Oh, my word.

You know what I love about Jesus?

Is that Jesus will take real people with real problems and deal with their real lives.

In fact, in Luke chapter 5, he takes two frustrated fishermen

under pressure to earn a living and blesses them with literally a boatload of fish. But Jesus

doesn't stop there. He takes their natural, or should I say ordinary, aspirations of catching

fish and paints a beautiful picture of the eternal significance people can have

if they choose to follow Jesus. So Jesus challenged Peter and Andrew, who were the fishermen,

and invited them to move from being ordinary fishermen to being fishers of men, people who

will eventually turn the whole world upside down. And isn't that much like us? We are full of ordinary dreams.

Bigger houses, nicer cars, moving up the career ladder, achieving social status. These are dreams

common to many of us. But just as he did back then, Jesus confronts us with a new identity

and a different destiny. He comes to us and says, I created you for bigger and better things than you have ever dreamed.

I don't want you to settle for a comfortable life. I want you to experience an extraordinary life.

But Jesus also gives us a choice. And he lets us know that following him is not without cost.

Jesus never bribed, manipulated, or begged people into his movement. It's interesting to consider when people asked to follow Jesus.

He told them the cost, and he was truthful with the discomforts and alienation they would encounter.

He left the decision up to them.

He didn't coax, chide, or beg followers.

In fact, he left a lot of people behind because the cost was too high. He was left

with people who were the disciples who considered the cost and knew that it was worth it. What they gave up

was nothing compared to what they gained. In Mark 8, 36, and 37, it says that Jesus was truthful

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