A great song can make a good day a great day...it becomes a soundtrack in a sense. You know what I mean? The background music in a movie can really make a good scene even better and can sometimes make the scene predictable. From the music you know when a couple is about to kiss or when the killer is about to strike, but imagine that same scene with no music...it changes completely. I say all that to say this: I used to really like to listen to music and especially on the road. Unfortunately for Sally, Abigail, and Wrigley I prefer no radio these days, but it wasn’t always that way. I was a road trip kinda guy in college and the few years after. I was known for taking dates to Texas for dinner (just across the border about 1 ½ hours from OKC) just for the trip of it. I was known for leaving dinner on campus and driving to the Kansas (2 hours) border to the biggest McDonalds ever. I took more than a few trips to Chicago (12 hours) during my time at SNU. I drove to Woodward, OK (my birth city) one night to get a drink at a gas station because I hadn’t been back since we moved when I was 5. Most of you have heard about my adventures in Europe for 6 weeks the summer after I graduated and many of you have seen me pull up to your campus in the brown suburban. Needless to say, I love to travel, I love to drive, and I love the road. When I used to travel you could be guaranteed to hear the sounds of Willie Nelson, David Allen Coe, Johnny Cash, and The Charlie Daniels Band banging around in my car. That was my road trip playlist and it never got old, but like I said, these days I travel in silence. There was a lot I used to do to prepare for a road trip besides getting together great music. As spontaneous as those trips sound, I was always prepared. I kept (still do) a large 50 State atlas in my car. If possible, I would find a route that would keep me off Interstates as often as possible. I love the beauty of the backroads during the day and darkness of them at night. The charm of a small town and the coffee in a family owned gas station is priceless to me. I also made sure I had my license and college id because you never know who would give you a student discount if you ask. Proof of who I was and that I was a student was essential. I almost always took friends (or someone I met) with me because it’s more fun to travel with people. You could usually find Beef Jerky in my glove box and sunflower seeds in the seat pocket for snacks if you traveled with me. Snacks are good to have, but I also had (still do) a knack for finding great eateries along my path that other people would usually drive straight past. What does all this mean? It means something’s change (no more music or snacks always in the car), but the foundation of a great road trip still stays the same. It means that sometimes it’s easier to fly to Chicago than drive (if your wife goes) and that it’s definitely ok to take Interstates (if your wife goes) rather than back roads. It means that if music is going to be on the familiar tunes aren’t always the best and that sometimes the familiar route isn’t always the right way to go...even if you know for sure it will get you there. It means that life can change, but the Giver of Life should stay consistent in our lives. In John 21 we see the makings of an awesome road trip...a fishing trip. This trip has every potential in the world to be one of the best trips we could ever imagine. The right people are there (familiar traveling friends), the boat’s in good shape (filled with snacks probably), they’re going to a familiar fishing hole (no map required), they’re better at fishing than anything else they do (they’re retired professionals), and there’s no question about catching fish...it’s gonna happen and this is going to a trip of a lifetime (I want the soundtrack). Can you imagine? Think about your favorite activity that you’re good at and the joy you get from taking a trip to do it. I love that Sally allows me to plan our vacations around baseball teams and golf courses because I love both those things. It makes a difference in my excitement level for that vacation without question. And that was the level on this trip...we’ve got the day off so lets go fishing. Peter actually says that in verse 3: “I am going fishing” and they said to him “We will also come with you.” Finally, we get back to what we love. Yes, something has changed but it’s still a fishing trip. We know right where to go and how to catch fish. If anything in life right now is familiar it’s this. Jesus is gone, we’re scared of what could happen, He’s not telling us where to go and we’re not real sure of anything right now...except fishing. We know how to fish and we don’t need help with that. It sounds spontaneous but they had everything they needed to go fishing. THEY CAUGHT NOTHING! That is until the foundation of the fishing trip came into the scene. Christ was on the shore (they didn’t know it was HIM) and told them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. They did (I want that soundtrack also) and caught tons...literally sinking the boat kinda catch. Someone said it was Jesus and Peter, the organizer of the trip, realized he had forgotten an essential part of the trip. He had a plan, a place, friends, supplies, but he had forgotten his identification. He was a disciple of Christ...amongst all the familiarity of that trip he had forgotten what had changed. He forgot his new identity. He was back to fishing for fish and his new identity was fishing for men. Once he saw the foundation he remembered and he swam and he worshiped and he ate and then he walked with Christ. Christ reminded him...3 times...of his new identity and it stuck this time. That doesn’t mean that Peter never got on a boat again or that I can’t listen to Willie Nelson in the car, but it does mean that our foundation is solid. It means that things change and life may look different, but the Giver of Life must stay consistent in our lives and that creates a soundtrack that makes today a day the Lord has made.