Coffee With The Lord

These guys had a bad, bad day fishing!  They tried everything!  Every spot that usually produced!  And all night!  They knew what they were doing after all … experienced commercial fishermen.  Hard, hard work for nothing!  That’s right, nothing!

So here they are; discouraged, frustrated, and perhaps a little surly.  They’re washing their nets and this guy shows up (with a crowd yet)!   He wants to use one of their boats to address the crowd.  Simon, who owns the boat, agrees to let him use it… but continues to wash his nets while the guy speaks… Quite a speaker – pretty interesting – captivating actually!

Then it happens… He finishes speaking and speaks to Simon.  “Simon,” he says, “put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”  Talk about gall!  The guy may be a good speaker… But He sure is no fisherman (his timing is wrong – no sense of fishing strategy at all!)!

Simon responds to the teacher… “We’ve toiled all night and caught nothing!  Nothing!! But ok, at your word I’ll give it a try.”

And then it happened… Miracle stuff!!  Incredible!  Suddenly the nets are full – I mean FULL!  So full the nets are about to burst!  Simon calls to his partners for help!  They come with their boats… they fill up both boats – so full the boats are about to sink with fish!  Never in all their lives could they remember anything like it!  What a catch!  Gotta be a miracle!!

Who is this guy anyway?  Simon falls to his knees before Jesus and blurts out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”  And Jesus? …He says to Simon, DON’T BE AFRAID; FROM NOW ON YOU WILL BE CATCHING MEN!”

They’d talk about that miracle for years!  The Bible says, when they got to land “THEY LEFT EVERYTHING AND FOLLOWED JESUS!”  (From Luke 5:1-11)

One of the lessons that came to mind today as I re-read this story?  The power of a life-transforming miracle… No, more than that – miracles often end up transforming several lives!

Ever had one?  Ever seen one?  I have!  GOD’S MIRACLES ARE MORE THAN SIMPLY FASCINATING… THEY’RE LIFE TRANSFORMING! 

I wish I had an adequate video replete with great sound effects for today’s post (I hope what I provided a link for helps 😉!  I pastored in Longview, Washington for several years near the ocean… We would slip over to Cannon Beach, Oregon, go to Ecola State Park near there, and watch the waves crash against the rocks.  The scene and sounds were especially spectacular just before an approaching storm.  You’d just find yourself standing there is awe at the majesty and strength of the ocean waves!

That scene recreated itself in my mind as I read the following words from Psalm 93 this morning… “The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty. Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength… Your throne, O Lord, has stood from time immemorial.  You Yourself are from the everlasting past. THE FLOODS HAVE ROARED LIKE THUNDER; THE FLOODS HAVE LIFTED THEIR POUNDING WAVES. BUT MIGHTIER THAN THE VIOLENT RANGING OF THE SEAS, MIGHTIER THAN THE BREAKERS ON THE SHORE – THE LORD ABOVE IS MIGHTIER THAN THESE!”

Phrases like, “Our God is an awesome God” and “Nothing is too hard for the Lord” and “Almighty God” come to mind, don’t they?  Perhaps I just need to close my eyes, relive the scene and sounds of the pounding waves of the ocean, and let it truth of it sink in again today! 

I’m rejoicing to be a “child of God” today.  I had no right to that title or relationship but because of what Jesus did on my behalf (and yours) I have both title and relationship.  Consequently I enjoy “adoption” and everything it entails!

Three of our children are “adopted” (see the pic – Shari, our birth daughter was not able to be there the day this pic was taken).  They are from a Native American background and culture, but they have become a part of the Bartel clan (and I happen to be German and my wife Sharon, Norwegian).  They didn’t cease to be Native American but they became “Bartels.”  My desire always has been that their relationship would be more than simply a legal reality (on paper) – it would also become an existential reality (they would “feel” like sons and daughters – and finally, one day they would become “heirs” of what I have…  I want them to experience all three things… I want them to be our children on paper – legally our children; I want them to feel the relationship; and finally I want them to profit from it as heirs.

Well, when I read Galatians 4:1-7 today, that is what happened to me through Christ – a “child of the Devil” (born in sin) became a “child of God”!  Here is how Apostle Paul puts it… “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son… to redeem us… that we might receive adoption as sons (i.e. His children).  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’  So… you are no longer a slave, but a son!  And if a son then an heir through God!”

Through Christ, I’m legally a “child of God”!  But more than that, His Spirit is at work within me producing the sense – the “Abba Father,” the inner witness, the feeling – of being God’s child! 

And ultimately?  Well I’m also an ‘heir’ and enjoy the benefits and blessing of being God’s child in every way.  As I said earlier, today I’m rejoicing to be a “child of God!”