I don't know about you, but I rarely welcome difficulty. I resist it all I can. I want my life to be easy, stress free. But it doesn't always end up that way. Difficult situations arise and I am forced to face them.

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus is teaching the crowds by the sea, and he asks his disciples to go fishing. They are not excited about that idea. "Master," Simon Peter says "we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing."

Commercial fishing is not an easy operation. Their nets were clean, their boats were docked. To go out again would basically require another day's work after they had labored all night.

Reluctantly, though, the fishermen trudge back out to sea. They put out their nets and return with two boats full of fish --- a bounty by anyone's standards, and a financial windfall after a fruitless night. Peter is humbled. "Depart from me," he tells Jesus, "for I am a sinful man."

This passage reminds me of many times when I have been thrust into situations that I would not have chosen. I have lost jobs and thought it was the end of the world. I have lost relationships and thought it was the end of the world. I have seen loved ones fall ill and thought it was the end of the world.

In each case it was the end of something, but often what resulted was better than what was before. God asked me to do something I would never have chosen on my own.

Most of us don't like to be pushed out of our comfort zones, out of ways of living that have become comfortable for us. Unfortunately, God has a way of doing just that. God seems to want to stretch our imagination and our experience of how God can work in our lives.

Jesus tells Peter, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." The end result of this encounter is not just a lot of fish but the transformation of Peter's life. He will become far more than he would ever be as a successful fisherman if he is willing to follow Jesus into a life of escalating uncertainty.

Perhaps Peter is afraid that he has failed his first test as a follower of Jesus. Jesus assures him that he has not failed but succeeded. Faith does not mean that we never doubt or question God's will. Faith means obeying, trusting, even when the task we are given does not make sense to us.

We are asked to do the same. God does not promise us stability, comfort and predictability. If we choose to follow Jesus Christ, we can expect to be challenged to expand our view of God and our experience of God. God can work through our jobs. God can work though our families. God can work through our communities. God can work through us.

We may not be comfortable much of the time. We may be frightened, frustrated and perplexed. But we are also promised that in the end we will be transformed. Our lives will mean much more than if we had merely settled for the trappings of the so-called American Dream.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.