Yesterday, something great happened.

After the church service ended and our preacher was finished with his message, our worship minister called for those who needed to pray to come forward. A few men came down, one of them a close friend of mine. Then, the worship minister called for the deacons and elders to come down to help pray. I was one of the first. Then, unexpectedly, the worship minster called for everyone in the church to come forward and pray. We are not a very large church, but there were still a good sixty-five or seventy of us down front, praying joyously. Tears were falling, arms were raised. It was one of the most wonderful things I have ever seen.

The most amazing thing about that is it was something I had been praying for. For many weeks, at altar call, very few people came forward. Worst of all, other than the ministers, no one came forward to pray with those who needed prayer. Myself included.  The urge was always there, but for some reason I kept denying it.

In the book of Luke, when Jesus first appeared to Peter, James, and John, they were fishing.  And not doing a very good job of it.

[1] One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, [2] he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. [3] He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

[4] When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

[5] 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.”

[6] When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. [7] So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

[8] When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” [9] For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, [10] and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” [11] So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

What happened Sunday morning… that was our church, casting our nets.  I felt like Simon Peter up there, on my knees, “I am a sinful man.”  Now we need to prepare ourselves for the catch.