Called Out & Called Names

   My boys and I were discussing Matthew 4 last night where Jesus walked by and saw Peter and his brother Andrew fishing.  He called them to follow Him and he would make them fishers of men.  James and John were even repairing their nets with their father Zebedee when Jesus called them out.  I asked them if they could imagine working with their own father helping to build cabinets.   A stranger strolls by and calls them out and tells them to follow him, and he would make them builders of men.   Imagine dropping it all, leaving your Dad and following him.   They had opinions of how their father would handle that!   Zebedee must have seen or sensed that this was a call from God on their life or I cannot imagine he would not have tried to stop them.   I can imagine Zebedee coming home, his wife finishing up dinner and asking where her sons are.   He may have answered, "Oh a stranger named Jesus came by and asked them to go with him.   And they went!"    It made us just chew on the thought of what it must have been like to have been drawn like that.

  Then we discussed how cool it would have been to be called the "Sons of Thunder."  (I wish you could hear the way I would say it....slow, almost a whisper, full of power and mystery.)  It doesn't really tell us why Jesus called them Sons of Thunder, but having five boys I have lots of ideas.   I wonder if they were tough guys.   My boys (and girls) from the time they were little if they fell, got hit, or hurt at the church that we belonged to for 16 years you would hear an adult say something like "Oh my!" with a bit of a gasp.   Then another parent who focused in well on the situation would usually say something like "oh, it's okay, it's a Tordoff."   It's not that we didn't allow them to cry if they were hurt, but I guess because we didn't allow a lot of "drama" that maybe they decided they were too busy playing to cry most of the time.   I really don't know?     I also wonder if James and John weren't what we would call strong willed or stubborn.   Remember at one time they wanted to call down lightning from heaven and destroy some people that were causing problems.   What we would call a problem child, He may have seen the strength they had when directed and focused rightly.  I want my guys to be strong-willed against evil and stubborn for the Truth.    

     I went to bed chewing on these thoughts.    We were all called out when we were saved, weren't we?  Our jobs and environment may not have changed, but we changed and are continually being changed.    We have challenges and struggles in this life.  The Lord uses these challenges to sanctify us.   We may want to fight back like the Sons of Thunder, but the Lord wants us to be like Him full of grace and mercy.    There will be times when like the Sons of Thunder we must confront with hard truths from Scripture, but it must be done in love for the purpose of change.  I also hope that when we are called out to do "hard things" that we don't hesitate to obey.   I would have wanted to get the okay from my Dad when I had been called out from the boat.   Then I'd go home to say goodbye and hug my mom.   I'd get all my affairs in order, pack my bags, etc.   But what Jesus wanted them to do was simply obey.   Phew, I hope I would have and pray I will.  

  We may not have a cool name like "the Son of Thunder" but the Lord lovingly calls us "children of God".     What a wonderful name!

See what kind of love 

the Father has given to us, 

that we should be called 

children of God; 

and SO WE ARE.  I John 3: 1