The COMMENTS section has been out/disabled/non-functioning for a week now. My emails requesting help have been unanswered.
sigh.
...
In Luke 5 we see Jesus calling His disciples. What's amazing about Simon's experience is that a miracle happened. Jesus instructed him to go out in the deep water and throw the nets in. He did so and the catch was so great that his boat and another that came to help both started sinking. "Don't be afraid," Jesus said after Peter fell at His feet and asked Him to go away from his sinful self; "from now on you will catch men."
Simon left everything and followed Him. That means he left a fishing career that was on the cusp of miraculous catches! But maybe that was a one-time miracle. And, better yet, he saw many more miracles that blew that one away.
It's a good thing to follow Jesus. I remember when I sensed the Lord was asking me to make a choice. James 4:4 was screaming at me that "a friend of the world was an enemy of God." I couldn't sit on the fence and think I believed in Jesus and have most of my actions deny that belief. For me, the cost immediately involved a change of lifestyles. No more premarital sex, no more marijuana smoking (or cooking with minute rice, or any recreational drug use), getting drunk, and living "for the world," which was equal to living for me. It was a tough choice to make, because I knew I had to be serious about it. I couldn't say, "Okay," and then fall back into that routine again a month later. It was a real deal. I'm so thoroughly thankful that I did. Later on other things that were ingrained in my sinful self were spotlighted by God for transformation. Things like honesty, pride, and the de-throning of the "Convenience God," which for me meant things like helping someone else out even if it cost me or was "inconvenient."
I still remember that night back in 1983 when I "came home" to the Father's arms, like a prodigal son. A couple months later, when I was back in school at Austin, I felt the cravings to get high one more time (which would've turned into several more times, I'm sure). I remembered that I had flattened a "bud" and kept it inside a Yes album. There was still a bong in my house, so I got the bud out, put it in the bowl, filled the bong with water, and held the lighter in my hand. I wanted to get high one more time, but yet I didn't want to go back to the vomit that I had left behind. I sat on the back porch, one flick of the lighter away from drug use, but I kept calling out to the Lord to help me. It wasn't the first prayer that "did it," or the second. I can't remember how many times I cried out for His help, but it was a lot. Finally, the help seemed to arrive with a rush of confidence and I stood up, poured out the water, tossed the bud in the trash can and got rid of the bong. It really felt like that was the last desperate attempt by hell's evil side to trap me with weed. Passing through that temptation really felt like a peak had been passed, or a threshold crossed, or a bondage broken. I haven't had another serious craving nor touched recreational drugs since, and that's been over 22 years now. Thank God.
As I read on in Luke 5 I see the story about the paralytic that was lowered through the roof so he could be healed by Jesus, Who was now very popular and surrouned by crowds. It reminds me of a pretty cool graphic novel I read last night, called Marked. It had the friends of this sick guy use a crane (it was a modern adaptation of the Gospel of Mark). It's always neat to see a creative re-telling of these Gospel stories, because little important details will stand out to one artist, who can emphasize them or shed "new" light on them. I love it.
If anyone wants to leave a comment, the best we can do is email me one.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at October 20, 2005 09:31 AM