“‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him”

– Matthew 14:19-20; NIV

 As the congregation stood to sing during our Easter worship service, I realized I was directly behind a very tall family who joined the row in front of me at the last minute—an adult son and his parents.  

It doesn’t take much for those around me to be taller as I’m nearly 158 centimeters (5 feet 2 inches).  

I was bugged by this scenario. Of course, I end up behind tall people and can’t really see what’s going on at the front of the sanctuary or the song lyrics on the screen.  

I kept changing spots to see around them when I sensed God prompt me to close my eyes and just focus on being with Him in this moment.  

The pastor came to share from Romans 5:6-8 about God’s perfect love and timing in sending Christ to die for us while we were still in the middle of our sin and mess. As he concluded the teaching time, he invited anyone who wanted to say, “I believe in Jesus and I put my faith in what He has done for me” to take that next step of faith and come forward to declare this and be baptized today.  

As we were invited to stand and join the worship band with more singing, I noticed the adult son directly in front of me rushed from his middle seat, quickly moving past the others in his row. He headed to the front of the sanctuary where he could talk about being baptized that day.  

Tears streamed down my face as I watched his parents talk with each other wondering where their son was headed. When they realized the decision he made, I saw tears well-up in the mom’s eyes. The son came back to the row and invited his parents to be a part of this decision and his baptism. 

I don’t know their story or what compelled this 20-something-year-old son to take this step to follow Jesus.  

All I know is the Spirit moved in the lives right in front of me—those people I was bugged about because I couldn’t see what was going on in front of them.  

I didn’t need to see what was going on in front of them because I encountered God from behind. I had a front row seat to what happened after Jesus invited this son, “Come follow me.” And this 20-something left everything immediately to do just that.