It’s been a month since He Got Up rocked the city of Orlando Florida for Easter and changed countless lives (including my own). I still can’t believe at times that I was a part of something so big, so major, so impactful to the city.
But now, here comes the age-old question; now what? What happens next? Where do we go from here?
Easy — time to go fishing.
“As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother, Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once, they left their nets and followed Him.” — Matthew 4:18-20
Now, I am NOT a fan of fishing. I’ve gone a couple of times when I was much younger and it did not keep my interest; I found it too slow, boring, quiet and required too much patience that I didn’t have at the time. I wanted to keep going, always wanted to move and sitting still on the dock of the bay all day was not my cup of tea (or lemonade, I like lemonade better…). But now that I am older, I might consider it again, but I digress…
Jesus called those who were identified as His disciples to be “fisher of men” meaning casting out nets to draw people to Him. Like fishing in the real world, fishing in the spiritual world requires a great deal of patience with people. Because, let’s face it, change doesn’t occur right away; it’s a process that is never completed on earth, but finished when we get to Heaven.
I think about my own life; how lost I was in darkness, how I wasn’t living for God, even though I was in church every Sunday (there is a major difference between GOING to church and BEING the church, but that’s another topic). But someone cast a net and caught me and brought me to Jesus; now it’s my turn.
And that what He Got Up was; casting a net into the unknown waters of Orlando and the surrounding, tri-county community, fishing for those who were lost in the dark waters of hopelessness.
But like a good fisherman, you don’t cast your once and call it a day. Like a good fisherman, it takes time, patience and a little bit of faith that it will come to pass. Just like it took me a good while to come to Christ, I can’t expect others that I reach out to connect with to come to Christ that very second. That’s not my job to save people; my job is to draw them closer to Christ and let Christ be the one to change their hearts.
“So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” — I Corinthians 3:7
God provides the increase; we simply prepare the soil for the growth. But we have to find the people first to till the soil of their heart. And we can’t do that in our own comfortable lives; we have to go out into the unknown waters to find them. They are in the darkness; we must be the light to bring them to Christ.
Like I said, I am not a fisher (in the literal sense), but spiritually, I am a fisher of men. Even now, with some of the projects I am doing at work, activities and ministries at church and new opportunities popping up in my personal life, I am always fishing, always searching, shining a little bit of light through the dark, murky waters of life, searching for those that are lost. He Got Up cast a big net across Central Florida; I am simply casting that net on my own a bit further out where I am. And I’ll be patient; I’ll sit with God on the dock of the bay, waiting for the people to be brought it. And as I wait, I know that God is with me, giving me direction and guidance.
So, let’s get fishing!
“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you, to the very end of the age.” — Matthew 28: 18-20
The Book of James 