December 2009

devotional image
"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen..."
Roman 1:20


Imagine

Imagine. . .

 

            Sunrise on the rocky shore of the Sea of Galilee.  The emerging sun lays a blade of orange across the rippled surface of the water. Nearby, a black and white nightheron, black eyes and long, sharp beak alert, stands on its yellow legs on a dusty gray boulder.  In a moment, the sun will show itself to be round. In a moment, the bird will take flight.  It's the moment just before, and like all moments just before, it holds its breath.

            This morning a lone man stands on the shore, looking out to sea.  He is watching his friends, seven of them on a little fishing boat that's been out all night.  The boat rides high in the water, higher than it would if they had taken a good catch. 

            He calls out to them, "Children, have you any food?"

            They answer with one dejected word, "No."  Surely they are failures, they think, to come home with nothing.

            "Cast your net on the right side of the boat," he says to them.

            Too tired to argue with this stranger, they throw the net again, as they've been doing all night. What can one more time cost them?  Maybe this man knows something they don't know.

             They watch the heavy woven fibers sail through the air, and notice how the morning light shines through each hole.  They've never noticed that before.  The sea and sky are both very still around them.  Then suddenly, they feel it, that moment-just-before thrill in their chests.  Something is different.  Something is about to happen.  They each know this without knowing that the others know.  Each thinks this moment is just for him.  And it is. 

            No one speaks a word.

            In this great silence, they hear the net hit the water, watch it sink below the surface.  They are rooted in place for a moment and then they begin to haul in the catch they now know is there.  But the net is so heavy that seven strong men can't lift it over the side of the boat.  It is at this very moment that one of the men in the boat recognizes the man on the shore.

            "It is the Lord!" shouts John. 

            If you've experienced a moment of recognition and acceptance like this in your life, I rejoice with you.  If you haven't yet had that moment, are you feeling that moment-just-before thrill in your chest right now?  Are you having the experience of knowing that something big is about to happen, something major is about to change, but you don't know what, or how, or who? Allow me to shout like John, "It is the Lord!"  No matter what time of day you're reading this, it is the morning of a brand new day. Jesus is standing on the rocky shore calling out to you.  He wants you to be still long enough to notice the morning Light for the first time.  He wants you to cast your net into the abundance that is Himself.  Now is your moment-just-before, a moment made just for you.  Speak His name, Jesus.  Talk to Him.  He's been waiting for this moment.

 

Daye Phillippo

November 2009