Finding Him

This morning I read the story of Jesus showing up again.

He already had once, you know. He could have said, “Well, y’all had your chance.” But He didn’t. He just kept showing up, over and over. It was after his death and resurrection that He walked right into the disciples lives again.

They were back in the fishing boat. Back where they started. Their few short years of traveling with the miracle-worker skidding to a sudden halt.

I’ve been on fishing boats, you know. Up there in Alaska where they fish for salmon off Kachemak Bay. They’re smelly and wet and when the waves roll, your stomach lurches into your throat.

Yet, there is something achingly soothing about them. You’re trusting this mighty boat to hold you afloat, and the salty breeze stirs up something that makes you want to keep breathing and keep going.

Splash, yank, pull, holler. Repetitive. Hard. Beautiful.

The perfect place to go back to when all of life seems to be crashing out of control.

So that is where they went; these fishermen turned preachers turned lost-wanderers.

But it’s not working. They can’t catch anything. That uncanny sense of where the fish are and how to cast the nets just right is rusty from a three year fishing-break. Instead of satisfying their desire for normalcy, they sit in discouragement.

And Jesus shows up, just like He did when He first called them. “Cast your net on the other side,” He says.

They do it.

Just like that. They listen.

And when they haul in a record setting load, they sit right down and count them.

153.

And they “knew it was the Lord.”

When I take time to count the gifts that God places before me, I find Jesus. Every single time.

What did you read today? What has God reminded you of, or revealed to you?