The Children's Chapel Award-winning site, featuring Bible stories from a variety of authors, excellent Christian resources for children, and over 150 links to other Christian and family-friendly sites for kids. ~ A Ministry of the Missing Link ~ The Big Catch by Jennifer and Linda Sue Pochodzay Edwards One warm, summer afternoon, Tomika and Naabu started walking home from the mission school. They wanted to stay for the afternoon activity class, but they knew they should go fishing to help provide food for their families. Their friend, Kimisha stopped them. "Tomika! Naabu! Why are you leaving? Can't you stay for the games?" "We'd like to, but we're going fishing instead," Tomika answered. "Okay. I understand. Maybe you could stay tomorrow," Kimisha said with a grin. "We'll see if we can. Would you like to come with us today?" Naabu asked. "I'd love to! I'll be right over. Let me get my fishing spear, too," Kimisha squealed with delight. They all walked gleefully along the dirt road toward the fishing pier. It was a long walk, but they enjoyed it, talking and laughing all the way. As the three walked along, Tomika started humming one of his favorite songs. Naabu asked Kimisha, "What is your favorite thing we did today?" "You know, I always enjoy the Bible stories the most," Kimisha answered. "Well, I liked the spelling words that came from the story today," Naabu declared. "That's the only thing I don't like about school. I like reading, writing, math, and all the other fun activities, but I just don't like spelling," Kimisha stated. "Why not? It's not as difficult as the grammar rules for English," Naabu added. "I just wonder why I have to learn to spell words in a language that's much more difficult than ours," Kimisha answered. "Do you think the missionaries at school thought the same thing about our language?" Naabu asked. "I suppose they could have. Why then do you think they decided to leave their home and come learn a new language and way of life?" Kimisha asked. "Well, I can't be sure, but I think it has something to do with the fact that they want to help us," Naabu replied. "You know, teaching us things so we can have a better life." "You mean do what Jesus would have done?" Kimisha questioned. "Yes! That's exactly what I mean," Naabu said. By then, they were almost to the pier, and Tomika spoke up: "Look how beautiful the water is! There just HAS to be a lot of fish today!" And with that, they headed out to the water. They fished for quite a while, but they didn't catch anything. Then, when they were running out of hope, Tomika asked the others, "Do you remember the story about Peter, James and John in the fishing boat? I feel kind of like them right now." Kimisha asked, "You mean helpless and with no food?" "Yes. That's right," Tomika replied. "Maybe if we go a little further down the river, we might catch something," Naabu said. The three friends waded in the shallow water, splashing and giggling till one of them saw some little minnows swimming around their feet. "This is the place to be!" Kimisha told the others. Sure enough, they were able to catch enough fish for each of them to take some home. They had such a good time fishing together, they didn't mind that they had missed the after school activities, and they made plans to do it again the next week. * * * When Jesus was alive on earth, the disciples spent most of their time with Him, listening to His teachings, eating meals with Him, and helping Him with the crowds of people that came to see Him. Jesus was the best Friend they had ever had. Of course, they were very sad when He died on the cross. Then their sadness turned into overwhelming joy, when they discovered that He had risen from the dead. But now that Jesus wasn't there with them all the time, they just weren't quite sure what to do. Peter, who was always quick to voice his opinion, turned to the other friends, and said, "You can do whatever you want, but I'm going fishing!" He quickly stood up and started walking toward the boat dock. The rest of the group looked at one another and decided that since they didn't have a better idea, they would go, too. "Hey, Peter. Wait for us!" they shouted, as they jumped up to follow him. * * * They put their fishing supplies and net into the boat and lifted the anchor. They raised the sails so the wind could take them to the deep water where the fish would be. When they thought they had found just the right spot, they dropped the anchor and threw the fishing net into the sea. They talked . . . and waited . . . and drew up the net . . . but there were no fish. Again, they threw the fishing net into the sea. They talked . . . and waited . . . and drew up the net . . . but there were STILL no fish. The sun had gone down and it was already dark, and the disciples were hungry and tired. Some of them tried to convince Peter to give up and go back to shore, but Peter truly enjoyed fishing and he would not listen. While the other men were grumbling, Peter threw the net into the sea AGAIN. They talked . . . and waited . . . and drew up the net . . . ...over and over and over again, but they still never caught any fish. Some of the men were so tired that they laid down in the boat and fell asleep, but Peter continued fishing. The night sky began turning lighter shades of gray as the sun began to rise