"Lower Your Nets for a Catch"

"He [Jesus] said to Simon, 'Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.' Simon said in reply, 'Master, we have work hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.' When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing" (Luke 5: 4-6)

I am sure many of you are wondering why I left out probably the most important part of this story: "Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.'" There is a very good reason why I left this verse and it is not because I don't like it. I love this verse and I think it is one of the best verses in the Gospels, but I feel that plenty is said with the quote above.

I want you to totally forget that Jesus is talking about fish in this quote and I want you to imagine he is talking about men. For most of us we are not a professional fisherman so we can't really imagine how difficult and tiring it must be for them after a whole night of catching nothing at all. Although, many of us know exactly how this feels when trying to bring our fellow brothers and sisters closer to Christ. We can try and try and we have no results.

PORN - Who Does It Hurt?

One of my friends mentioned a site called whodoesithurt.com. This site is for men, women, and married couples struggling with pornography in their lives. I have seen a few of these sites before, but the best thing about this one is that it is from a Catholic stand point. I have spent a little bit going over this and it has a lot of great information on it.

If you are one of those people that struggles with pornography or masturbation I strongly urge you to take a look at this site. If you are not one who struggles then please make a mental note of the website in your head because there are many men and women in our society that struggle with this and the best thing to do is to pray for them, but the next thing is to help and pointing them to this site is one great way to help them, especially if they are willing and wanting to stop the way their lives are going, but have no idea where to turn or how to do it.

Check out WhoDoesItHurt.com

In What Do We Hope?

I can remember when I was 8 or 9 (back when I still believed in Santa) had asked for a specific Transformers toy for Christmas. I wanted it really bad and I was super excited on Christmas morning because I couldn't wait to open that present under the tree. It really was the only present that I wanted that year. I truly don't know why looking back, but I must have thought taking a Leopard and turning it into an extraterrestrial organismic robot was really cool. Now I just enjoy watching the movies. Anyway, that Christmas morning after I had opened all but one present, my anxiousness grew in anticipation of this being the gift I so wanted, but when I opened it, it was not my Transformer. I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed, but I was not angry. I just couldn't understand why Santa wouldn't get me the gift I so longed for that year, but I walked away understanding that I couldn't always get what I wanted, and this has proved to be a valid lesson in my life.

This is obviously a very childish story of hoping and wishing, but I would like to put money on the fact that many of us, including myself still do the same thing.

What do you hope/wish for? -- Is it a new car, the newest Apple product, a vacation, a diamond ring, more money, or __________ (insert your answer here)? I suggest you make either an actual or mental list of what you actually hope/wish for. Don't spend an hour on it, just a quick one that takes 30 seconds.