"While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.”When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.
Luke 5:1-6
Jesus calls out to Simon, an ordinary fisherman into something extraordinary. If we listen carefully, our Lord's call to Simon can be heard in our own hearts. He is calling each one of us to "set out into the deep," to follow Him on a great adventure! Jesus calls us too, to put out our "nets for a catch." He is calling each of us to be instruments of His Love. Are our hearts attuned to hear His call? Deep is calling unto deep!
I've been really praying through this Scriptue as we've kicked off our second Semester here at Rutgers. These past month has been packed with different outreach initiatives. There are lists upon lists with so many different lists of names. Some from the Fall Semester, even some from my first Mission year two years ago. I've been asking the Lord,
How can we reach these students? How can we try new things to reach those we've never been able to reach before? How can I share you with those who have fallen through the cracks?
With a new semester always comes new opportunities to invite new students to into an encounter with our God. We brought about 50 students to the March for Life in Washington, D.C.
We've been storming the dorms with dorm visits and Socials.
We've been contacting and connecting with new students on each of our Campuses through one-on-one meetings.
We've been creating environments like the Superbowl Party to help students connect with others who are curious about their faith (and have a lot of fun too)!
(You need good food to share the Gospel!)
All in an effort to share to answer His call, to share His Love, to make Him known.
My heart could just explode with all the ideas that are running through my head about new ways we can try push even farther out, to put out even further into the deep. A few exciting events are coming up that I pray will continue to give many more students an opportunity to experience the Lord's Love. More blog posts and updates to come on these events. Would you consider praying for them in these next few weeks? Would you pray that the Lord could use me just as He did the first apostles?
Please keep in your prayers:
- The women we reached during the RU Beautiful Campaign (February 9th through the 12th)A whole other blog post out this on coming your way soon!
- Our Spring Retreat, Totally Yours (February 20th-22nd)
- Our Women's Overnight Retreat (March 6th-7th)
What a gift the Lord has given me in this Mission Year to share how He has Loved me with His people. We have quite the semester ahead of us! There are so many students to reach!
May we imitate the first disciples in their zeal to advance the Kingdom!
May we continue to be attentive to the Lord's call to us to set out into unknown waters to proclaim His Love!
May He set our hearts a blaze with a love for His people!
May we be like Simon Peter who heard the Lord's call and responded generously!
May we hear the Jesus speaking to the depths of our hearts,
"Duc in altum."
Put out into the deep
