At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was

Wow! The Fourth of July was a great holiday! So many people got together and
celebrated our "Independence day" in so many different ways. Melody and I
went to a pancake breakfast (fund raiser for the local football team) and
got to mix a little with the community. That night we went out and enjoyed
the Tehachapi fireworks display. But now what? There are no other major
holidays until September and many folks feel let down, like there is nothing
to look forward to now.

We can identify with that problem can't we? It seems to be human nature to
need something to look forward to in life. When we are young we can't wait
until that next birthday so we will be old enough to do something new. Then
we look forward to finishing school and then attending a university.
Somewhere in the midst of that comes finding that person who will be our
life mate, then finding a job and a house, then looking forward to children
and the list just goes on and on.

In thinking about this problem I thought about the early disciples. They had
been with Jesus for three years and were sure he was the Messiah. They
really didn't understand the nature of the Messiah and were looking forward
to the time he was going to kick out the Romans and make Israel a great
nation again. That didn't happen and their hopes were crushed as he died
upon the cross. They faced a huge let down in their lives. They gave up the
teaching and preaching and went back to their old jobs of being fishermen, a
tax collector and a doctor. They had counted so much on what they though the
Messiah would do and it didn't happen so they went back to fishing.

However, notice their reaction in John 21 to Christ's return: "(4) At dawn
Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn't see who he was.
(5) He called out, "Fellows, have you caught any fish?" "No," they
replied. (6) Then he said, "Throw out your net on the right hand side of
the boat, and you'll get some!" So they did, and they couldn't haul in the
net because there were so many fish in it. (7) Then the disciple Jesus
loved said to Peter, "It's the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the
Lord, he put on his tunic (for he had stripped for work), jumped into the
water, and headed to shore." (NLT)

Having something to look forward to makes all of the difference in the world
doesn't it! What are you looking forward to in life, what is your motivation
for keeping on trying and not giving up? How do you combat "the let down"
times in your life? Let me encourage you not to give up hope, but look
forward to that time when we will all be with Jesus forever! Remember what
Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:3: "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God
raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation." And
I'll end with the words of the apostle Paul from 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17;
"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and
by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and
strengthen you in every good thing you do and say."

Russ Lawson