and daylight appeared. They had been fishing all night long. Peter thought he saw someone off in the distance, standing on the shore, but he wasn't quite sure. He began waking his sleeping friends. Just then he heard a voice calling to him, "Did you catch any fish?" "NO!" Peter yelled back. "Cast your net on the other side of the boat," the person on shore replied. * * * Peter did as he was told. He threw the net on the other side of the boat. Suddenly, to his surprise and amazement, the net was full of fish. There were so many fish, that they couldn't raise the net into the boat. At that moment, John realized that the person standing on the shore was their best Friend, Jesus. When Peter heard that it was Jesus, he was so excited that he didn't even wait for the boat to reach the shore. He jumped right into the water and swam to shore to be with Jesus. The disciples sailed the boat to shore, dragging the net full of fish behind them. As soon as they reached land, they saw that Jesus had already built a fire and was cooking fish for them. Peter walked over to the boat to help the others bring in the net full of fish. When they counted them, they discovered that there were 153 fish in that one big catch. When they had taken care of the fish, Jesus called them to come to breakfast. The fish He was cooking over the fire was ready to eat and He also had bread for them. Everyone enjoyed the wonderful meal, but they were even more excited about being with their Friend Jesus. * * * REMEMBER: God can still do miracles! THINK! 1. Who wanted to go fishing? 2. How long did they fish? 3. Who was standing on the shore? 4. How many fish did they catch? 5. Who cooked breakfast? A VERSE TO LEARN "All things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23b). PRACTICAL APPLICATION The disciples were out on the sea working hard, trying to catch fish the whole night long. Do you suppose they were hungry by the time the sun came up? Do you believe Jesus cared about the tough night they had, working all night but not catching anything? What makes you believe that? Do you think Jesus sees and cares about what happens in your life? So what do you suppose would have happened if the disciples had decided it was useless to obey Jesus' command to cast the net on the other side of the boat? Can you now see how important it is to obey Jesus? [After discussion:] Jesus cared deeply about his disciples because He even fried some fish for them to eat. He also cares deeply about you. He wants you to have faith and learn to be obedient to Him so He can bless you with good things. LET'S PRAY **************************************************** "Dear God, thank You for loving and caring for me. Help me obey You and believe that You can do wonderful things for me. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen" **************************************************** CAN YOU FIND THIS STORY IN THE BIBLE? John 21:1-14 * * * JUST FOR FUN ACTIVITIES Color, Cut, and Scramble the Bible Verse The Long Night on the Lake - Drama or Puppet Script Online Fish Matching Game Print Out Matching Game Scripture Scramble and Letter Hunt Word Search COLORING PAGES A Fish Fishing With Nets Some of Jesus' Friends Were Fishermen The Great Fish Catch Throw Out the Net CRAFTS Forever Floating Fun Foam Fish Halves Boat Magnetic Fishbowl Game Paper Fish Craft Triangle Fish Simple Sailboat Craft SONGS Fishy, Fishy Peter and His Friends See the Boat STORY The Great Fish Catch TEACHER'S RESOURCES The Long Night on the Lake - Drama or Puppet Script Boatloads of Fish - Activities Come Peter, Let's Go Fishing - Story and Craft Idea Casting a Net - Children's Sermon Crafts for Fish and Ocean Creatures Fishy Games and Crafts Jesus and the Fishermen - Assorted Resources Jesus Feeds His Friends - Activities Jesus Helps Catch Fish - Story and Other Activities Let's Go Fishing - Craft The Great Catch - Activity The Miraculous Catch - Lesson Plan * * * BIBLE STORY ARCHIVE http://childrenschapel.org/bibstory2.html Copyright (c) 2003-2022 by Barbara Wilmerton Haas. You may NOT re-post this Bible story. However, you may freely link to it, provided visitors can see our web address when they click on the link. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Free Bible Stories! To receive a new Bible story each week, enter your e-mail address under "Subscribe... " at tscpulpitseries.cis.to/mailman/listinfo/stories You will be sent a message requesting confirmation of your subscription request. IMPORTANT! YOU MUST REPLY to this confirmation request to activate your subscription to this list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 2003-2022 - The Lorain County Free-Net Chapel North Central Ohio, U.S.A. TOP OF THE PAGE Webmaster Last updated June 19, 2022 Welcome! http://childrenschapel.org/welcome.html What's Here http://misslink.org/childin.html Bible Stories http://childrenschapel.org/bibstory2.html E-Mail Us online@misslink.org Around the Piano http://childrenschapel.org/pianokid.html 4 Things http://childrenschapel.org/fourkid.html Events http://childrenschapel.org/kidevent.html Children's Chapel http://childrenschapel.org Adult Chapel http://misslink.org/chapel2.html Missing Link http://misslink.org/index.html Links http://childrenschapel.org/kidlink.html Resources http://childrenschapel.org/resource.html