Way back when, when I was but a wee lad, one of the most exciting things in the world was when my papaw would take my brother and I fishing.  We’d go about a mile from Papaw’s house to a wide spot in the creek, and spend many happy hours catching sunfish and then letting them go.  Or we would spend a short time catching nothing because my little brother insisted on throwing rocks into the creek, scaring the fish away, but that was a good time, too.  Anyway, the point of the whole thing is, we went fishing, for the fun of it.

Now, way, way, way back when folks didn’t just “fish for the fun of it,” they had to fish to actually earn a living and just to have something to eat.  Or so it was with Simon, and his buds, James and John.  Now, I don’t know if any of them had little brothers who were wont to throw rocks into the sea and scare the fish away, but on this particular day, no matter how much they fished, they caught nothing.  Bummer.  So they packed up their nets, returned to the shore and started to clean up their stuff so they could try again the next day.

Now, not too far away from there, there was a crowd of folks listening to this new preacher dude, who apparently was pretty great.  So great in fact that the crowd started pressing in on him so to get closer to him.  Since the preacher dude didn’t have a security team at the time, and being the observant type, he took a short break and trotted down the beach to our guys, Simon, James, and John, and asked them to row him out a bit so he could continue his preaching gig, and not be trampled in the process.  So they did.

Now, after preacher dude was done dispensing his words of wisdom, my guess is he was kinda hungry and asked our guys to catch him a fish.  And nope.  They told Jesus, who was the preacher dude (but you already knew that, didn’t ya?) that they hadn’t caught anything all night long.  And Jesus said, “Try again, only lemme help ya a bit.”  And so they did.  And hoo-whee.  They caught them a heap of fish!  So much so that they had to ask for help to get their haul back to shore.

Because of all of this, Simon recognized Jesus as being more than just a preacher dude, and was pretty tripped out.  He told Jesus he wasn’t good enough to hang around with Jesus, and Jesus told him, “Dude.  Stick with me, and I will have you catching men.”  I can imagine that our guys, Simon, James, and John, were even more freaked out, but they left everything and followed Jesus.  (Luke 5:1-11)

Kewl story, huh?  So, you ask, what does that have to do with us?  Imma tell ya.  In the past few weeks, how many of us have said/posted/read/agreed with things that would most definitely not be considered Christ-like?   How many of us have let our personal political beliefs get in the way of acting like the “little Christ” we are called to be?  Sure we can disagree, often vehemently, but under no circumstances can we allow ourselves to allow those differences of opinions to get in the way of our witness for our Lord.  (You gotta remember that even Peter and Paul argued, but they didn’t let that stand in the way of building Christ’s Kingdom.)

Let us not forget that in many cases, we are the only Bibles that many folks will ever read, and we are the only Jesus that some folks will ever see.  It is up to us to see the Jesus in everyone, regardless of political belief, race, creed, color, sexual orientation, whether we cheer for the Chiefs or for the Eagles, or anything thing else that can be used to divide us.  We are all of us HIS people, the sheep of HIS pasture, and we have far more in common than we do the things that divide us, if we truly identify as HIS.

As Christians, have we lost our focus of what is truly important?  Regardless of politics, of whether we are ‘blue’ or ‘red’ or ‘rainbow,’ we are to remain focused on the one thing that really matters in this world and the next:  Spreading and sharing the love of and for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  No matter who sits in the Oval Office, our job, our mission, our focus, has not changed and will not change:  We are called to love and to serve the Lord with gladness and singleness of heart.  We are called to care for each other, regardless of our politics.  We are commanded to ‘bless those who persecute us’ and we are called to ‘pray for our enemies.’  We are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless. (Matthew 25:31-46).    It is up to each of us to conduct ourselves in a manner fitting our faith.   Look at what you say.  Look at what you post.  If you were accused of being a Christian, would your timeline bear witness to the fact?  

What are you doing to actually become a “fisher of men?”  Does what you say or do truly make folks want to come to Jesus?   In the movie “Sister Act” the nuns sing another song that we’re all familiar with.  “I Will Follow Him.” 

“I must follow him, ever since he touched my hand I knew that near him I always must be And nothing can keep him from me He is my destiny.” (Songwriters: Arthur Altman / Franck Pourcel / Jacques Plante / Norman Gimbel / Paul Mauriat)

So, having said all of the above, shouldn’t we, like the nuns, like Simon Peter and James and John actually do what we are called to do?

Follow Him.  In EVERY word that we speak.  Follow Him.  In EVERY post that we make.  Follow Him.  In EVERY action we take.  Follow Him.  Amen.