"While walking by the Sea of Galilee Jesus saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them: Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Immediately they left their nets and followed him." Matthew 4:18-20
Almost every Orthodox Christian has a conversion story. Whether you were raised in the Church from infancy or converted later in life, at some point you consciously chose to make
the faith your own. I call this moment, though it may certainly take longer, 'the aha moment.' When writers and filmmakers depict this event it typically contains a high degree of cathartic drama. Consider for instance the conversion of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens |A Christmas Carol." By contrast, one theme that unites many of the real-life conversion stories I've heard is their relative ordinariness. Weather while entering the church simply to light a candle, driving to work or packing school lunches, God often calls to us in the most mundane circumstances of life. This shouldn't be surprising, after all, this is where Jesus chooses to call Peter and Andrew as well, as they apply their trade on the Sea of Galilee. But is there some lesson to be gleaned from this observation? I think there is. The world may hold up high drama as the best expression of what it means to be alive, but the Scripture shows us that ordinariness is no bad thing. God can find you in the dullest of circumstances. In fact, it may be that very dullness that enables you to hear His voice.
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