American Benedictine Joan Chittester , a prolific writer and justice advocate, writes a hard hitting regular column called From Where I Stand. I too am a woman and the media would doubtless describe both of us as elderly but any similarity between myself and Sister Joan probably ends there.

You can usually find me sitting on my verandah watching the birds whizz by or maybe at my writing table being alternatively inspired and distracted by a panorama of tall skinny tree trunks frothing out into a sea of variegated green. As the catchy jingle goes, I have a home among the gum trees, and it is from that place I read the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and try to discern that same Good News as it unfolds in my personal world and beyond. So it seems appropriate to call this and future Scripture reflections, From Where I Sit.

Year after year we hear the same Gospel stories and after a while the words wash over us and we plan the dinners for the week or think about the cricket – or whatever. Jesus said, ”Follow me”, and because we know the rest of the story we stop really listening.

But what about all the left out bits? What if Peter or Andrew or even John and James had said, “Sorry mate. Got the wife and kids to think about. ” Or what if Peter had known that Jesus would be crucified. He may not have been quite so quick to ditch the nets. I wonder what Zebedee said to James and John when they left him high and dry to look after the family business. Surely he objected.

Why did these four fishermen say yes? Why did Matthew leave a thriving business in the world of finance to follow an itinerant preacher named Jesus? Why did Mary say yes to God’s call when it was absolutely full of unknowns? How did each of them know that this was the right thing for them to do?

The call to “Come follow me” didn’t come in a quiet, prayerful moment but right in the midst of the ordinary chaos of earning a living. Peter and Andrew, James and John were busy with nets. Matthew was collecting taxes and coping with surly tax payers. Paul was riding a horse, fast, when God called him.

God never calls in a vacuum. The invitation to go further, move in deeper or even change your lifestyle may appear sudden and unexpected, but it isn’t. It’s a gradual thing, not a done -and –dusted one off. It speaks in a whisper. It comes wrapped up in dreams and desires for something more, something beyond our grasp .It’s mysterious, compelling, persistent, and it’s absolutely personal.

Peter and Andrew, James and John experienced this. They recognised something in Jesus that tapped into that longing, something that would grow and develop and which they would eventually recognise and name God. It gave them the courage and the vision to say “Yes” and to keep saying it through the years that followed.

Our own God- call of “Follow me” may not be nearly as dramatic but it’s ours. It’s personal. In fact you could say it is tailor-made. If we keep responding to it we will never lose sight of the One we follow.