I knew better than to complain to God, nonetheless, here I was, at it again. “Why Lord?” I wailed. “I’ve told you time and time again that I want to witness for You in a big way! I have learned to listen to You, and I know when to follow Your direction. But the people I witness to never seem to end up in my church. My small group efforts only attract a handful of people, the evangelistic meetings I sponsor are poorly attended, and my writing for You is never published anywhere but on the Internet. Why don’t I ever get any of the ‘big’ assignments?”

As these thoughts flowed through my mind, I suddenly found myself overlooking a great ocean. To my left was a fleet of fishing boats. Even from afar it was evident that it had been a good day at sea. Hundreds of burly fishermen lined the decks, drawing in overflowing nets. Then my attention was drawn away from the fishing rigs to a tiny rowboat in the distance. I squinted my eyes to see it better, for compared to the fishing rigs, it seemed but a dot on the sea. As I focused my attention on the grizzled fisherman in the skiff, he seemed to draw nearer, until I could make out a small net in his hand. I watched him dip it again and again into the water, and though it usually came up empty, he never seemed to get discouraged. Every once in awhile, however, a fish would jump out when it did, the fisherman was always ready to catch it.

“That poor man,” I thought to myself. “It must be so discouraging for him to fish alongside the big fishing rigs!” But I was immediately impressed with the idea that I was wrong.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered.

Then Jesus’ voice rang out across the waters: “’Come, follow me, . . . And I will make you fishers of men.’” Matt. 4:19.

Suddenly, I understood. When Jesus made this promise to Peter and Andrew, He didn’t promise that their efforts would always rake in thousands of fish. He only said they would be “fishers of men”. There are many thousands of fish in the ocean, and most of them were not in the school the fishing rigs were drawing from. Yet these, too, are important to God.

The ocean disappeared, and with it, my discouragement. I raised my chin in defiance: It didn’t matter if the work I was called to do only brought one or two people to Christ, for these might not have been touched in any other way! Only God knows the end from the beginning, but it is certain that Jesus would have died even for one human being!

Lyn Chaffart