Throw Your Net on the Other Side

1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias.[a] It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3"I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. 6He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

The other day, I (Julie) had a situation just like this. Ok, not just like this, but this is the Scripture I thought of right away. Here's how it went: I was asked to make some cookies for the Christmas Women's Tea at our church. Sure, I'd love to! So, I went on Monday to buy all the ingredients. I went to the grocery store to get everything but the pecans that I need for the Maple Meltaways, because they are cheaper at Harmony Foods (a natural food store) in bulk. But the grocery store didn't have maple extract, which is rather essential to Maple Meltaway cookies. Well, I didn't give up. I went to Harmony Foods and figured with all the weird stuff they have there, they must have some maple extract. Nope, but they could order it, which I didn't want to do, because I needed it soon. So I got my pecans, and then I thought I'd go to Ben Franklin, because they have a small baking section. No maple there either. Lots of vanilla, but no maple. By this time I was rather frustrated because I couldn't think of any other place on that side of town, and I figured I would have to go to one of the other grocery stores all the way across town and I didn't have the time to drive over there now, so who knows when I would get there. So I got in the truck, which was "parallel" parked in front of Ben Franklin (parallel in quotations because the whole parking area was open and I just had to drive straight into the spot...I don't parallel park), and for some reason (which now I know was the whisper of God), I thought, I'll just go one block further and see if I can think of any other place on this side of town that might have it. As soon as I thought that, I thought, that is so stupid, do I think that just driving one block further will make me think of someplace after I had been wracking my brain ever since I found out the grocery story didn't have it? By that time, though, I was halfway through the intersection, so I had to just keep going that extra block. Well, guess what. In the middle of that next block, there is a tea and gift shop owned by a woman at our church, and that's where my mom usually gets vanilla extract. So I parked and went in, and there it was. I think I blushed when I saw it. God knew where that maple extract was and I doubted that He could bring me there. I walked out of there, and I almost started crying. Our wonderful Lord can handle the big things and the little things. He cares about my maple extract. Maybe this wasn't as big a deal as the net full of fish, and I certainly hadn't been shopping all night, but I just felt like God reached down to remind me that He was there and He works in every part of life. I never thought I could learn this much from a little bottle of maple extract.