“But because You say so.” These 5 words may seem like a crazy way to start our first blog post for the team of 40 from Heritage Church who are leaving in less than 24 hours. However, during my bike ride last night I felt the spirit nudging me with these 5 words found in Luke 5:5. Simon [Peter] and his friends had just finished a long and unproductive night on the water fishing. They were putting away their nets and cleaning their boats when Jesus came up to them. He asked them to take him out a little from shore so he could teach the large crowd which had been following him. After Jesus finished teaching the crowd he turned to Peter and his friends and asked them to go fishing again.
This may seem like not a big deal but actually it was. Peter and his friends were excellent fishermen. They had been fishing all night in the shallow waters where the fish come to feed. This was the best time and place that fisherman would target their livelihood on. So here Jesus is asking professional fisherman to do something that doesn’t make any sense whatsoever; to go out into deeper water during the middle of the day and to cast out their nets that they had just spent all morning cleaning and putting away. This made zero sense to Peter. He even argues with Jesus: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” Basically asking, “Jesus are you crazy?” But here in verse 5 we see an amazing openness and willingness on Peter’s part to follow Jesus request. Peter surely knew who Jesus was and had heard of and probably witnessed firsthand some of the amazing miracles that Jesus performed. Here we see where Jesus and Peter (the rock on which Jesus would build his church) first crossed paths and Peter is put to the test right out of the starting gate. Does he hold fast to what he knows and has experienced or does he place his trust in the miracle worker and take a risk? Peter takes the risk and says these words which would profoundly impact his life and the lives of countless others: “But because you say so I will let down the nets.“
Well we know the rest of the story, Peter and his friends let down their nets into deep water in the middle of the day and suddenly find their nets so full of fish that as they began putting them in the boat their boat begins to sink. They even had to get help from their fellow fishermen from the shore to come out and help them bring their catch in and that boat too was overflowing with fish.
When Peter saw this, he realized this was something that no man could do. He recognized that Jesus was much more than a man and the second request of Jesus was followed without hesitation. “Follow me and I will make you fisher’s of men”. Peter pulled up the boats filled with fish onto the shore, certainly the most valuable catch he had ever made, and left everything and followed Jesus.
I think these 5 words are going to take on a huge meaning this coming week as we are called to follow Jesus and to cast our nets in the heart of Guatemala. We have no idea what this next week has in store for us. We leave the comforts of or families, friends and homes and head out to a place where there are those who are in need of not just homes and medical care, but in desperate need of the eternal life that the miracle worker, Jesus, still offers today to all who will follow.
Sure our plan is to build 5 homes for 5 families currently living in cornstalk huts. Sure our plan is to deliver thousands of dollars worth of medicines to remote villages where many are suffering and in great need of care. Make no mistake, this is only Part One of our plan and calling. Through the love we show by building homes and giving medical care we earn the right to be heard. We earn the right to share with the people we meet, the greatest gift of all. Jesus.
Join us on this journey as we open our hands up to the call of our Master, Jesus Christ to be his hands and feet to the people in Guatemala. He has called us to be his vessels but we can’t do it alone. We have already received countless gifts of support to make this trip possible, but we still need your help to uphold us this week in prayer as we will surely encounter the enemy who will stop at nothing to keep us from our mission.
Prayer coverage is what we need. It is what makes the difference each day we are there. Please pray for our travels, there and back. That going thru customs goes smoothly so that we can bring the much needed medicine.
Pray for good health. It is always so difficult when team members get sick. Pray for a healthy team.
Pray for the weather. The weathermen forecast rain every day next week. We need to be able to have enough dry stretches during the work day to be able to build the homes.
Pray for hearts to be receptive to the Gospel message we are bringing.
Pray for the team that our hearts would be like Peter’s –ready to do whatever we are asked and called to do. That we have open hands and hearts to fully experience God and fall more in love with Him this week.
Pray for safety as we travel many dangerous roads which will likely be more difficult because of the rain.
Thank you to all who have already given so much to make this trip possible. Thank you for taking this journey now with us through this blog. We will be doing our best to keep you updated with pictures, stories, updates, prayer requests and individual posts from the team. I will be trying to write to you each day and keep you connected to this amazing team of 40 people who have answered Christ’s call to “Come and Follow Him”.
Be patient as the internet can be a challenge down
there. Our first pictures and updates
with stories will likely come later on Tuesday after we return from our first
day of building.
Thanks for taking this journey with us.
In His Grip,
Kevin Van Wyhe
Team Heritage 