Obedience leads

Luke 5:1-11
Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd pressing round him listening to the word of God, when he caught sight of two boats close to the bank. The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats – it was Simon’s – and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.’ And when they had done this they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear, so they signalled to their companions in the other boat to come and help them; when these came, they filled the two boats to sinking point.
When Simon Peter saw this he fell at the knees of Jesus saying, ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ For he and all his companions were completely overcome by the catch they had made; so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on it is men you will catch.’ Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.

Homily:

In all engagements with God, obedience leads.

Mary gave us a clear hint just before Jesus’ miracle at Cana in Galilee.

“His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” – John 2:5

A new haircut

A friend claimed he had learnt how to give a great haircut. He spoke really glowingly about his new skill. I was excited for him and immediately subscribed.

One hour into my haircut with him, i was like a father tasting the first meal of his daughter – smiling and swallowing fast, praying this will be over soon.

I realised I had made a big mistake. Unfortunately, lost hair cannot be immediately regained.

I still had to pay for the haircut. Besides, what are friends for, if not for shared memories of pain.

Time for damage control before I go to work. I was too ashamed to go to my trusted barber, because I knew he would give me the full length of his tongue. That guy loves my hair so much. I was too scared to show him the outcome of my infidelity.

So I went to another barber to see how he could salvage the situation. Big mistake. The guy was savage. I came out looking so bad, I started thinking of just shaving my head clean.

Then something told me to swallow my pride like the prodigal son and return to my barber. I was looking so bad, he would have no choice but to have mercy. So I proceeded, face in palm, to my barber.

Immediately I entered his Laboratory (like he calls it), he looked up and screamed, “Wetin happen to you?”. I tried to smile, but my mind couldn’t carry a smile. My barber immediately begged the guy on his chair to sit aside, and let him attend to an obviously troubled friend. The customer surprisingly obliged. It was then I confirmed that this was really bad.

15 minutes and lots of head pushing later, I recovered some normalcy to my hair. I thanked my barber and dashed out before any more chiding.

My new haircut taught me 3 things I already knew, but still failed to apply.

  1. Do not take a confident beginner’s word for it. Ask for previous work done.
  2. If you make a mistake, do what you know is right to correct it, even if it is difficult. Any easy choices will only make the mistake worse.
  3. This too will pass.

– Osasu Oviawe