Scripture: Matthew 4:18–20.
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, buy he saw two brothers, pharm Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Thought for the Day: It must have been nice walking alongside Jesus, hearing him teach and seeing his example firsthand. And in Scripture, we read about many people God or Jesus calls who follow without question, from Joseph and Mary, to Simon and Andrew. Yet there are also entire groups—the Romans, the disciple’s own families, who reject Jesus’ teachings about a God who is so with us that God is essentially our entire being. Simon and Andrew drop their nets and follow without question. They make it look easy. But spiritual discipline is rarely that easy, as they later discover on their own journeys with Jesus.

Even as our own spiritual development goes through the inevitable peaks and valleys that accompany all growth, we look to those ancient ones whose struggles inform our own, and give us hope that as they once followed without question, so too might we.

Prayer: May I trust in you, Holy Lord, to guide my journey, and remember that you are with me, wherever I go, for all eternity. Amen.