FISHERS OF MEN

Daniel and I went home this weekend to take our engagement pictures and see our family. Saturday we went out to mamaw and papaw's, ate hamburgers with them, and then the boys and me went out to the pond to fish. Despite the fact that we only caught 3 fish total - I caught ONE, Daniel caught ONE, and my dad caught ONE (my papaw didn't fish) - we had a great time and I felt like the Lord painted some pictures of His idea of "fishing." When Jesus called out His disciples, He called several of them from a fishing business. In Luke 5 Jesus got into Simon Peter's boat and asked him to put out a little from the land. Jesus taught the crowds who had been pressing in on Him from the boat. And after He finished speaking, He instructed Simon Peter to put out deeper and let his nets down into the water. Simon and his friends hadn't caught anything all night, but they obeyed Jesus. When they did this, they caught a great number of fish and were in awe of Jesus! Jesus responds to Simon and says, "From now on you will be catching people!"

I thought about Jesus' instruction that we are to be fishers of men that evening as we stood at the edge of the pond. I had a simple bamboo-like pole with string attatched to the end in my hands and cast out into the water. It was a bit frustrating casting out into the water time after time, only to pull my line out of the water, bait still on the hook. And occasionally I would pull it out, discovering that some sly little fish had come and nibbled the bait from the hook without my knowing it. I thought about our lives on the mission field. I thought about how frustrating it is to share the gospel, the hope of Jesus, time after time, and at the end of the day, not see many, if any, come to know Christ. At the end of our evening of fishing, we had caught three fish. THREE FISH OUT OF AN ENTIRE POND!! They just weren't biting. That's how sharing the gospel is sometimes. Sometimes, they just aren't "biting."


I was the last one to catch my fish. Just as I had said, "I haven't caught a fish yet," I cast my line into the water and within 2 seconds, out came a fish! It was at that moment that I thought to myself, "Wow! This is what it is like as fishers of men." And I was so pleasantly surprised as I cast my line into the water and saw signs of a fish nibbling on the bait under the surface of the water. I yanked the line out of the water and BATA-BING-BATA-BOOM!!! A fish! A new brother/sister in Christ had been won into the Kingdom!

Oh, the beauty of the words of scripture! The stories we read. They are not just words written on a page, but they are the record of our Risen Savior and His ministry here on this earth. Can you believe that???? Just think about it: JESUS WALKED ON THIS PLANET EARTH!!!