Hello People of God,
This past Sunday, we reflected on the story from John 21 where the disciples, worn down from a night of empty nets, hear one sentence from Jesus: “Cast your net on the other side.” It wasn’t a long speech or a complex plan. It was one word spoken into familiar waters that opened the way for a new encounter.
That same current has been flowing through our conversations this week. At our board meeting, we returned to this story and asked: What happens when we are invited to try again in places we already know? What word might Jesus be speaking now that calls us to respond with fresh vision?
The disciples were in the same boat. With the same people. In the same waters. What changed was how they listened and where they cast their nets.
Sometimes we wait for everything around us to change before we move forward. This story reminds us that Jesus speaks in familiar places and invites us to respond with new faith. The opportunity wasn’t in a different sea, it was in how they listened and acted on what they heard.
This week, we are asking our whole community to consider one simple but powerful question:
What is one word God might be giving you right now?
Maybe it’s a word that comforts.
Maybe it’s a word that stretches.
Maybe it’s a word that gently moves you toward something you’ve been avoiding.
Maybe it’s a word that brings clarity to the season you’re in.
Words like listen, faithfulness, trust, surrender, love, joy, celebrate, etc., can become anchors, reminders, and/or invitations for you. One word can turn empty efforts into overflowing possibility. One word can help us see what we’ve been missing. One word can call us to love again, lead again, give again, believe again.
So here is our encouragement to you this week:
Pause for a moment.
Take a breath. Picture the water you’ve been fishing in. And listen.
What word is surfacing for you?
Where might God be meeting you in the middle of your everyday?
Our prayer is that in this season, each of us would lean in closely enough to hear that same voice Jesus calling to us that called to the disciples from the shore. And then when we hear it, we would have the courage to cast our nets, hope, belief, dreams, again.
You may be in the same boat.
You may be in familiar waters.
And even then, my friend . . . God can speak a word that changes everything right where you are.
Believe, Trust. Hope. Cast again.
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