A few thousand years ago, there was, wandering around the Palestinian desert, a whole slew of ill-behaved children known as the Hebrews who were spending a good deal of time grousing about their situation. They were tired, they were cranky and they were hungry. One fine morning, the Lord God decided to prepare a feast for these folk who perhaps presumptuously called themselves God's children. When they woke up that day they discovered that the Lord God had covered the wilderness with a fine white substance that when gathered together made for a passable meal of bread. The Hebrew children, being children, looked at the strange concoction and in unison cried out, "What is this?"

Now the Hebrew for this rude remark is man hu. So out of their impropriety came the name of God's gift of bread in the wilderness, manna. We have not traveled all that far from that Middle Eastern desert. We continue, as did our spiritual ancestors, to grumble when the gifts of God are put before us.

It doesn't take much of a theological leap for most of us to recognize the analogy between the manna in the desert and Jesus in our life.

Each day we are presented the opportunity to once again receive the rich, rewarding nourishment that comes from entering into the presence of Christ and too often we appear as ungrateful or ill-prepared as those folk long ago.

"You cannot be saved" you will hear some people say, "unless you believe in Jesus" as if such belief was a kind of mathematical theory rather than a personal relationship. Too often we have belittled the gift that is set before us by turning it into a weapon to wield upon others.

I remember the only advice my father gave me when I was about to get married. He told me of the first meal my mother made for him. It involved lima beans. It involved lima beans that my mother had failed to prepare properly by soaking them for hours before cooking. It involved lima beans that were hard as a rock and it involved a new husband who smiled all the while he was trying to swallow.

If our faith is limited to our theological premises, it's very easy to control. Whip up a doctrine here, a statement of faith there, and it is all so neat and tidy. But a relationship with God is very different indeed. Relationships take work. They change and alter with time. They demand constant attention and a willingness to adjust. At times they even involve doing what you'd just as soon avoid.

Jesus invites us to enter into a relationship with Him. Such an invitation means that things will be different for us. Life will be altered by our contact. Circumstances will change. Christianity is not about salvation that remains stagnant but a life that calls us to abundance. A life that involves trust and trusts involvement. A life that sometimes calls us to smile and swallow without always asking,

"What is this?"