The world is good

Jesus, help me trust you more than anybody! Amen.

At the Sea of Galilee, Jesus sat in a fishing boat to teach for a while. Then He told Simon Peter, its owner, "Throw your nets out again." "We've caught nothing all day!" Simon said, but he threw the nets out anyway -- and pulled them in full of fish! Simon said, "I don't deserve this. I'm a sinner." But Jesus replied, "Don't be afraid. Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people." All the fishermen left everything and followed Jesus.

Watching the TV news can be scary. When you hear about bad things happening in the world, like fires or wars, you worry they could happen to you. What if your house was burning down? What if a bad person hurt your family? It's enough to give you nightmares!

You're not alone in feeling that way. In this week's Gospel (Luke 5:1-11), Jesus tells some fishermen to trust Him and He'll take care of them. It takes lots of convincing for them to believe Him.

Because we have computers and TV, we hear a lot of news just as it happens. Most people don't lose homes in fires or get caught in a war, but when someone does, we know it right away. Hearing bad news all the time can make you thin the world is bad.

When Jesus met the fishermen (who became Apostles), they probably felt that way. They were poor and hadn't caught any fish. At first, they didn't trust Jesus when He promised they would now.

They learned to trust Jesus like they'd never trusted anyone before. They caught tons of fish! That made them decide to trust Him all the time -- to give up everything and follow Him.

The world is a good place. Most people won't lose everything like the ones you see on the news. But even if that happened, Jesus, who made sure fishermen had fish, would be there, taking care of you. Jesus doesn't forget what anyone needs.