Lately I have been humming the hymn, “Lord, When You Came to the Seashore” as I rock our 5 ½ month old son, Theo, to sleep in the middle of the night. I love the stanza which says, “Lord, have you need of my labor? Hands for service, a heart made for loving.” I think of this song as I reflect on this passage where Jesus calls to several of the disciples and they make such quick, powerful decisions.
As I contemplate Jesus’ invitation and the apostles’ response, I’m thinking about how it relates to my marriage with my husband, David. In what ways is God calling out to us, as husband and wife, to more closely follow God? As we live, work, study and raise our two young sons, I wonder if we’re at all free, amidst the busyness of our home life, to respond as Simon and the others did.
I am both amazed and nervous by the apparent quick and generous nature of their response. Maybe the better context for me to reflect upon about this passage would be to think that David and I are already on our journey following Christ—we left behind our boats and relatives when we said “I do” on our wedding day.
—Carrie and David Nantais live in the city of Detroit with their two sons, Liam (almost 4 years) and Theo (5 ½ months). They are both at the University of Detroit Mercy—David as Director of University Ministry and Carrie as a PhD student in Clinical Psychology. They have been married for 5 ½ years. http://www.udmercy.edu/ministry/index.htm