Come and have breakfast.
I didn't grow up going camping. I'm pretty much a novice. Lea's dad converted a bread truck into a camper when she was a little girl, complete with dining table and fold away bed. Pretty awesome. Lea and her friend Melanie took their 5 sons camping over a decade of summers while their husbands were in the midst of ministry summers. Our family has also gone camping a handful of times with just us and also groups of people. It has been so fun. It has been really special. Specific memories flood out of me as I think about specific camping times. Games of dutch blitz around the picnic table at night, smack talk among sons, meeting girlfriends, Deep Creek weekends, the Survivor camping trip at the beach....such special times. There is one moment that for some reason quietly lingers as I remember our camping times together. It's the early morning time of rising with Lea while most are still snuggled in sleeping bags inside tents....and making coffee in our percolator coffee pot on the fire or camp stove. Seems kind of silly, but being able to make coffee at a camp site without our really nice coffee maker from home is just kind of cool to me. I enjoy sitting around an early morning fire with Lea, drinking coffee, enjoying Jesus and anticipating the gifts of the coming day.
I spent time looking at the bible book of John, chapter 21 where Jesus appears to His disciples after He had risen from the dead. RISEN FROM THE DEAD! That's what happened! I keep thinking about the intense heart realities that these people went through as they experienced deep friendship with Jesus, watched or heard about Him dying, hear rumors of His body being stolen, hearing shocking news that He has been seen ALIVE and then seeing Him with their own eyes. In the swirl of what these days have been like for them, they are living their normal lives while processing these events in their hearts. We do that as we live with Jesus too. While significant things happen inside of us with Jesus, we work and play and eat and live. We get this.
So....they go fishing. This is what some of them do. A lot. They fished for the night and caught nothing. And then as day is breaking in barely morning light, Jesus is on the shore watching them as they come in on the boat. The disciples don't yet know that it's Him. "Friends, don't you have any fish?" "No." "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." The catch is huge. While this is happening, John realizes it's Jesus and said directly to Peter, "It is the Lord". Peter is gone. Peter jumps into the water headed to Jesus on the shore and the rest of the disciples followed in the boat. When they got to shore they found Jesus with a campfire and some breakfast going.
I think about how many times each of us have probably hollered throughout our houses to our families, "Breakfast is ready!" Ordinary, beautiful invitation. The night is over. God has provided food. Let's stagger and gather and be together in a new day around breakfast. Sit by the campfire and sip percolated coffee as the birds sing and children begin to play. It's pretty simple really. And it's really intimate really. The long, dark night is over. Light wins out in the new day. Break the fast. Take in nourishment as the new day begins.
Of all the things that I could think about hearing Jesus say, I don't think I would ever consider something about breakfast as noteworthy or probable as being high on the list. These raggedy men, ravaged by the death of their friend and Savior, pierced with the wonder that He has resurrected and is dead no more and is WITH them...are hearing Him say......
"Come and have breakfast."
"Come and have breakfast."
Normal, simple and really intimate. I wonder if you and I will ever get to hear Jesus say to us, "Come and have breakfast. The long, dark night is over. Light wins out in the new day. Break the fast. Take in nourishment as the new day begins."
Imagine.....
Sitting around the morning campfire, drinking percolated coffee with Jesus.
New heaven and new earth.
There. Is. More.