I‘m good at some things. My father said that I was good at mending twine. Esther said I was good at giving foot rubs, and I can grow a dandy beard. What I wasn’t good at was waiting. It wasn’t that I couldn’t wait. I just couldn’t wait for long.

It had been a month since Jesus had risen from the dead. And nothing had really happened. Oh, things were happening. We were hearing reports that Jesus had been teaching and meeting with some of his other followers. But I didn’t see any significant changes. It didn’t look like we were any closer to the coming kingdom than we were before Jesus had been arrested. It was like nothing had changed, except we saw less of Jesus.

One afternoon, we all ended up at my place, and I looked around the room and said, “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going fishing.”

I found Eli and told him that he could have the night off, and then we’d figure things out in the morning.

That evening seven of us gathered at the beach. Andrew and I took our boat, and John and James took the two boats their family owned.

We fished all night and caught nothing. It was one of those nights, one water set after another. John and James had stowed their gear and were getting ready to head in for the night, but I wanted one more set before the sun came up.

I was getting ready to throw the net when I heard someone yelling from the shore, “Have you caught anything?”

“Nope, nothing. It’s been a wasted night.”

“Maybe not. Try the other side.”

Why not? I thought maybe he saw a shadow from the shore.

Without much hope, I threw the net and started pulling it in when the line was almost jerked out of my hands.

“John, James, a hand here.”

As they rowed toward me, John yelled, “Peter, it’s Jesus, and he’s done it again.”

Without thinking, (what’s new?) I pulled my tunic on, jumped overboard, and swam for shore.

 When I got there, Jesus already had a fire going on the beach.

“Hungry?” He asked.

“Starving.”

“Well, warm up and dry off while the others bring your catch in.”

It wasn’t long, and the boat was beached, and the seven of us wrestled the net ashore. Andrew took a few of the tilapia to the fire and began to clean them while John and I counted the catch. It was a great catch. In total, there were 153 good size fish. After breakfast, we’d divide them up and get them to Amos.

Over a breakfast of fresh bread and even fresher fish, Jesus told us a little more about what had been happening with the other believers. And then he said to us that the time was coming soon when the real adventure would begin. The plan was for us to meet up with his other followers in Jerusalem during the celebration of Pentecost. Jesus said that he had already talked to Abigail the upper room would be waiting for us.

Then he looked at me and said, “Peter, we need to talk.”