I don't know why, for sure, but there is a Jesus theme to my posts today.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Matthew 14:13-21New International Version (NIV)

When I was a kid in Sunday school, the lessons were always taught as if they actually happened. They most likely didn't.

The teachers neutered the messages without even realizing it, taking away all their power and punch, and leaving nothing more than an unbelievable story about a guy who did a huge magic trick when a bunch of people were hungry. Yeah, yeah, I got it, Sunday school teacher. There is this magic guy and I will never be like him and he did all this cool stuff but I am a sinner so I should just join his team before the end 'cause at the end he will destroy me if I don't.

The power is in the message.

You know what I am doing now with crypto, and have already done (and it doesn't just apply to crypto, but potentially anything, really)? I'm taking those two fish and however many loaves and turning them into a multitude of riches to feed my family, and I honestly hope I'll be able to feed and help many more.

Two and a half years ago when I decided in a fever one night that I had to get into Bitcoin, I felt like I owned the world when I bought my first 80 bucks worth. Eventually, through working on the jobs4bitcoins subreddit, I ended up with a massive 200 USD's worth back in 2015. Fuckin' A. Looking back now, it almost makes me laugh a little, and I am fascinated by the fact that I felt I had so much. Even my friends would give me a strange look. They didn't understand (and neither did I, explicitly, at the time) that what you have is on the inside. "It's only 200 bucks dude, calm down..."

What in the hell do you mean, Graham? Get to the point.

Okay, okay. Fair enough. I started my YouTube channel, Voluntary Japan, not knowing what it would be, but just needing an outlet for expression. I felt inside it was something that was of the utmost importance, though, to an outside observer it was likely just another "throw away" YouTube channel with 3 subscribers. I put in so much fucking work to make those videos. And time. I felt that if I could monetize it and get enough subscribers it could be a decent source of income. Well, that never happened. YouTube fucking sucks and started demonetizing everything to do with politics. You know what happened in the midst of all this, though? STEEMIT.

My journey in beginning with piddly amounts of Bitcoin and a tiny YouTube channel gave me tons of experience. It set me on a path. It positioned me. When Steemit came around, I was ready for it. I decided to pay attention. After all, had I been paying attention back at the inception of Bitcoin I could've been rich. Poring over hours and hours of videos, reading articles, and having days-long debates and conversations on Facebook and elsewhere set me in the place where I could receive the "Steem Gospel" and become an active part of it all. Had I just been looking for some get rich quick garbage and not putting in the hours, blood, sweat, and tears, I wouldn't have taken note when it came across my radar. By the way, blood, sweat, and tears are not so bad when you are having fun and working really hard at something you are 100% invested in.

Look, I'm not "rich" yet, and it doesn't fucking really matter if I ever am, in anyone else's eyes, because I already know I am, in my own. And that's why I can struggle on and keep pushing and hustling.

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That piddly amount of Bitcoin has grown by leaps and bounds, and I now have a substantial investment and crypto portfolio I could have never predicted even just two years ago. And I would have missed it all had I been waiting for some big "OPPORTUNITY!" I followed something weird inside that has a lot to do with passion and I think it is basically just the joy of doing what you really feel pulled to do. What you really want to do. When you're in your zone, everything becomes a seed. And it is no magic trick that nature can produce mountains and mountains of fruit, year after year, from one tiny seed. It's a fact of nature.

I could actually take this back even further to when I was playing in my first band. To me, that was the beginning of this same journey. We spiral around, widely at first, and then, kind of hone in as we follow that gut feeling. I think it is a never ending journey. The stuff that leads us to flourishing and feeding five thousand is not some big showy garbage. It is simply just doing you.

And the huge, successful, and money-making endeavors in the world always start from a tiny and invisible inspiration and intuition. An idea. Now that is a miracle.

~*~

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(On a less flowery note, if you want a hint as to one of the cryptos I think will be multiplying soon, please see the thumbnail picture. Well, aware a lot of people will disagree with me, but let's just see what happens down the line, shall we?)

~KafkA

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Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as Facebook and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)