Because you say so

Its name was Alby. To this day, no one has been able to figure out why our toddler named her favorite blanket Alby. But Alby, it was. And not only did Alby have a name; Alby had a personality. Scratch that. Alby was a personality. 

Alby was an attitude, a way for our little girl to show us how she really felt when she was too young to put it into words. For instance, when Kendall was feeling playful, she would cause Alby to dance around in her little hands, making happy sounds. “Alby likes it!” she would explain. When our daughter was particularly mischievous, Alby would act out too. “That was Alby,” Kendall would explain if she did something that was a tad cheeky.

Alby came with us everywhere. We bought all sorts of little books and crayons and games to occupy Kendall whenever we took trips, whether we were going merely to a local restaurant or out of town to the beach. But what we soon discovered was that she was most content just holding Alby and rubbing the ribbons my sister had sewn all around the miniature pink blanket.

One day when Kendall was about 15 months old, we met my mother-in-law at the local portrait studio. While we were waiting for Kendall’s latest photos to be developed, we went to the mall for some lunch and shopping. Kendall was happy to ride in her stroller with her best pal, Alby. 

My mother-in-law and I just walked around, looking at everything, until it was time to go back to the studio and pick up the pictures. That was when I realized Alby was gone. It wasn’t in Kendall’s hands or in the basket on the bottom of the stroller or in the diaper bag or anywhere it should have been. 

Thankfully, Kendall hadn’t yet noticed, but I was heartbroken. What if we couldn’t find Alby? Kendall likely wouldn’t nap without it. My mother-in-law and I frantically retraced our steps, eyes peeled for that all-too-familiar tiny blanket with ribbons. Alby was so well-loved (in other words, in tatters) that I couldn’t imagine anyone would realize what it even was, much less how very important it was to our little girl. Was Alby lying in a mall trash can somewhere?

My mother-in-law and I had both been praying as we searched, and after we had finished retracing our steps with no Alby sightings, we both felt like we were supposed to go back and look again. Since we were desperate, we decided that, even though we had already done that – already gone there – we would go back around that loop one more time.

I was reminded of this incident when reading Luke 5 recently:  One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. 

Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (v. 1-5).

I love the simplicity of Simon Peter’s thinking. Purely in my own imagination, it goes a little something like this:  Okay, Jesus. Even though I am a fisherman, so I know how to fish; and even though I have worked all night trying to catch fish, I will defer to you. Even though this doesn’t make sense to me because I’ve already tried it more than once, I will obey you and try it again. 

Let’s see what happens when Simon Peter obeys:  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him (Luke 5:6-11).

Isn’t this just a magnificent beginning to the journey that Simon Peter would take following Jesus? And none of this would have happened had he been offended by Jesus’ suggestion to let the nets down. If Simon Peter had said, “Nope. I am the fisherman. You are the teacher. You may be a good teacher, but I know fish. So please move along.”

I believe that Simon Peter showed such humility and respect for Jesus in obeying him, and Jesus rewarded that humility, that respect, that obedience by showing Simon Peter that even though Jesus was the teacher and Simon Peter was the fisherman, Jesus knew a bit about fishing too.

This makes me think about us as believers today. We have the whole of Scripture to guide us in our everyday lives. Psalm 119:105 says, Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. We know what kind of people we should be. This same Simon Peter actually addresses this directly in 2 Peter 3:10-14.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? 

You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 

But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.

But even though we have this great treasure in the wisdom of the Bible, and even though we may be able to quote some of it by memory, we sometimes don’t obey what it says. We know we should forgive, but we’d rather make excuses. We know we should love our neighbor, but come on, that person is just too difficult. We know we should serve others in love, but can’t we just focus on ourselves like our culture tells us to? 

We know what to do because we can read about it in the Bible, but we don’t want to do that because it takes humility. It takes respect for the authority of God. It takes obedience, which sometimes in our culture has such a negative connotation. But obedience – simply doing what God tells us to do – is a key that unlocks doors. Look what it did for Simon Peter. It changed his whole life. And our obedience to God’s commands can change our lives too.

In case you are wondering what happened to Alby, I am happy to report that on our second walk-back, we spotted Alby, lying on top of the jewelry counter at JC Penney. It had not been there when we first walked through that area, but someone had found it and placed it up there. I ran to it, grabbed it, and gave it a squeeze. When I returned it to Kendall, she squealed with glee, even though she had no idea that Alby had been missing for a time. All she knew is that it was back in her tiny hands, where it belonged.

As silly as my mother-in-law and I may have felt making that loop one more time – boy, were we glad we did! We felt like God answered our prayers that day, and all we had to do was to obey what we believed was His nudging to go back and look one more time. 

What may God be saying to you in answer to your prayers today? What is He telling you to try one more time, even though you’ve tried it before and seemingly failed? Take a page from the book of Simon Peter’s life and dare to obey God and do what He tells you to do. 

Who knows? You may end up with a boat so full of fish that it’s sinking with God’s abundant provision. You may discover a Savior who is worthy of leaving everything you thought you knew behind in order to follow Him.