“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 [Sunrise photo April 10, 2013]

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19 [Sunrise photo April 10, 2013]

Day 10 Death and Resurrection of A Dream

I’m going fishing!
Peter in John 21:3

Scripture records twelve resurrection appearances of Jesus, the first six in Jerusalem, four in Galilee, one on the Mount of Olives, and one on the road to Damascus.

John 21 records the third appearance to the disciples after he was raised from the dead (John 21: 14) There are two primary stories in this chapter, “Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish” and “Jesus Reinstates Peter”.

Death of A Dream

For the disciples, it was all over. They were done.

The dream had died. The vision blown up. The mission melted down.

Not knowing how to move forward, Peter moved backward.  Maybe he was thinking, “I’m going back to what I know.”

His occupation had been fishing. He and the others went back to something they could understand. “I’m going out to fish.” (John 21:3)

The call of Jesus is pretty simple.

“Follow me.”

That’s really all we have to do. The problem is, it’s simple but not easy. Clear to understand,  but confusing to do – at least some of the time.

OK, maybe a lot of the time

Jesus was the greatest leader and communicator of all time. He answered the great question we all have -  “what am I supposed to do with my life?” – in simple and relatable terms.

“Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19

Losing It All

In my life I’ve been blessed to achieve some of my dreams. And lose them too.

So back in the day, our music advertising business had been very successful for a good 15 year run. Then it started to decline and right around 911 (September 11, 2001)  it took a nosedive. The business model and dynamics of our industry were changing rapidly, and our high overhead structure was not going to be sustainable.

We had to downsize. We put our house and the studio up for sale. Our small staff of six was gradually reduced to one, moi. Then, as the owner, eventually I laid off myself as president.

I’ll never forget the morning I drove to state labor office and filed for unemployment. I sat in the lobby for about six hours waiting for the interview to apply for benefits.  I had been earning six figures a year for ten years, now I needed that 200 dollar  unemployment check just to make ends meet.

I  left at the end of that day feeling humiliated.

Broken

As I was driving home, tears in my eyes, I felt the Holy Spirit say  – “If you follow me, I will  make you a fisher of men.” Over and over again I heard the call of God.

“If you follow me, I will make you a fisher of men.”

From the death of one dream, there was going to be the resurrection of another.

A better one, actually. I just didn’t see it at the time.

Prayer:

I invite you to pray with me today.

“Lord today I pray for my brothers and sisters n the Lord, as well as myself. Give us a fresh vision, to move forward in your will and not backward. Thank you for the gift of redemption. Thank you for Your gift of re-creation. Help us to dream Your dream. To see with Your eyes. To fulfill our small part in Your story,  for Your glory. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.”

About This Devotional Series

According to the historical church calendar, the Easter season is the 50 day period from Resurrection Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.  I’ll post a fresh devotional thought with my sunrise photo of that morning, everyday through Pentecost, commenting as the Spirit inspires. Check out the rest of the series here.

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