Cast Your Net to the Other Side

It was just a Friday night in October. But this was no ordinary night for me. My favorite night of the entire year. The first cold front pushed through with cloaking crisp air meriting the first fire. I watched entranced as glowing amber coals glistened on the grates and the crackling oak emitted plumes slowly spiraling up the chimney.

Lately, I’ve become a bit of a slave to a checklist. This enslavement can breed legalistic and exhausted living. Like an internal game of cat and mouse, constantly on the strife, teetering on the edge of burnout, but copiously covering with outward smiles pushing forward to the next check mark.

What am I doing? reflectively floated through my mind as I watched the flickering flames. Where’s my focus? My drive? My heart’s affection? Am I living in distraction? Am I chasing what matters? Will the earth spin off its axis if I left ungraded papers for Monday, dishes stay in the sink overnight, and we have to get creative with our wardrobe because our laundry baskets are Everest?

I felt an invitation nudge me. Cast your net to the other side.

Peter had quite a backstory leading to this moment. A threefold denial of Jesus. Returning to his known profession. Uncertainty of the future. Maybe the same question flickered in his mind those thousands of years ago.

What am I doing?

But then the invitation. Cast your net to the other side.

They saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it and some bread (v.9). Peter realized it was the Lord. A full load of fish and breakfast on the beach with Jesus. I can only imagine how humbling this moment must have been to be provided for and received into fellowship after previous disgrace.

As the evening waned, my fire dimmed. Smoldering coals remained. A proverbial moment on the beach with the Lord.

What’s on the other side? His abundance. Not my list.

We can choose what definition of abundance to abide by as we engage with each 86,400 seconds presented to us on a given day. Those seconds can easily be filled with things that when more closely evaluated have little eternal value.

May our plumbline measure of success be defined by His abundance and direction when we cast our nets to the other side.