Are You in the Belly of a Big Fish?

Are You in the Belly of a Big Fish?

by Fred "Fritz" Alberti, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities

But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 1:17

Being a homeschool family we sometimes have some rather interesting experiments that we get to enjoy as a family. George is one such experiment. George is a goldfish whose bowl-mate sadly perished. My son's task was to teach the goldfish to come to the top of the bowl when he tapped on the glass. After several weeks of tapping and feeding and tapping and feeding the fish finally learned to come to the top of the bowl.

Big deal right? Right, that is until the fish started to do more. Anytime someone would walk by the bowl he would get all excited and start moving his mouth like he was yelling at whoever it was that was walking by the bowl. This became rather normal and we would just ignore him or comment that he was yelling at us in Spanish.

Then one day my kids were listening to an FFH song titled "Big Fish." It was then that George decided to really show off what he could do. When the song played George would begin to swim around like he was dancing in the water and would seemingly move his mouth to the words. (Move over Ashlee Simpson).

I particularly like the first verse of the song which goes like this:

Are you in the big fish

Are you sitting in the belly of a world gone mad

Have you turned your back in His wish

On His will for your life, have you made Him sad

Do you want to get out of the big fish

Listen to God and follow His plan

And you won't be part of the main dish

He'll spit you out on to dry land

I've sometimes felt like I was in the belly of a big fish. I had decided to do something my way instead of first seeking the Lord's guidance and leading.

You, whoever you are, God has a plan for your life. Maybe you feel like you are wasting your time at a dead-end job. Or perhaps you have no job but would desperately like one. Maybe you think you have the dream job but the Lord has been speaking to you in a still small voice to give it up for something else. Like Jonah, you may not particularly like the mission God has for you but He has the intention of making you ideally suited to carry that plan out.

Will you follow His plan or will your turn your back?

Maybe you've already chosen to turn your back and feel that there is no way out now. If that is the case I've got good news for you. The Bible has this to say about Jonah, "From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God." (Jonah 2:1) God is the God of second, third, and fourth chances.

Commit your way to the Lord today.

Intersecting Faith & Life: Buy a goldfish if you don't have one already. As you feed it remember that the Lord has a purpose and a plan for your life. Ask Him to reveal it to you daily.

Further Reading

Jonah Runs From God
Jonah and Me
Hebrews 13:20 - 21

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Payin' Taxes... Gone Fishin'

by Fred Alberti, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities

After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"

Matthew 17:24

This is another of my all-time favorite stories. Jesus and his disciples are newly arrived in town and right away Peter is asked by the tax collectors, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?"

Not wanting any trouble, Peter responds, "Yes, he does."

I imagine Peter made a bee-line for Jesus thinking along the way, "Crud, I need to find out how Jesus intends to pay the temple tax."

Perhaps you are of the sort that has put off your yearly tax to Uncle Sam and are now scrambling to get things done. Don't you wish it was as easy for you as it was for Peter?

What was Jesus' solution?

"…go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." (Matthew 17:27)

"Peter, I want you to go fishing."

Are you sometimes approached by circumstances that seem impossible to resolve?

Peter may have been concerned over how he was going to pay his own tax. In either case he knew where he had to go - the Master to get the answer.

Peter's solution required him to work in obedience to Christ's instructions. He couldn't just sit there and expect the solution to fall into his lap. Rather, he had to go out there and start throwing the line.

Don't expect the solution to your problem to just fall out of the air. Look for the uncommon solution and expect there to be some work. The solution that the world would say is impossible just may be the solution that Jesus had planned all along.

Listen for the Lord's leading… he may be instructing you to do some of your own fishing.

Intersecting Faith & Life: After paying your taxes go fishing. While waiting for a bite consider all the ways that the Lord has provided for your needs.

Further Reading

The Christian Tax-Payer

Tax Poem

Duty Calls

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Is Fishing Your First Love?

Is Fishing Your First Love?

by Fred Alberti, Crosswalk.com Manager of Communities

"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

John 21:3

The chill is beginning to come off the air and with it I've seen the sudden increase in the number of fishermen on the docks. It seems the fish must be biting rather nicely.
But that wasn't the case in today's story…

The disciples had recently been through some rather traumatic events in the death of their Master. They were excited, and probably a little confused, by the revelation that He was no longer dead. How did they deal with this?

They returned to their first love… fishing.

They got on a boat and set off for a night of fishing on the Sea of Tiberias. But, unlike the fishermen I've been seeing lately, they caught nothing.

Early in the morning a man from shore called to them asking if they had caught anything. When they responded that they hadn't, He instructed them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat.

I wonder if Peter was thinking back to another fruitless night. Did he think back to that day when they had taken Jesus out on the boat so He could preach to the gathering crowd? The night before had proven to be a waste of time when Jesus told them to put out in deeper water. Peter had lightly objected then saying, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:1-11).

I think John must have been thinking back, for when they cast their net on the other side as the stranger had instructed the results were much like that first account: "When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea (John 21:6-7).

I imagine that Peter's heart skipped a step as he threw on his garment and jumped in the water to swim the 300 feet back to shore. Did he remember Jesus' words from that first time when He said, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men"?

This was the third time that Jesus appeared to them and I think it was probably the first time after His resurrection that Jesus had the chance to have a real heart to heart talk with Peter. He began to question Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Each time that He asked Peter the question Peter would respond in the affirmative. And each time Jesus would replied back, "Feed my lambs," "Take care of my sheep," "Feed my sheep" (John 21:15-19).

I've often wondered about the significance of this repeated questioning and have always concluded that it was just Jesus' response to Peter's denying Him three times. I think I've missed something over the years. I think Jesus was also addressing Peter's first love. Jesus had called him to catch men but on this 3rd appearance what did He find Peter doing? Fishing, not for men, rather for something else… sport, hunger, money? I don't know, but it certainly wasn't fishing for men. I wonder if this was serving as a gentle reminder of what He really wanted Peter to be doing.

What sort of fish are we hoping to catch?

Intersecting Faith & Life: Take some Bible tracts and hand them out to the fishermen you find at the local fishing hole.

Further Reading

John 21

Lessons from a Fishing Boat
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