Gone Fishing

“Going on from there, he saw two brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father…preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat…and followed him.” Matthew 4:21-22

The danger with being familiar with Bible stories is that we frequently become too comfortable with their overriding message. Something about this story today makes me want to sneak down to the shore close enough to hear the conversation between these two brothers and their dad. No doubt their father had taught them how to fish. No doubt there had been times when they were fooling around and needed a gentle reminder that fishing was a serious business. It had been their life as children…as teens…and now as adults. So, I can only imagine when they looked up and heard a stranger standing close by calling to them, interrupting their work. What on earth did Jesus say to them that made them drop everything and abandon their responsibilities? We can assume that Jesus said the same thing He previously said to the other fishermen before the brothers. ‘Follow me…and I will make you fish for people.’ Matthew 4:19. What was the response of their dad as he was left  holding the nets and watching his boys follow a stranger? I would love to hear the exchange between the siblings and parent.

I remember a time when my dad owned a moving company. The company was located at Hartsville, SC and took about an hour to get there from Lancaster. Most of the moving jobs were in that area, and the town was full of were very old homes. My sister Becki and I worked for Daddy one summer as teenagers and frequently were up in the hot attics going through old things. We would wrap whatever was up there and make up stories about the treasures. The people would leave piles for us to discard, and I would take many of their old ‘treasures’ home to give to Mother (your are welcome). Daddy would catch us fooling around and remind us that these things were someone else’s property. I can’t even begin to comprehend a stranger popping his head in one of those homes and telling me and my sister to lay down our boxes and go with him. This is the reality of what happened with the disciples.

I was thinking about what I was doing when Jesus called out to me in 2006. How was I preparing my net, and what had I been fishing for all those years leading up to that moment? I realize now that my net was my image, and the big fish I wanted to land was acceptance and approval from all the other women. I never did catch that big fish, and I’m glad that I didn’t because it would have cost me something greater than my net could handle. My net would have been prepared with compromise and pride, and my yield would have never satisfied me. It was all a smelly business with no gain.  I’m so grateful that like these brothers, Jesus interrupted my life and has shown me the net He has prepared for me. My net is my writing, and He determines the yield who enter the net...and I'm grateful for that and humbled by that reality.  I’m so blessed to the tell the story of a Stranger who met me at the shore, called me to lay down my net and follow Him. It is the sweetest interruption to my life I have ever had.  My preacher stated a beautiful truth last week in church. He said that ‘Jesus interrupts our story, so we can tell His story.’ Talbot Davis.

So, as you go through your beautiful life today, prepare your net by inviting Jesus to join you and He will show you in which bodies of water you can catch the yield He has for you.

“But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Luke 5:5