By all rights, I should have been an expert fisherman. Growing up in Northern Minnesota with a fishing pole in my hand. Fishing even before I started school, in a boat with my dad, uncles, and grandpa. Even ice fishing in a fish house with a spear during the winter. Moving to Southern Minnesota where I would go fishing from the bank of the Cedar River with my friends. I was shown how to "set" the hook when the bobber moves or when I felt a "tug" on the line. I was, in my mind at least, an expert fisherman by the time I could read. I watched dad and my uncles - I knew when I had a bite. Although sometimes the pole moving with motion of boat would cause me set the hook when nothing was there. Fishing in the fish house - dropping the spear - being told "you have to be quiet so the fish don't hear you." Ha! Even at an early age I knew better, after all, fish don't have ears - "you have to sit still so the fish don't know you're there." I wondered early on, how can they tell through the ice? I was already the expert.

I identify with Peter. Not just because I was an expert fisherman as a child - I wasn't - but because he's brash, impetuous, impulsive - occasionally given to putting his foot in his mouth. I can do all those things. Sometimes he was brave and tried to do the right thing, sometimes he was filled with remorse. Oh! I identify with Peter! Now picture him after a long night of fishing. He's tired, he sees a crowd, he simply wants to go home, get some sleep. Instead Jesus, who he knows, gets in the boat and asks him to put out a ways so Jesus can preach. Picture Peter, he's tired, half listening, wondering where the fish were - how's he going to make a living and feed his family. Here's Jesus, preaching the word of God, he finishes. Then he tells Peter - "put out into deep water and let down your nets." Can't you imagine Peter's thoughts - "Jesus is a carpenter - I don't tell him how to smooth a plank or pound a nail; he's a preacher - I don't tell him to raise his voice, to lower it. I'm the fisherman, I'm the expert here - this is my field (so to speak)." I wonder if Peter might have though "Lord, I think you're standing in my space."

I identify with Peter - "I'm the expert here. Jesus, how about you stick to matters of God, I'll tend to the church, I'll tend to my life." I know how much I should give, what ministries to push/do/be involved with. I know full well what hymns to sing - I'll tend to matters of my life - I love you, I love God, but I'll choose who I want to love as neighbor, who to support, who to lay off. "Lord Jesus, I think you're standing in my space."

Oh, I identify with Peter - those thoughts - Lord you're standing in my space - might have run through his head, but perhaps with a long, drawn-out sigh, he did what Jesus asked - and lo! What a catch.

I do identify with Peter - those thoughts - Lord you're standing in my space - might run through my head, and sometimes do, but sometimes, with a long, drawn-out sigh, I do anyway what Jesus has asked. Is there a catch? I don't always know. I may never know. I just have to lower my nets, the net that is my life, the net of my words, the net of my actions, the net exemplified by my love of neighbor, by servant hood, and lo! There is a catch, a catch of those who receive life, those who are hurting, who are poor, who need to hear the word of God, who need the Word of God, a catch of those who can be helped by me because Christ is standing in my space!

Lord, I think you're standing in my space. Lord Jesus, the net that is my life, you made it by your grace. Oh my precious Lord Jesus, when you hung on the cross, you hung there, in my place.

AMEN.