Mk.1:17 – And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

It’s hard to explain why I followed Jesus and left everything in my world behind when He came to me that summer night so many years ago. To everyone else who happened to be on the lakefront of Lake Ponchartrain that August evening all they could see were a bunch of Jesus Freaks singing their music and passing out their literature. That’s not what I saw or heard that night, I heard the voice of the Lord and the face of Jesus in those young people. All I know is that He said to me something like He said to those first disciples 2000 years ago, “Come and follow Me and I will make you a fisher of men”. He was talking to me but He was using the voices of these newly converted hippies to drag Me into His world. Here is how Barclay described that special moment on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

“Jesus’ summons was, ‘Follow me!’ It is not to be thought that on this day he stood before them for the first time. No doubt they had stood in the crowd and listened, no doubt they had stayed to talk long after the rest of the crowd had drifted away. No doubt they already had felt the magic of his presence and the magnetism of his eyes. Jesus did not say to them, ‘I have a theological system which I would like you to investigate; I have certain theories that I would like you to think over; I have an ethical system I would like to discuss with you.’ He said, ‘Follow me!’ It all began with a personal reaction to himself; it all began with that tug on the heart which begets the unshakable loyalty. This is not to say that there are none who think themselves into Christianity; but for most of us following Christ is like falling in love. It has been said that ‘we admire people for reasons, we love them without reasons’.”

I felt that strong tug on my heart that night so long ago. For me, I really had no choice. His calling to be with Him is what I had wanted all my life. It is out of that personal experience with God’s love that we become fishers of men. We are in an ocean of people all looking for that something that will satisfy the longing in our hearts. When Jesus comes into our lives we finally see it, Jesus is what my heart has always longed for. Just like those first disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee so many years ago, I just had to follow Him. Becoming a fisher of men has been what that journey was all about.