Last week we were called to follow Jesus as he fishes for men, to love Jesus first so we could love others best.  Next week we'll learn how to fish for men ourselves.  But before we can learn how to catch fish, we must want to catch fish.  We must want out of the boat, the ark of safety which tempts us to be consumers and customers.  We must want out on the water, marching against the enemy, joining the army of God.

The decision is vital for our souls.  Only when we give can we receive.  When we empty our hands, we can fill them.  When we live to give, we soon discover that we give to live.  We must breathe out to breathe in, or we die.

This morning I am asking you to make a simple decision: will you enlist in the army of God?  Will you volunteer for duty?  Will you ask God to use you whatever the cost, whatever he asks, wherever he leads?  Will you begin every day by surrendering it to Jesus as your Lord?  Will you ask the Holy Spirit to fill and empower and control you each morning?  Will you spend the day seeking to serve and glorify your Father?  Will you fish wherever he sends you?  Will you join his army?

One of our days in Israel, part of our tour group hiked through tunnels beneath the Western Wall of the original Temple Mount.  Our guide was a young Jewish man who had spent his life in Jerusalem and was now studying for an advanced degree in archaeology.  He was brilliant and scholarly, and a privilege to know.

Halfway through the tour, he motioned for us to step aside so a short, stooped-over elderly man could pass.  I caught a glimpse of the man's wrinkled, bearded face, and saw in his eyes a remarkable sense of joy and delight.  At the end of the tour, our guide told us the man's story.

His name is Ben-amin, Benjamin to us.  Though he is well past 80 years old, he works every day in the tunnels.  He sweeps, takes out trash, helps with tours, does whatever is needed.  When he first came to the tunnel area and asked if he could sweep the floors, the custodians were surprised but wanted to honor his age and request, so they consented.  Every day, six days a week, from early to late, Ben-amin swept the floors and did the most menial of tasks.

Finally one of them asked him why he gave himself so sacrificially to such demeaning work.  The old man sat down and told the custodians his story.  When he was a young man, he was taken by the Nazis.  He never saw any of his family again.  He was sent to one of the Holocaust camps where Jews by the thousands were incinerated. 

Because he was young and strong, his life was spared so he could sweep and clean the camp.  Every day his camp commander taunted Ben-amin by pointing to the cremation chimneys and their smoke and saying, "That's the only way you'll ever see your Holy Land."

His camp was finally liberated.  Many years later, Ben-amin was able to emigrate to Israel.  As he had swept the floors of that Holocaust camp, so he wanted to sweep the floors in the Temple tunnels, because that was the place closest to the Jewish Temple and its sacred grounds.  God had spared his life, and he had to serve him in response.  He had no choice--he had to give to the One who had given everything to him.

            Don't we?