Recent pics

Here are a couple of pics. One of Cass and I at the Farmers market. And another of Cass at the Seminary.

Fellowship of Christian Athletes Meeting

Wake Forest-Rolesville High School - Fellowship of Christian Athletes Meeting

Today I was honored with the opportunity to share with a group of Christian Students at the Wake Forest-Rolesville HS. I share from a familiar story in Luke 5; when Jesus shares the word of God with a crowd on the shores of Lake Genesaret, after sharing he tells Simon to "pull out into the deep and let down his nets." Simon seems to reluctantly obey and as a result he catches the mother-load of fish - so much that the nets start to break, and his boats start to sink. After Simon fell at Jesus' knees saying, "go away from me, for I am a sinful man!," Jesus then said to Simon, "Don't be afraid, from now on you will catch men."

4 Lessons to be learned from this event:

1. Sometimes Gods commands don't make sense, but God wants our trust. - They had just fished all night, cleaned their nets and were being told by a carpenter to go fishing again, what did they do? They believed, because they had a hunch there was something special about Jesus.

2. Faith brings the blessing, but even blessings come in unexpected packages. - Because of their obedience, or I should say Simon's obedience, they caught the Mother Load of all catches, what an amazing blessing... but, that blessing was causing a little trouble. I'm not a fisherman, but I know breaking nets and sinking boats are a bad thing. Even the best things in life can have their challenges. Think about it, that dream job you wanted, becomes a little challenging, the dream girlfriend gets a little annoying, and on and on. (point 4 must be read in conjunction with this one).

3. In God's holiness, humility reigns. - When Simon saw the greatness of Jesus, he recognized his unworthiness. Wow, this should be a regular experience for us. In the face of a Holy God, we should continually be found at knee level of our king. This was a salvation type of experience... Peter was realizing that he was in the presence of one who was great, and his own sinfulness was revealed. May we all find ourselves there.

4. Blessing means nothing when you've experienced God. - After, probably the greatest business success of their careers, what do they do? They leave it on the shore and follow Jesus. I could have come up with many good "honorable" reasons to bring in the gain from those fish. We could use it for ministry, etc.... but in the presence of God, nothing else matters. May we find oursleves in this place more often.

J Harris