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Written by Aaron Sparks
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Sunday, 02 August 2009 10:40 |
He was like no one else I had ever met before. From first appearances you could tell something was different about this man. It was the way He walked. His stride was confident, but without the pride the Priests had made sure to exhibit. There was something in His eyes, it was deeper. You know, like the window into a person’s soul? Only this man’s soul happened to be God!
It was the way He looked at me that struck me most though. It was like He already knew me for a very long time. In fact, like He knew me better than I knew myself (and He later proved that many times over). It wasn’t just that He knew me inside and out, but that He knew me (including my deep dark secrets) and still loved me greatly. A love I had never encountered before. Not even from my wife! This was a pure love. It had no selfish motives, He just loved me for who I was, fish smell and all!
Did I mention I was a fisherman before I met Him? I’m sure you can hardly believe it now. I had a mouth that could make the most vile Pagan blush! But all that changed from the first day I met this man.
We had been working hard all night long out on the Galilean Sea. I was ready to come home, clean up and spend a bit of time with the family before trying to catch up on my sleep. If you’ve ever worked nights, you know what I mean. Anyhow, we had just docked with nothing to show for our hard work, again. All that week was a bad week. Then this guy randomly steps into our boat and starts preaching to a crowd that had followed Him here. I’m not much for listening to some guy blether on and on, but He was different. It made sense, you know? Somehow, it just made perfect sense, like it was right. Not like the other teachers who just talk over my head saying “so and so said this and that”.
Well, I had just about finished repairing and cleaning up the nets when He turns around and tries to tell us where the fish are! I hate cleaning nets, but to think I was just going to have to do it all over again was making my blood boil. But whether to prove that a carpenter’s son doesn’t know anything about fishing, or because I was slightly curious about this man’s assurance of fish, we shoved off into the deep... completely in the wrong place at the wrong time of day for fishing.
As soon as we had cast those nets, the water was churning up like a boiling pot. I had never in all my years of fishing seen anything like it. As we tried to retrieve the net water poured into the side of the boat and the repairs I had made on the net were failing. This was the motherload! We called over James and John to come help us, and filled both boats to the rim with the best fish we’ve seen all year. We were all laughing with joy.
And then it suddenly hit me like a giant wave, a chill up my neck and my eyes welled up with tears. I couldn’t help it. I was in the presence of something I couldn’t humanly explain. I just fell over face first into the fish right in front of Him. I told Him what He already knew: I was a sinner and unworthy to be in His presence. Then he did what I least expected. He picked me up, looked me staight in the eyes with a big smile and said, “Follow me. I will make you a fisher of men.” |
