Who doesn’t love a good breakfast? In my mind the perfect morning meal consists of a combination of protein and good ole’ carbs! Picture this… some eggs cooked “over medium”, with a side of savory bacon, and toasted english muffin topped with jam. Then again, there’s crispy Belgium waffles with a side of scrambled eggs…maybe some ham. Have you ever had hominy grits with a soft boiled egg? It’s breakfast perfection! And let’s not forget the hot coffee paired with a delicious pastry…no protein there, but pure deliciousness all the same.

Then there’s the beach. I mean, who doesn’t love to kick off their sandals and go running in the sand on a beautiful beach day? To view the vastness of the sea as the waves splash at your feet…while you collect beach treasures that have washed up to greet your toes. Everyone knows that it’s a getaway for the soul and as every wave laps up to meet you, another stress in life seems to be dragged away with it. People long for the beach as a place to calm their soul.

But to combine them both…breakfast AND the beach…now that’s a dream come true. And that’s what Jesus gave to just a handful of his friends one morning. The Creator of the entire universe, made them breakfast by the sea. That’s Jesus for you! First He gives you His life, and then he makes you breakfast by the sea!

It was after the empty tomb… and things had been amazing, awesome… yet also scary, and most likely even stressful for them considering they were now in hiding. These simple followers who were forever changed by Jesus were trying to figure out what to do now…how to return to “normal”… yet they no longer were the same people they once were, they were forever changed and they knew that…and normal seemed to be something that was now a thing of the past.

So some of them went fishing one night. Why not? Most of them had been fishermen and it wasn’t an unusual thing for them. But just like the “normal” they were trying to “catch”, they caught absolutely no fish at all. ALL NIGHT. Then came the morning. They were tired, maybe even a little depressed and then they heard someone calling to them from the beach. It was a man they did not recognize at first. He asked them if they had any food. They called back to him that they did not. He then told them to cast their net on the right side of their boat, and told them that they would find some. They did so, and in an instant, their net was filled to overflowing with fish! From nothing all night to a full net in an instant!! I’m sure they knew at that same moment. Only one person could do this miracle for them and I like to imagine the joy that hit their faces! This was no ordinary man…this was Jesus Himself…their friend, their savior, their new normal.

Immediately, Simon Peter stripped down and dove in! The others followed in the boat, and when they got to the beach, it was then that they saw it. A fire of coals with some fish and bread cooking on it…(protein and carbs!!) ready and waiting. And there HE was. The One who made them breakfast…Jesus.

I have stressful times in my life, as we all do. It’s often too easy for me to think that God might be too busy to notice or to even care about my “little needs” in comparison to all that is going on in the world. But yet, He does notice and He does care. He calls out to each of us, He desires to bless us, and He desires to spend time with us, and maybe even to make us breakfast on the beach.