John 21:3

After Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, his disciples were left in a strange in-between — they had witnessed the resurrection but weren't sure what came next. Simon Peter, a fisherman by trade before Jesus called him to follow, decided to return to what he knew best. The others went with him. Despite fishing through the night — traditionally the best time for a catch — they came up empty. This small, honest detail sets the stage for a powerful encounter: Jesus would appear on the shore the next morning and transform their failure into abundance. This scene takes place at the Sea of Galilee, the very place where Jesus had first called these same fishermen to follow him years before.

Lord, you know how often I drift back to the familiar when I'm uncertain. Thank you that you don't wait for me to have it together before you come looking. Meet me in my empty nets — in the nights I have nothing to show for — and speak into the silence. Amen.

There's something painfully relatable about Peter saying "I'm going fishing." He'd witnessed the resurrection. He'd seen the empty tomb, stood in a locked room where Jesus appeared. And yet — he went back to his nets. Not necessarily because he doubted, but maybe because he didn't know what to do with himself in the meantime. Grief, confusion, even wonder can leave us reaching for the familiar. And here's what's striking: Jesus doesn't scold him for it. He shows up on the shore anyway, and he asks if they've caught anything. When you don't know what comes next, you often default to what you know. You make the coffee. You go through the motions. You fall into old routines that ask nothing of you. The disciples fished all night and caught nothing — and that empty net isn't a detour from the story, it is the story. Jesus meets people in their emptiness. He's not waiting for you to have it all figured out before he shows up. He finds you at 4 AM with nothing to show for the night, and he has something to say.