Sunday Fishing

I started off my day by waking up late for church, followed by a drive to the gas station for fuel and  a bacon and egg sandwich. I arrive at the IAG Church in Matsulu at 11:22, service starts there at 10:30. Not the way a missionary wants to start his first Sunday back in South Africa…

                I went fishing after lunch. No, not fishing for men, but actual bass and tilapia fishing. It also marked the first time I’ve ever been fishing with my little brother DJ (no worries my tilapia was bigger than his).  We only caught 1 fish each (total of 2 for you mathematically challenged folks), and with it being such a slow day, with all the ants and mosquitoes that God ever let come into existence biting, and only the same amount of fish that made it on the ark…(I do not know if fish were on the ark but I will ask Noah one day... or one of his sons... focus...), as I watched my cork drifting over a ripple made by a fish that was either smarter than me, or just not hungry, a thought came…

                How many of us, whom God called to be fishers of men, actually fish? So many more of us went through the excitement of Salvation, we grabbed our rod and reels, and casted away, but the first fish never bit. So we are waiting, our hook is still in the water, but instead of fishing, we are just cork watching whenever we are not swatting at the “mosquitoes and ants” of life. A lot of us will continue to cork watch until we get tired and “go home”, and most of us will never realize that we never baited the hook. I’m not saying it’s impossible to catch a fish with no bait, I’ve done it, but I am saying that it is much easier with a baited hook. I’m not saying Jesus is bait or that you want to hook anybody into anything. Jesus is no bait, but He is the only way to heaven. You know this, so no more excuses. You do have something to offer the fishes that have swam by your empty hook. He’s better than the greatest and latest jig, old school worms or crickets, and can do more good to them than Catfish Charley (stink bait) can do bad for your hands. Tell them your story, tell them His, so He can finish theirs, and you can have a partner to later go fishing with!

Moral of the story: Be on time for church… and go fishing!