Catch Men!

“Come after me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19

I will always remember my dad for being eternally young and enthusiastic. Even when he was 90 plus years old already, he would not let his feeble frame stop him from going out on a fishing boat in Batangas with fishermen to find fish. He walked slowly to the boat with someone to support him. He was put in a chair to be carried inside the boat. He was out in the sun for 6 hours looking for fish. His fish finder conked out but he came back still convinced there was much fish to be caught off the coast of Batangas. He was not discouraged after hours under the sun.

We too are called to be “fishermen”, but not of fish, but of men. Do we easily get discouraged after people don’t respond to our invitation to join an online prayer meeting or attend an inspirational talk? I listened to a woman share about how she found the Lord after a neighbor just kept persistently listening to her problems. They would be sitting down at a coffee shop or on the steps to her home, and the neighbor would patiently encourage her and pray for her, until one day she decided to go with her to a Life in The Spirit Seminar. 

I just finished this old book I found among my things, “Miracles in Sin City” by Howard Cooper. In it this reformed alcoholic recounts story after story about men and women who passed through the Reno-Sparks Gospel Mission. More than 20,000 lives did an about face from being criminals, alcoholics, thieves, ex cons, into Bible believing, Jesus following Christians. All it took was God changing the life of Howard, and Howard saying yes to God’s invitation to be a fisher of men. 

If I can’t start a gospel mission, I can pray for people on Facebook, Instagram, Viber, Telegram or x. So many people to catch! 😊