A Day of Fishing

“There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot” Steven Wright

I can’t tell you the times I’ve stood on the shore and thought myself an idiot for fishing in the rain, cold, or several hours of blazing hot sun. I can remember this one time that I faced all three throughout the day.

A couple of my friends and I had gone down to the river and grabbed a couple of campsites so that Saturday morning we’d be ready to go at the break of dawn. They’d called for some rain overnight but it didn’t wind up moving in until just about the time we were getting up and dressed. After a brief discussion, we decided to head on out – it wasn’t that bad, all things considered.

We drove down to the lake, donned our rain gear, and started to walk out on the shore and casting out. With each cast, the wind seemed to pick up a bit, the rain grew a little harder, and any flaws in the “rain proof” gear became much more evident. Within 30 minutes, we’d not had but maybe 4 nibbles among us.  We were soaked and the wind had a biting chill.   I was about to make the suggestion that we should find a warmer and much dryer spot when the rain slowed and then stopped.

It didn’t take long for it to go from a rain-chilled sunrise to an ever increasingly steamy morning. By noon, the cold rain from the morning would have been a refreshing break. We’d had a little luck, but I was quite sure there wasn’t going to be a big enough catch to avoid going to the local grocery store. We finally gave in after a long day of Missouri weather and fish more stubborn than we were.

That night, sitting around the fire, we talked about our adventure. We all agreed that to many we surely looked like idiots – and maybe we were – but then again…In life, aren’t there times that we feel like idiots – whether it’s spending the day fishing, or blindly believing in our heavenly Father?

You’re not being honest if you cannot admit that there have been times where you question His existence. That you think, or even say, “I don’t know why I bother…..if only I could hear Him or see Him.” The apostle Thomas was one who required proof, and in John 20:29 Jesus said to him in their final interaction “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.”

There are times when we sit around the “campfire” that we can feel foolish for blindly following Him when we can’t see Him, hear Him or touch Him… or can we? I think we can – in the love shared by a friend, the lovingly wise words given us by a child, or by the embrace of a brother or sister at church. It is easy to let those doubts drive us from His grace, but He is with us each and every day. In the most difficult times we must somehow find a way to hold on tighter. “Father I believe. I believe, I do believe…Amen.”