Splash! Scamp jumped into the sea causing a fountain of water to fall on his friends. They were having a great time. Joshua had brought them to the Sea of Galilee for a holiday shortly after Jesus died as they had felt so sad. They had tried to be brave, and kept saying to each other ‘Remember His promise’ and ‘He said we would see Him again!’ but as the days went by they had begun to feel so very sad.
‘We can’t have this’ Joshua had said to them. ‘Come on, I’ll take you to the sea for a few days. That may cheer you up.’
The four friends had looked at him sadly.
‘I know how you feel’ Joshua told them. ‘I feel the same. It was dreadful what happened to Jesus, but then I remember that He said He would rise again from the dead, and I believe Him, - don’t you?’
‘Yes’ they said. ‘Yes, we do’ and the more they said it, the more they believed it, and the more they believed it, the happier they felt!
So now they were on holiday and enjoying every minute. They were staying near Capernaum, and Joshua was enjoying fishing whilst the friends played on the beach. Sometimes they went into the town and other times they played on the nearby hills. But the sea was their favourite place. They swam and paddled, went in the boat with Joshua, and chased each other in and out of the pools. Scamp even tried to catch crabs, but when he found how they could nip he decided he didn’t really want a crab after all!
One day when they were chasing each other along the beach they ran past a group of men who were standing looking out to sea at the fishing boats coming in.
‘Isn’t that Peter?’ asked an out-of-breath Tiny.
‘That’s what I thought’ agreed Jamie.
Dougy and Scamp looked back.
‘Yes, you’re right’ Dougy said. ‘And Andrew and some of the other disciples are with him.’
‘I wonder what they are doing?’ Scamp asked.
‘I don’t know, but they look rather sad, I think’ observed Dougy.
‘Well, I think we should go and cheer them up’ announced Scamp, and he was on the point of running off when Dougy said - ‘No, I think we should just sit and watch to see what they will do. I don’t really think they will want us bouncing around them.’
So they sat and watched. The disciples just stood, and then when the boats landed they helped unload the fish. The boats didn’t belong to the disciples so when the men went back up the beach with their catch, the disciples were alone again.
The friends then heard Peter give a loud sigh - ‘I can’t stand much more of this’ he said, and he began to walk away. Andrew caught up with him, and the friends could see him talking to Peter, but Peter didn’t want to listen.
‘He IS upset, isn’t he?’ said Tiny.
‘I expect he feels just like us’ Jamie answered.
A sadness again came over them.
‘NO!’ cried Scamp getting to his feet. ‘We mustn’t feel sad again. We WILL see Jesus one day. Now come on, I’ll race you back home.’
They all jumped up. ‘I’ll be first, just you watch’ barked Jamie.
‘No you wont, I will’ said Tiny, for although he was small he was a very good runner.
In the end it was Dougy who won, and he turned to the others and said in a lofty, slightly breathless, voice ‘I don’t know why you bother, you know I always win!’ and he laughed.
‘Oh no you don’t’ they all shouted, and piled on top of him in a pretend battle.
‘Whatever is all this noise about?’ asked Joshua as he came to the door and saw four lots of arms, legs, tails and bodies tumbling about on the ground.
At the sound of his voice they managed to untangle themselves and stood up laughing and chuckling.
‘I don’t know’ Joshua said shaking his head, but with a big smile on his face ‘I’ve never known such a noisy lot as you’ but secretly he was very pleased as it showed they were getting over their sadness. He was very glad he had brought them.
The next day the four friends were again on the beach, and as they were swimming they saw Peter, Andrew, John, James, Thomas and one or two others walk down to the edge of the sea. The friends decided to swim ashore, and were just in time to hear Peter say ‘I’m going fishing.’
‘We’ll come with you’ said the others, but before they could get into their boat the four friends bounded up to them.
‘Hello! you do get around, don’t you?’ said Peter when he saw them. ‘Are you here on holiday?’ Four tails wagged as they danced around the disciples happy to be with others who had known and loved Jesus.
Then the disciples climbed aboard their boat and waved to the four friends who watched until they were out of sight.
‘I would like to be here when they return’ said Scamp.
‘Yes, so would I’ agreed Tiny.
‘Well why don’t we go home, have our supper, and then come back?’ It was Dougy who made this suggestion, and the others all thought this a great idea. So that is what they did. After supper, they returned to the beach, played for a little while, then settled themselves comfortably beside a group of rocks, and fell fast asleep.
It was dawn when the friends awoke feeling rather cramped so they stretched themselves as they looked out to sea.
‘There’s Peter’s boat’ cried Tiny excitedly. ‘I wonder if they caught many fish.’
‘It doesn’t look like it to me’ Jamie observed.
‘No’ they all agreed.
At that moment Scamp saw a man standing on the beach a little way from them.
‘Have you caught many fish, my friends?’ they heard Him call.
‘No’ the disciples answered.
‘Throw out your net on the right hand side of the boat and you’ll catch plenty of them’ He told them.
The four friends eagerly watched as the disciples did this, and found they had caught so many they couldn’t pull the net in!!
‘The man’ said Scamp. ‘It must be Jesus.’
His words “I will see you again” flashed into their minds, and, with a quick delighted look at each other they sped off towards Him.
Peter was equally eager to see his Lord, so he jumped into the sea and swam quickly to the shore.
‘Jesus!’ ‘Jesus!’ it’s us called Scamp as they ran.
‘I can see’ laughed Jesus. ‘It’s wonderful to see you my dear friends I told you I would, didn’t I?’
‘You did, Lord, you did’ they cried delightedly, jumping about in their excitement and happiness.
By this time Peter had reached them.
‘How many fish have you caught?’ Jesus asked. The disciples counted and found they had caught 153 large fish - and the net hadn’t even torn! What a catch! The disciples were thrilled.
Scamp sniffed. ‘Breakfast?’ he asked in astonishment. In their excitement and delight at seeing Jesus no-one had noticed breakfast cooking.
‘Yes. Everyone sit down, I’ve prepared fish and bread for you all’ Jesus told them.
Then the questions began. Scamp and his friends wanted to know everything.
‘How are you, Lord?’
‘Will we see you again?’
‘Are you always going to stay here?’
On and on the questions came. In fact they had everyone laughing. Jesus answered their questions, and then it was sadly time for them to go home. But they were so reluctant to go. They didn’t want to leave their beloved Master, they loved Him so much.
‘You must tell Joshua that I am alive, and others too’ said Jesus as the four friends said “Good-bye.”
‘We will, Lord. We promise’ they assured Him.
And as they walked up the beach Scamp said ‘Wasn’t that the happiest, most wonderfulest breakfast we have ever had?’
‘It certainly was’ they all agreed. ‘The most wonderfulest of all!’
Slowly, but happily, they made their way homewards, their thoughts on their beloved Jesus and His wonderful tender smile as He had given them the precious task of telling Everyone that -

E.Aynsley ©

JOHN 21 VS. 1 - 13.