I’m ashamed to admit that, while it’s no means a habit, I’ve actually sneaked out of my office and run like a crazy person to my car in an attempt to escape the noose held in my boss’s hand. Like a criminal fleeing from the scene of a crime. Wide eyed, trying not to look over my shoulder because let’s face it, you just lose time that way! Escaping the opportunity for my boss to find me or poke his head out of the building’s door to flag me down. Yes, I’ve done that. Complete with tire tracks leading from my parking spot to the stop light… 

Step with me onto Jil’s Imagination Fun Bus for a second and conjure up a similar scene. Toot toot! All aboard!

You’re at work and it’s 5 minutes past quittin’ time on a Friday… and it’s a TGIF kinda one at that. It’s been one of those week’s where nothing seems to go right and you’re completely discouraged. You’ve work so hard only to lack appreciation from those around you. You pick up your paycheck from HR and once again the magical pay raise you’ve been hoping for hasn’t come. You feel hopeless in your work and contemplate switching careers.

Breathing a deep sigh of contemplation and realizing it’s just a season, you begin daydreaming about where you’ll be in a mere 30 minutes from now – grilling steak kabob while listening to your favorite music. The forecast is pleasant but slightly brisk at 65 degrees and not a cloud is in the sky. Perfect for your grilling and some sunset watching later. Perhaps you envision this to happen from your Adirondack chair. You’re planning to pick up some “Friday FunDay” cupcakes and a movie to dive into after dinner. Visions of pjs, your favorite t-shirt that needed to be ditched a long, long time ago, your favorite recliner, a little social media perusing, and a whole lot of nothingness are dancing in your head. It’s been a day and you’re ready to be home chillaxn’. It’s a brief break from the disappointment of the static, unrewarded work you find yourself in now.

You snap out of your dream induced mental coma to finish cleaning up after a hard day’s work. You’re heading out the door, lights off, car key in hand when it comes. In walks the boss needing that “one last thing before you leave”. He carries no acknowledgement of the fact that you’ve already worked overtime this week and it’s now 15 minutes past 5pm on a Friday. You’ve already shut down the office (and your work brain) for the day. You’re tired, discouraged, and in no mood to entertain a “one more thing”.

He makes his requests (or perhaps demands them) and adds a detail of how to do it. That little bit of pride sitting on your shoulder makes you resent his need to tell you how to do your job and question why he feels the need to tell you. You’ve been doing this long enough to know the ins and outs of the business. In a silent, grudgingly manner you throw on a smile full of doubt and proceed to the task.

Can you see it? Feel the emotion of it? The frustration?

I imagine this is similar to how Simon Peter felt when Jesus told him to go back out fishing but this time in deeper waters. Not the admittance of my poor moral behavior but the other part. The other part when you’re asked to do something at an inopportune time and then seemingly patronized in your execution of the task.

In my last post, I talked about Luke 5:1-11 but specifically verse 5. Check it out here.

But there’s more to be gleaned from this passage. In verse 2, it states that Simon Peter and the other fishermen had pulled their boats to shore and cleaned their nets. They were done for the day. Work is complete. It’s quittn’ time and, as we discovered in verse 5, it had been a very unproductive day for the men. They were probably dreaming just as we were above about clearing the mundane and discouragement from their minds.

Then, walks in the boss, in this case Jesus. Who proceeds to tell them to launch back out and cast their nets again, regardless of having already finished with their unproductive day! If that weren’t enough, He told them how to do their job differently.

Sound familiar? A time when God Himself asks you to do something of BIG faith and at the most inopportune time? You think you’ve tried everything but He says “No, you haven’t. Do it again and in this way.”?

You know, those times when exercising God sized faith in His unique way is the last thing on your mind. All you’re trying to do is get through the day.

I’ve had plenty of those days and I’m sure you have too.

So, how do we approach a situation like this? Just like the Nike slogan – Just Do It! It doesn’t matter what God has called us to do, obedience is of most importance. Here, we see that it is still important despite the seemingly bad timing and circumstances.

There are days that I feel like I am going mad trying to follow God’s lead. It seemingly comes at the worst time. Again and again, I find myself drained in my obedience to His will but further ahead, in a different season, I look back and see the beautiful needlework of God’s composition. It’s a masterpiece and something that I could have never imagined.