Count Every One

Count Every One — John 21:10-11

“Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.” (NASB)

They had fished all night and caught nothing. Then a voice from the shore told them where to cast, and the net came up so full they couldn’t haul it in. When they finally dragged it to land, someone counted. One hundred fifty-three.

Not “a lot.” Not “more than we could carry.” Someone knelt on that shore and counted every single fish. John was there, and decades later, when he wrote it down, he still remembered the number.

That detail is the whole shirt. God does not deal in estimates. Jesus told of a shepherd who left ninety-nine to go after one, and a woman who lit a lamp and swept the house for one coin (Luke 15). He said the Good Shepherd calls His own sheep by name (John 10:3). Peter — the same man dragging that net — would later write that the Lord is patient, “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Every one counts. Every one gets counted.

And notice where this happens. This is the beach where Peter is restored. He had denied Christ three times; here Jesus asks him three times, “Do you love Me?” — and three times commissions him: Tend My sheep. The call to go after people is given to a man who had just failed badly. His qualification was not his record. It was the risen Christ standing on the shore.

The disciples fished all night in their own strength and caught nothing. The nets filled when Christ spoke. And when the weight of that catch should have torn the net apart, it held — because He was the one who filled it.

That is the confidence we carry into the nations. The work of the cross is finished. The catch is His. We simply go where He sends us and pull in the net.

Be strong and courageous. Go after the one. Count every one.

Chazak ve'ematz — be strong and courageous. Joshua 1:9. 

The whole theme of Chazak Supply Co. comes from the Hebrew phrase Chazak ve’ematz — “be strong and courageous.” It was spoken again and again to Israel and to Joshua before they entered the Promised Land.

This was never a call to physical strength. It was a call to draw on an inner strength that comes only from the confidence of what follows the command: “for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Always remember that. God is the source of our strength.

We are commanded to carry His Word to all nations, but our confidence rests in knowing the work of salvation is already complete. From the cross, Jesus declared, “It is finished” (John 19:30). We are not earning anything — we are carrying the finished work of the cross to the nations.

**Printed in-house on heavyweight cotton Gildan Shirts. Mock up images are not true to garment colors, expect some color variation.’s