OnFire #116 The Boss of Me

Hi Folks:

I had a great time at the Leadership Summit in Halifax. I came back pumped up and feeling good. I'm looking forward to when the dvd's arrive so that we can go over it together with church leadership.

One more trip left this summer. On Thursday we head off to our Baptist Convention meetings in Wolfville. This is a historic assembly, joining together our regular convention with the African Association of churches for a weekend of racial reconciliation. While this will be good, I'm looking forward to settling into a regular routine again.

Here's a neat thing that happened to me this week. A lady from Germany attends our church while in Canada each year. Last year she accepted Jesus into her heart while we talked in the parking lot at Tim Horton's. As she prayed in German, it was like the voice of angels. This year she brought me a gift - some chocolate, a post card with the Bible verses in German she had read at her baptism a few weeks ago, and a hundred-year-old German New Testament. That was so cool, because it reminds me of her prayer in German last year. Its hard to express in words what this meant to me. Very cool. Yaaaaayyyy God!!!

That's my week. Hope yours is a good one.

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When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."* (Luke 5:4-5, but be sure to read the full account in 5:1-11)

Jan's been suggesting all summer that we should finally go through all the boxes of books we didn't unpack when we moved here three and a half years ago. They have been sitting in a closet all that time and I have known we should do it, but it was, quite frankly, pretty low on my priority list.

While I was at the Leadership Summit, Jan emailed to tell me that she had started. This wasn't exactly thrilling to me, especially since it is another short week. We leave again Thursday for our Baptist Convention meetings in Wolfville and there is a lot to do to get ready before we go.

I woke up grumpy Monday morning, not relishing the task ahead of me. Understand - I don't rant and rave when I'm upset. Quite the opposite. I was quiet as I stewed about this great imposition on me. I really resented Jan's doing this at this time.

Now, here's the ironic thing. I knew I was being pig-headed about it, and that I shouldn't be. Jan wasn't doing this to annoy me. She's not that way. However, that knowledge only helped me a little. As I sat down with my Bible and journal, I was praying big-time for some sort of change in my heart because I wasn't mustering good things on my own.

The story has a happy ending, or I wouldn't be telling it here. But as I thought about this week's OnFire, I realized how Peter probably felt as Jesus asked him to put the boat out and set the nets. For starters, here was a carpenter telling a fisherman how to do his job. Second, commercial fishing is too hard to do just for fun. Third, they had been up all night and they were tired. And, finally, if the pro's hadn't caught anything, then Jesus was wasting their time.

I felt a little like this yesterday. These were mainly MY books, and Jan was telling ME I needed to go through them. And not only was she suggesting that I should do it, but indicating WHEN.

Peter said an interesting thing to Jesus. "But because you say so, I will let down the nets." Obedience. Trust. If it had been anyone else, forget it. But Peter had known Jesus for a little while and knew enough that there was at least a slim chance for success. It didn't make sense, but he responded anyway. "Because YOU say so, I will let down the nets." The reward was a net bursting with fish, so many that two boats nearly sank with the catch. From that day, Peter and his business partners became partners with Jesus, leaving behind even the boats and fish.

There are times when Jesus wants us to set out into deeper waters of faith. The things he asks us to do don't always make sense to us. We think we are the experts about our own lives, but Jesus has a better way. The issue for us is whether we will respond with Peter, "Because you say so, I will."

I hope this helps. Be OnFire,

Troy

ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. To be added to or removed from the ON FIRE list contact him at onfire@eastlink.ca . This letter published August 14, 2007. *All scripture references from the New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society.