My wife is a wonderful person in so many ways. She has the drive and patience to rummage through a lot of different resources in order to find things for sermons or lessons she facilitates. She found this little nugget the other day. I am paraphrasing but the gist is:

If you are a fisherman in the days of Jesus you are busy. You have to wake early, move your boat out into the water, sail out, throw nets, bring nets in, repeat as often as you can or need. Sail back to shore to get to market in time, get fish prepared, sell the fish. collect money, wash nets and upkeep your boat. Go to sleep in order to wake and repeat. Fishermen are busy people. They do not need another thing to do, and yet, the call of Jesus comes. Jesus is invasive and intrusive. "Follow me." The call does not take into consideration what you are doing or what your schedule is. The call does not matter if you are busy or not, the call comes regardless if you have caught enough food for the day. Jesus' call in our lives it not easy, comfortable or convenient.

And yet, as I reflect on this, I would argue that the majority of Christianity is in the business of making like comfortable, easy and convenient. Just look at the title of some of the Christian books out these days.

I submit there is more to the call of Jesus than to just 'believe' and be saved. In fact in the words of Jesus and Paul, we have to die to ourselves.

Dying is not easy, comfortable or convenient.

Neither is the call of Jesus.