We were all fish once

"Come follow me, and I will make you fishers of men"- Jesus

Do these words scare you?

On Tuesday night we started a new series called "Go Fish" by Andy Stanley. The first part of this series was "We were all fish once". Yes once we were ordinary people just minding our own business and along comes an extraordinary Saviour who calls us to follow him. My fear of being a fisher of men was that I could never land a fish or in my terms "close the deal". What Graeme Codrington said on Sunday and what Andy Stanley reiterated that it had nothing to do with that at all. It is to be in the right place, at the right time so God can take control and use us in an extraordinary way. It may be a smile, a hug, or just being there and God can use that to leverage someone's short time on earth for eternity.

Prayer came over strongly in our discussions. Prayer is the key. As on Sunday, Andy encouraged us to think of someone who has not found the Lord or who has turned away so that we could pray for him or her.

At the end of the first part Andy gave us homework. He asked us to write a letter to the person who was responsible for bringing us the Lord. Now you don’t have to do what I am about to do but being who I am, here is my letter to my best friend.

Hi Robbie,

I am writing you this letter because my cell group and I just started a series by Andy Stanley called "Go Fish" and he encouraged us to write a letter to the person who God put in the right place, at the right time and said the right things that then ultimately lead us to give our lives to the Lord Jesus.

Now you were not actually there when I gave my life to Lord way back in 1984 but you were instrumental in putting me on the right path. But let's start from the beginning.

As you know way back in the early 80s I was a very introvert and shy teenager, who was rejected by my family and shipped off to hostel. Friends were security I desperately needed. I attached myself to your "clique" of friends and made them my friends. Nothing beats getting instant friends. You took me home to your family one weekend in February/March 1983. Do you remember sneaking me onto the bus without a bus ticket? What I found at "Breezy-Knoll" was a family that I did not have, a family that I longed for. Your family went to church that Sunday as a family. There was laughter and fun around the lunch table not the fear that I had become used to in my own family. From then on your dad and mom used to pick me up at hostel every Sunday to take me to church. Your mom became the mom I didn't have, your dad the dad I didn't have, you became my brother and your siblings my siblings. Looking back this was the start of God's plan.

Church was still simply church for me and Jesus was someone who died 2000 years ago. On the first day of second school term in 1983 you where excitedly chatting to Jens Deppe at the back of the class about how in the April holidays during a church camp in Margate you met the girl of your dreams, Kathy Bailey. Do you remember us teasing you about this "Rust on the Crust" from Pietermarizburg? So I decided that I would go to the next camp just to meet this Kathy. So the following year off I went to camp. I went to the church camp not to meet Jesus but Kathy. Do you remember how I boldly went up to her in the kitchens and said that you liked her? Anyway I am digressing, back to what this letter is about. At that camp I learnt who Jesus was. How he loved me for who I was and that He wanted me to join His family, no questions asked. It was only later that year at another camp in June that I gave my life to the Lord. Do you remember Mr Anderson, a geography teacher? He invited me to this church camp on an orange farm in Bainesfield near Pietermarizburg. It was amongst the orange trees on my knees that I opened up my heart and let Jesus in. Now I suppose you are wondering what that was all about.

Well, I want to thank you so much just for being my friend when I was so obviously immature. God wanted you to invite me home on that weekend in 1983. It was that weekend of which I have so many fond memories that God used you to put me on course for eternity. We don't get together often anymore on account of me living in Joburg but I want you to know that you Robbie are still my best friend.

Jerome