The weather was giving us fits approaching this weekend. First it was rain all day, then 20% chance of rain, then rain the night before, then only a thunder shower around 4. Well, none of that happened, the streets were damp and we encountered a little fog. By 10AM though we were in glorious sunshine and it stayed that way all day long. We had 10 people at breakfast, and 7 attended the ride. Some folk had commitments and others had mechanical issues, but we left with 7. We did some dirt riding up and over the Blue Ridge and I dropped the bike on an uphill turn where I was in the wrong gear and the bike bogged. I stopped put my feet down and over she went on the downhill side. I went with it, rolled and got back up, only damage done was to my pride. And I had to do three u-turns, oh well. The Good News: We found some kickin' roads although half the group missed them because they had to leave partway through the ride. We even had a switchback so tight and vertical, it was rated as a 5mph corner! That's what I'm talkin' bout. Anyway, we missed those that couldn't make it.
Scripture Readings for October 2009
The Scripture for today was Luke 5:1-11Luke 5:1-11 (New International Version)
Luke 5 The Calling of the First Disciples 1One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a]with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3He 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.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."
5Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So 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.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and 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." 11So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
As we read about this text, we hear about the boat Jesus sat in. A few years back, there was a drought in Israel, so bad that the sea of Galilee began to recede. A frame of a boat was found in the mud. Once excavated, they determined the boat to be from Jesus time and that it could hold a ton of fish when full. Now as we look at the text, we see that Simon, James, and John were all commercial fisherman, this was their life's work. They had worked hard (italics mine) all night and caught nothing. Now, this teacher/prophet tells them to push out and cast their nets again and they catch probably over two tons of fish. What does this have to do with us? I'm glad you asked, sometimes, we can be about our daily lives and totally familiar with what we are doing. Then a moment comes when we have a spiritual or physical encounter with the Living God. Then it was Jesus, today it would be the Holy Spirit, an angel, or one of His servants sent to us. When we have that encounter, something miraculous happens, if we listen and obey. THEN, we realize it was God and not some circumstance, just like Simon did. We see our sinfulness and unworthiness, but God calls us anyway. I pray that you will heed that call when it comes and you listen for it until it does. God's peace unto you this day.
