Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Any story that ends with a guy leaving everything to follow Jesus is bound to give us pause. We can't help but ask ourselves: would I leave my stuff, my job, my family, my life? Even if Jesus did come strolling by, would I really want to go? What could Jesus say that would make me want to go?

Well, what does he say to Simon? (That's Simon Peter, by the way... this is the guy that Jesus will later charge with building the church.) Simon and his pals were fishermen, and had spent hours fishing at the lake of Gennersaret, where they'd had no luck. Jesus gets into one their boats, and has Simon push off a little ways from shore. He tells Simon to put their nets in the water, to try again.

And you know what? Simon does it. This is the first thing that impresses me about him. He might have said, "Give it a rest, Jesus. I'm done fishing today." But he doesn't. Maybe he thought Jesus would really change things. Maybe he thought Jesus was crazy, but figured he might as well give it a try, anyway. He drops his nets.

And wouldn't you know it? Luke's gospel tells us that "they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break" (vs. 6).

Simon was impressed, as were James and John. More than that, really: they were frightened. Who was this guy? Anyone with two ounces of sense might have gone home and written a book about it. But Jesus told them: "Don't be afraid. From now on you'll be catching people."

"Whatever that means," I imagine them wondering silently. But whatever their questions might have been, they went with Jesus. Just when they'd hit the fisherman's jackpot, they left it all. And, though they couldn't have known it at the time, they'd gone on an adventure that would consume the rest of their lives.

Simon Peter lets Jesus in the boat in the first place. He dares to try again, and drops his net in the water. He leaves a boat-full of fish, along with the rest of his life. He follows Jesus. That's a lot of daring for one day. None of those things were easy, none of them had been in Simon Peter's game plan when he awoke that morning.

Which of these difficult things would you do? Which of them seem too hard? What do we miss when we decide to skip the hard stuff?