Josh Hatcher's Blog

Fishing Season is coming soon. My boys (and my oldest girl) got brand new fishing poles, and they can't wait to try them out. I'm looking foward to casting the pole out, and kicking my feet up, and catching some trout, or bass, or carp.

I'm not a big fisherman, but I used to do it with my dad, and it brings back some really great memories. And my kids deserve some of those memories too.


There's nothing like the feeling of hooking a nice one that puts up a fight.

But I can't imagine the feeing that theses guys felt when I read about it in my devotions this morning in the book of Luke.
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When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, "Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch."
Simon said, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I'll let out the nets." It was no sooner said than done--a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.
Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. "Master, leave. I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness. Leave me to myself." When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee's sons, coworkers with Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, "There is nothing to fear. From now on you'll be fishing for men and women." They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.
Luke 5: the MESSAGE
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I love Peter's response. He had not been following Jesus for long at all. Just a few verses before in Chapter four, he was scrubbing his nets, and Jesus said, "Hey man, follow me." and Peter said (or at least I can imagine him saying), "Yo man, I've had enough of this fishing crap. I work like a dog, and I'm getting no where. My life's a wreck. The worst that can happen is I'll have to start all over again."

So he does it.
And when God spoke to him in terms of fish.. SO MANY STINKING FISH THE NETS COULDN'T CONTAIN THEM. Peter was confronted with the reality of who this Guy with the Gallilean accent really was.

He calls Him Lord.


and Jesus says, "You're gonna catch men."

And all those fish were NOTHING compared to the number of men that can now trace their spiritual lineage back to Peter's work in establishing the early church.


God spoke to me in this today.

I want to reach men. I want to be able to tell them the stories about how God has blessed me so much my nets are broken. I want to reach more men thanI can think of in and of myself.

And right now I fall on my face in front of One so powerful, that I'm confronted with my sinfulness and unworthiness, and his Goodness.