He was exhausted. Buried in debt and facing prison in the morning; he fished all night in hopes of avoiding his fate. As the light from the sun crest the horizon he resigned to what awaited him and he headed to shore.

As Simon and his friends moored the boat and made ready the gear they overheard a man speaking on the shore. The man seemed to notice them too and he walked towards them. When Simon was questioned by the man he was visibly annoyed. Rightfully so as it would seem. Circumstances didn’t really warrant his need to entertain a stranger. But this wasn’t any mere stranger. As Simon would soon find out when the man asked him to cast his net once again. Do you not see what I’ve been doing? I’ve been out all night! There are no fish. It’s pointless. The man pressed him to cast his net one last time.

Feeling defeated with nothing left to lose, Simon did cast his net one last time. Only this time, the water began to ripple and then splash fervently as fish upon fish came to be caught in his net. In fact, there were so many fish that Simon and his friends could barely lift the filled net into the boat.

That was a scene from the movie Chosen. If you haven’t seen that movie yet, I’d encourage ya to watch it. Here is the scene I was describing:

Couple weeks ago I had two people message me, a day apart, sharing doubts they had about what they were doing. Neither of them know each other. The only thing they had in common was how they were feeling. And it was strange, cause at that moment, when I found myself reading their message, my thoughts related to how they were feeling, then seemed to narrow down, focus, and I typed this response: Cast your nets. And continue to cast your nets. It’s not your job to fill them; it’s your job to cast them. 

Sometimes in life we tend to take on more than what its in our design to do. We all have wants, desires, dreams, and goals; things we want to accomplish. But our resources are finite. Our knowledge is limited. We lack the ability to control all the various circumstances…and it’s not our job to do that anyway.

So if you find yourself feeling down, discouraged, beat…ask yourself if you’re taking on a task that isn’t yours. See, there’s a lesson there if you’re paying attention.

Your job is to show up and do according to your very best ability; every day, and don’t quit. You cast your net. And you keep casting that net, until it’s filled. And you should believe that it will be filled…so that you’ll be prepared to pull it up when it does. (Read that last part again. Think about that. If you don’t think it’ll happen, and then it happens, you ain’t gonna be ready. So you better believe that nets gonna be filled; so that when it does, you’re ready.) 

I don’t know who needs to read this, but if it’s you…Cast. Your. Nets.

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