Editorial September 14, 1987 Issue

When an ordinary life is made extraordinary

William E. Moody

Before that day, life must have been rather commonplace for them. They were "regular" people, a couple of "average" men tending to the normal day-to-day affairs of living in the world. They worked hard, rising early and only finishing their work when the sun began to sink behind the horizon—and sometimes not even then. As it is for most of us most of the time, there would have been a basic routine to their lives, and undoubtedly they were well settled into it.

But on that particular day, something remarkable was to happen. They were about their business as usual when another man approached them with a most unusual proposition. Previously the two men may well have been drawn to Jesus' work, but they surely didn't expect that he would be passing their way just then. As he was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw the two fishermen casting their net. He called out, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Certainly Christ Jesus' call to Peter and Andrew was, of itself, powerful—to us it may even seem astounding. Yet it's fair to say that what was just as important in making the ordinary lives of two humble fishermen into something quite extraordinary was their response. After all, they could have said "no" and gone back to fishing. Instead, the New Testament tells us, "They straightway left their nets, and followed him."^{Matt. 4:19, 20.} They became full-time disciples. Nothing for them would ever again be as it had been.

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