Expect the Unexpected


Thurs. 22nd Week Year 1
Gospel (Lk 5, 1-11)

Expect the Unexpected

Life with Jesus is full of surprises.  He rarely fulfills preconceived expectations and always asks and delivers the unexpected!  Peter and his companions have had a hard night fishing without any results.  They just get finished cleaning their nets when Jesus, the non-fisherman itinerant preacher asks them to go out into the deep for a catch.  It was the wrong time.  It was the wrong way.  He had the wrong men.  Or so they thought.  But they go out anyway and we know what happened:  they caught so many fish that the boats were sinking.  Then He tells them they will be catching men from now on, so they leave all the fish (I guess the crowds on the shore had a good dinner!) and follow Him.  I must confess that is about all I have by way of inspiration.  My nets cast into the sea of the Gospel came up with just these few, small fish today.  Maybe the fact that we are on day 5 of our power and phone outage and all that means by way of improvisiation; a Sister has strep throat and needs a stronger anti-biotic; a workman is here finishing up work in the kitchen and looking at possible damage from the earthquake that caused the roof over the sanctuary to leak; the chaplain’s generator is not working; an applicant had to reschedule her visit because of the hurricane; another girl confirmed that she is coming tomorrow; and having to prepare a class for our Indian and Vietnamese Sisters, has something to do with the reason my nets are a bit tangled today.  But I have been around long enough to know that there are seasons of the soul just as there are seasons of the year.  The winter prepares for the spring.  And the dark night of fruitless fishing makes the large morning catch all the more dramatic and joyful.  So maybe there will be better fishing tomorrow, or the next day.  I will just go with the flow, for I go with Jesus.  He will decide.

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