Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." - Matthew 4:19

My apologies for our brief absence. I'm afraid work has taken over recently, and although George wrote the following passage a week ago I've not been very faithful in putting it up. All that said, I had a call from George just now about an email he's just received this morning, and it's not sunny today so I'm not out working - I take photos of really nice houses for a living, most of this work has to happen when it's sunny. I really do make hay while the sun shines - but it's a limitation that I have as a human being. Thank God, then, that He has no such limitations. He makes hay 24/7 and hopefully in the next posting you'll get a sense of exactly what I mean by that. Before you read the next blog though, this from George - should have been added last week - sorry. It's particularly poignant because - with the next blog - it shows how, when we think the hay isn't being harvested, there's more happening than immediately meets the eye!

"I don't know if you have ever been fishing, I actually quite like it and I go about once every half decade and get really annoyed trying to untangle the line that I get caught in the trees. I can never balance the float and generally make a hash of everything and catch very little. 

It feels a bit like that going out on a Monday night sometimes. 

I remember fishing before in a river and I could see a huge fish sunbathing. So I thought, "Right I'll put my bait right there in front of him and surely he will bite." But, nothing! 

It can feel like that sometimes when we're out talking to young people, too! There were young people everywhere last night, some playing football, some sitting down, some wandering. We tried to get amongst some of them and it was a bit like being spotted by a group of fish as they move out from the splash you've just created. 

I decided in the end to try and be a fish, I kicked a ball around, missed about 10 goals and never got passed the ball again. It was encouraging to look around, though, and see a couple of others with their lines in the water; Helen seemed to be in a boat moving around over the lake, big John was getting a few bites over by the goal; Mary was straight in with a big group. 

When all is said and done, when we looked back on the night there were some healthy bites out there, meeting up with a chap on Friday to talk some more, couple of lads have taken some books and will let me know what they think; explained the amazing news of Jesus to one lad; Helen got some good links with a few others; John challenged another lad to follow through on some commitment. 

Those of you that are Christians and not with us might be thinking, "I don't like fishing". You might not have the patience, most likely as with ALL the Outside Light team you won't have a clue how to do it. But, all Jesus asks is that you follow him, he will make you fishers, just follow him. I wonder is he calling you? It's a big lake and we need some more rods out there..."

for his glory

George