Study Desk

They began making fun of him so he put them all out on the porch. He went into the girl's room with her mom and dad, as well as the three cowboys who'd come with him.

When the day of rest came, Jesus went and did a little preaching at the local church. People who listened were wondering where he came up with all these different interpretations of God's word. They also wondered where all his wisdom came from and if the miracles he had been performing came from the same place. They all shook their heads and kept asking one another,

"Isn't this that carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son? Aren't those his sisters who live near here?" Because of all their questions, they didn't hear him; because of their looking for answers elsewhere they couldn't see him; and they got offended that this ordinary fellow would stand up in front and dare to teach them.

He gave them authority over evil spirits and told them to take nothing along on their journey except their saddles. They couldn't fill their saddlebags with money nor morsels of any kind.

So the cowboys set off in pairs to spread the good news and gather people for God's outfit. They told everyone to turn from their wicked ways and start riding for God.

They cast out many demons that were hurting people and put a little dab of oil on people's heads to show that they ride for God. Many folks were healed.

When the cowboys who rode alongside John heard that he had been killed, they came and got his body and buried it with the respect he deserved.

When all the cowboys got back from their first big gathering for God, they all sat around and told Jesus their stories.

He told 'em, "Let's go somewhere private so we can all talk and rest up." There were tons of people hanging around and wanting to hear everything Jesus and his cowboys were saying; so much so that they hadn't even had a chance to get a bite to eat.

but many saw where they were going and followed them.

When Jesus saw there were so many people wanting to know about riding for God, he felt sorry for them. They were like a stray herd looking for water so Jesus taught them many things. In other words, he watered them. Jesus spent a long time teaching and it got to be very late.

But he told them, "Y'all get 'em something to eat."They said, "You want us to ride to town and get all these people something to eat?"

Jesus responded, "How many loaves of bread do you have already?"They went and checked their saddle bags and came back and said, "We've got five loaves of bread and a couple of pieces of fish."

Just as soon as they were done, Jesus told his cowboys to get into a nearby boat and go across the sea to Bethsaida. Jesus said goodbye to his boys as the crowd filed away and

Jesus could see his boys straining against the oars as they fought the tumbling sea. When the night was nearly over, he decided to go to Bethsaida and beat them there by walking across the sea as if it were a dry patch of ground. As he was passing them by,

they saw him and got scared out of their skin.

They thought he was some sort of ghost and were terrified. But at the height of their fear, he spoke to them and said, "Don't be scared, boys! It's just me."

Then he walked over and climbed into the boat with 'em. When he did, the storm completely stopped. The cowboys couldn't believe what they had just seen.

Unfortunately, their hearts were hard because they had already forgot about the loaves and the fish earlier in the day.

They anchored the boat when they finally got across, and as they came ashore,