That is no optical illusion, it is a 10.5 lb largemouth bass that my son Jonathan is holding. It is the largest bass I have ever caught and I caught it with my fly rod which made it even more exciting. But I could never have landed this giant without Jonathan’s help. If it were not for his quick thinking and being able to paddle us away from the brush where the fish was taking us it would have surely broken my line. We battled the fish together as it dragged us around, but when Jonathan finally pulled this tired giant into the boat we couldn’t believe our eyes. We celebrated and chalked up another great memory we will share for a lifetime.
Fishing is something that my son and I love to do together. We have many wonderful memories and look forward to many more. As I reflect upon our experience and the mighty catch I am reminded of the disciples and the time they shared fishing with Jesus. They experienced some amazing catches with Jesus. Stories that they continued to tell and are recorded within scripture. But Jesus desired to share even more adventure and depth with His friends. He used their experience of fishing to call them to a much bigger vision. In Matthew 4:19-20 he records what Jesus said, “’Come, follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’”
With this being the Passion week and Sunday being Resurrection Sunday let me encourage you to take some time to reflect upon the indescribable love our Savior has for us and what He did for us through His life, death and resurrection. He has saved us so that we could follow Him and so that we all could become fishers of men. The result of the reality of the gospel in our lives should be a growing passion to share the love of Jesus with others.
Take some time this week to pray about who you could invite to church with you on Easter Sunday. Take a step of faith, throw your line in the water and invite someone you know who needs Jesus to come to your church home with you. Pray for your leadership and church that the grace and love of Jesus would be clear in every aspect of the service and exude from everyone’s hearts.
Let’s go fishing with Jesus this week and expect great things.
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