I just finished studying through the Gospel of John with my kids today. If you haven’t read John in a while I recommend it. John is a mender. Jesus actually called him when he was mending and fixing his fishing nets, (Matthew 4:21) and it seems that throughout his life John served his friends and churches with a special knack for mending. Maybe his words can be a balm to your soul today. Here is what I mean…

At the end of the Gospel of John is a very tender and instructive scene where Jesus reinstates Peter. Similar to an event a couple of years previous to this moment, the disciples had gone out fishing and come up empty. As they quietly rowed toward the shore, they see a figure standing on the sandy beach by a campfire, looking out at them on the water. It was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No” they answered. (John 21:5). Just like he had done a couple of years before, he tells them to drop their net on the right side of the boat. In an instant, they were overwhelmed by the number of fish that swarmed into their net. There were 153 to be exact (maybe Matthew was with them and being a former tax collector, just couldn’t help but count the fish).