Have you ever been in a situation when you worked hard to achieve something and it just doesn’t seem to work out?  But no sooner than you let go and walked away, the next person achieved it.  You know what I mean, last month you put all the hints out that you were very interested in being the lead for an upcoming project and no on paid it any attention. 

Then you get word that the person who sent one email into your manager is suddenly in charge.  They were direct and you assumed they would pick you.  Or maybe you have done everything your supervisor has asked, plus some and the new person in the department gets the promotion that you thought was yours.  Suddenly, you start wondering about what’s going on in your life because nothing seems to come from your efforts and out of no where you start asking yourself, “what is wrong with me?” If I am doing the right thing, then why can’t I get the right results?

Believe it or not young people, you are not alone when it comes to situations that seem a little odd.  In this Matthew passage, things seemed a little odd.  The fisherman had fished all night and the results weren’t looking like good.  As a matter of fact, they hadn’t caught one fish between them.  Just think about the fish tales you’ve heard or experienced when fisherman get together.  It’s always I got one this big and I caught one even bigger then that or you should have seen the one that I caught.  The stories grow larger and larger by the moment.  But it’s tough to create a tale that can explain an empty boat.  As we enter this passage, the fishermen have called it quits.

At that moment, if we were to insert ourselves in the story, we might ask our partners, was this the right river for fishing or did we have the right kind of equipment or maybe even blame a few folks…I told you, we should have went fishing on the other lake but you said “this was the place to be!”  The real concern is why didn’t the expected results occur?   What are you fishing for?