Several years ago, when my mom yelled, “It’s a miracle!” I was sceptical, as most are when they hear such a proclamation. But God had revealed Himself to my children while fishing on other occasions, so I listened to the story. It started when our nine-year-old daughter lost a fish. Hearing Kinsey sobbing, my dad laid his favorite fishing pole on the dock to console his granddaughter. A minute later, his pole was scooting across the wooden planks into the lake. Perhaps what happened next would not fit the technical definition of a miracle, but when I heard what preceded the “improbable catch”, I agreed with my mom’s assessment. My dad had given up hope of ever seeing his pole again so he became everyone’s assistant. In a little while, Kinsey thought she had another bite, but when she reeled in the hook, there was no fish. Instead, she had caught a fishing line. As my dad pulled in one side of the line, there was a good-sized catfish. When he pulled in the other side, he discovered his fishing pole. The hidden part of the story was that on the other end of the dock, Kinsey’s eleven-year-old brother, Taylor, had been praying, “Lord, please help Peepaw get his fishing pole back.”
Perhaps some wouldn’t have proclaimed it a miracle that a school of fish swam into the lowered net of the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, but when we know what preceded the catch, we realize God was in the picture. Jesus “called it” before it happened! “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” They found 153 to be exact. If they had carried a camera fishing, as Taylor does these days, I’ll bet the disciples would have taken a picture.
In 1981, some missionaries did have a camera and video-taped a miraculous catch of fish… I’ve seen the film! Don Stephens and his wife, Deyon, led a team of 175 young people to Athens, Greece to work on a newly purchased “mercy ship” that Youth With A Mission hoped to send all over the world. The ship was going to require an incredible amount of work to become seaworthy, but the young volunteers were up to the task. While many worked on the ship, the rest of the team went ashore to help and encourage victims of a recent earthquake. As the team labored, Don felt it would be pleasing to the Lord to enter a period of fasting and prayer. For forty days the missionaries scheduled groups to fast and pray for God’s guidance and for a great harvest for the Kingdom. As they approached the end of the forty days, some interesting things started happening. One day, 12 medium-sized fish jumped out of the water into a shallow tidal pool at the feet of one of the missionaries. He took them to the rest of the team and shared his strange story. A few days later, a large tuna jumped out of the ocean. Those not on “fasting duty” enjoyed some unexpected seafood. A few days later, a young lady was sitting on the rocks by the ocean, spending time with the Lord, when fish started jumping all over the place. She gathered 210 fish and some local Greek families collected over twice that number. But the greatest day was captured on video. Beginning at 8:00 in the morning, fish started jumping out of the ocean onto the land. The young people ran to get containers and spent forty-five minutes gathering fish… 8,301 of them. The local Greeks had never seen anything like it. Their conclusion: “God is with these people!”
God is with His children! He’s not just with us when prayers are answered in spectacular ways or when He surprises us with His wonders. He is with us always. In the good times and the bad. In the times of harvest and in the times of want. In the times of light and in the times of darkness. But sometimes… often when a child-like prayer is lifted in faith, He fills our net with more than we can carry. How it must tickle the Father to see a child-like response!
“Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter. ‘It is the Lord!’ As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, ‘It is the Lord,’ he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.” John 21:7
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!