Fast Break
If you know me at all, you know one of my favorite things to do is eat breakfast. I don’t fully understand people that “aren’t breakfast people.” Give me any kind of breakfast and you’ve got yourself a pal. Add a really good cup of coffee and you’ve likely got yourself a loyal friend.
I think they say breakfast is the most important meal of the day because of nutrition or some silly thing like that, but I’m not sure that’s right. I think breakfast, in its truest form, is the most important meal because it sets the tone for the day. For example, I am often quick to hit the snooze button. I am eager to check my phone as soon as the alarm stops—text messages, missed calls, or emails that need responding to are the first things to fill my brain most mornings. I call mornings a success if I don’t have to scavenge for my keys and have a clean pair of socks. And the worst part, is that I consider myself a morning person. So, I can only imagine a morning for someone who isn’t a morning person... unless the whole world is much less dysfunctional than me.
Most mornings by the time I get to work I feel like I’m 5 feet underground, having already failed at basic things like making sure there is a coffee pot under the machine when I turn it on*. So my favorite days tend to include a morning that is slow; they are mornings I have a strong cup of coffee, make a full breakfast, or have the time to read or go for a walk.
Naturally, one of my favorite parts of the Bible is John 21 when the resurrected King Jesus makes breakfast for his disciples. If you don’t know this story, I’ll give ya a short rundown (in my own interpretation). Basically Simon Peter, who is a professional fisherman, says, “Y’all I’m going fishing.” Some of his other disciple buddies, likely all professional fishermen also, decide to tag along and they fish through the night. They catch nothing. Jesus shows up on the shore sometime around the crack of dawn and says something like, “Friends, cast your net on the other side!”
Just to clarify: some of the disciples were professional fishermen before they decided to follow Jesus. This was their career and still they fail miserably. They catch NO fish. To them, it’s that day you slept through your final or missed a deadline or forgot to pick up your kid from soccer practice.
Yet in walks Jesus and he tells them simply to move their net to the other side. If this hadn’t happened to them before (see Luke 5), I’m sure they would’ve just rolled their eyes at the crazy man yelling from shore with an idea that seemed ridiculous. But they do it anyway and fish start overloading their net; immediately they know it is their best friend and Savior calling out to them. After John shouts with recognition and excitement, Simon Peter takes just enough time to put his coat on (which surely makes for difficult swimming) before leaping out of the boat even though it’s not even 100 yards from shore, to swim to Jesus while the other boys paddle in.
By the time they all get to shore, Jesus has made a charcoal fire and is preparing a meal of fish and bread for everyone. Though he obviously has breakfast under control, he says, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So they bring the net of fish ashore and Jesus says, “Come and have breakfast,” aka “Let’s eat.”
This scene is exactly why breakfast is the best. Before dawn even breaks, these men have failed at what they are supposed to do best—at what they have trained their whole lives for. The day is just starting and already they are 10 feet under. As soon as Jesus enters the scene though, everything changes. Suddenly the net is filled. Instantly, there is overwhelming success, favor, and blessing. Yet suddenly it doesn’t matter if the net is filled. Simon Peter is so excited about seeing Jesus he doesn’t even care to stay and see what would be “a huge success for his career.” He doesn’t care to see the haul because he only cares to see Jesus. Suddenly there is provision that actually had nothing to do with their success or failure because Jesus comes up with fish and bread all on his own.
Oh, man... that is how I want my life to be. That is how I want each day to be. I want to wake up in the morning, immediately recognize Jesus and get so excited about how much I want to be around him that I jump overboard without even thinking things through very well. I want to leap out of the boat with excitement and obedience and do my very best to swim to His feet—even if it’s a kind-of-swimming-but-mostly-drowning kind of swimming. I want to hop out of bed and look for Jesus before I look for work or errands or dishes or waffles. I want to have my eyes set on him before I worry about anything else.
Jesus has got it well-taken care; He has the very details of our hearts well-cared for. But Jesus loves us so much that He invites us to be a part of the adventure and success anyway. On shore, Jesus already has breakfast being made for everyone with fish he provided, yet he still asks for the men to grab the fish they caught. He has absolutely no need for their fish, but he still opens up the opportunity for them to partner with him, to co-labor with him, to be in on the excitement. I need to understand, friends, that my Father actually has no need for my fish. For some crazy reason though, He still invites me to be a part of making breakfast. I need to know, deep in my heart, He has no need for my provision and yet He still invites me to be a part of building His Kingdom. He still sets me up to have a net that is overflowing with blessing.
What a crazy, overwhelming God. Our God wants to intimately be our friend. He wants to dump wild, beautiful blessings on us. He invites us to be a part of the crazy adventures He comes up with. We serve a Creator who sits down and makes us breakfast when we are feeling a little defeated. That is a radical, backwards, beautiful God.
So, maybe you aren’t a breakfast guy or gal. But I really hope you to be a breakfast kinda guy or gal—the kind of person who understands the importance of stopping in the morning to recognize the epic love story we are invited into. I pray you become the kind of person who stops long enough to recognize you are starving for something more than food. I hope you will always and forever be in awestruck humility of the God who takes people like you and me, undeserving and stubborn, and uses them to fish for His Kingdom.
Please Note: *I have actually started a Keurig machine without placing a cup underneath. Needless to say, our carpet ended up drinking my large cup of French Roast and I ended up spending several hours scrubbing at a coffee stain.
