Original Entry: April 13, 2008
McMinnville, OR
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men.” Mark 1:16-17
After Little League tryouts in third grade I went home and waited for the phone call. I had hit every pitch, caught every fly ball, and fielded every grounder and now it was time for the waiting game. To the best of my memory I do not remember the phone ever ringing but I do remember Coach Whiteford showing up at my house to tell me I had been selected on the perennial last place finishing Mets.
In his hand was a brown paper bag.
I took the bag from him and he smiled as I looked inside and said, “Your dad will know what this means.”
When my dad arrived home after work I handed him the bag containing the strange pear-shaped plastic object with holes and said, “Coach Whiteford said you would know what this means dad.”
My dad laughed out loud as he pulled out the cup and said, “Son, it looks like you are going to be a catcher!”
Ironically, I continued to catch through Little League, Babe Ruth and high school earnings awards as an All League, All County, and All CIF (State) catcher all because my little league coach chose to hand me that strange pear-shaped object in a brown paper bag!
The New American Standard Bible translates Mark 1:16 as Jesus saying, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” Just as my Little League coach saw something in a husky eight year old, Jesus saw something in these guys. He held the “cup in the brown paper bag,” and it contained the potential to change the world. That potential however was contingent upon the words “follow me.” Jesus saw that these common fishermen could “become” world changers if they chose to follow him.
Jesus holds out the brown paper bag. Inside is His will for the godly man. Inside is His plan for a man to “become” something we never thought of becoming apart from Him.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”(Jeremiah 29:11).
But it takes reaching out. It takes ruthless trust. It means that we follow him. Then He will turn His choosing into our becoming.
