Matthew 4:23-25 Do you remember your first day of school? I remember feeling nervous and unsure of what to expect, looking at the teacher and wondering if she was going to be nice and fun. I remember feeling a little separation anxiety from my home and my mom. I remember heading off to college when I was older. As I rode the train from Montana to my school in Iowa 1,000 miles from home, I was filled with excitement, anticipation, and anxiety. I was leaving behind family, friends, and familiar surroundings of home. Those first days were really something! In today’s reading, we find the first followers of Jesus beginning a new adventure – their first day of class on fishing for people for God. Jesus had called them promising to train them on how to fish for people. They dropped what they were doing, answered the call, and went with Him. I’ve always wondered how those disciples must have felt as they set off from the familiar to go with Jesus. Were they nervous? Were they excited? What was going through their minds? While we can’t really know the answers, we do know what their training encompassed and what they experienced right off the bat. For instance, Jesus didn’t take them to a classroom; He took them on the road all around the territory of Galilee (70 x 40 miles), which involved a lot of walking. He went to the people instead of waiting for the people to come to Him. The disciples watched Him do a lot of proclaiming (preaching) wherever they went as He boldly announced with authority that Good News had arrived! I imagine that as He told this good news, Jesus was smiling and feeling confident, because this really was good news! It was the best news these people would ever hear. It was the Good News God’s people had long been waiting for – and now it was happening. God’s kingdom was arriving in Jesus. He was setting up His rule over the world. Now there is a hope for the future. God really does care about us! is the message those people were hearing from Jesus. The disciples must have also noticed that Jesus’ preaching included an appeal to respond to this news with repentance and belief. It needed to be acted upon. Not only did Jesus’ followers watch Him preach in the open air, but they also found themselves in the synagogues and various villages. He taught about Old Testament promises from the Law, Prophets, and the Psalms – such as, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim, from Psalm 61. Old Testament prophecy was being fulfilled that very day through Jesus as He revealed God’s plan through the Scriptures. The disciples also witnessed Jesus do many acts of compassion as He met people’s needs. He healed lepers, sick kids, the dying, the paralyzed, those with epilepsy and all kinds of human pains and tragedy, even the demon possessed. Jesus served them all. He had a big heart for them, and when He saw them, He had compassion on them. The disciples also observed “God surprises” as they traveled with Jesus. People would come to Jesus who were considered unclean and uncomfortable to be around. Non-Jews from the Decapolis, Syria, and beyond the Jordan came. Jesus didn’t turn them away, but instead received them, shared the good news with them, and even served them with His healings. Finally, through their time with Jesus, the disciples learned that kingdom work is hard work; it requires a real commitment. They didn’t do much sitting around. During that first campaign tour of Galilee, Jesus was constantly dealing with lots of people, which is tiring. He attended to a very large population. Estimates judge the population figures of those days in the region where Jesus was touring at more than 300,000 people in more than 200 villages. Even if He reached two villages per day, it would’ve taken Him three months without a break to reach the entire area. And the encounters weren’t always pleasant. They would deal with questioners and critics. I can tell you from personal experience that preaching and teaching– even