain with grandsons, David’s answer to any invitation into adventure is, “I’m in.” He and his wife have four daughters and two grandsons, for now.