Fishers

There is actually a group of Fishers in my family tree. They are found somewhere on my Mother's father's branch. But the real point of this point is a phrase my grandfather, I called him Charlie, everybody else called him Chas but us grandchildren called him Charlie, used to repeat from the bible. Jesus said it to Simon and Andrew and James and John. To wit Mark 1:17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." The search did not find this but there it is just as I remember it. Fishers of men. To men who were fishers of fish. In another Gospel he teaches them how to fish for fish and then calls them. It is the way He left them also by helping them catch a great catch.

So there must be something to this fishing thing for followers of Christ. I remember the days of planning and dreaming, the hours of preparing, the hours of driving and the hours of sitting and waiting for that nibble and wondering if the fish had gone home or were just hiding under the ripples and waves laughing at me. But it was all worth it when the right fish came by for the right bait and wham the line tautened and the reel buzzed. After a few failures the line didn't break and the fish didn't drop the hook and in came the cacth. Netted and stringered without flipping back into the water. Though it did take some time and effort to get there, there was nothing like the exuberance of landing that first one and even the second one or even one today.

Charlie loved to fish, and though he may have not caught many the last time he was already to go the next time. He had an encyclopedic mind of all the nooks and crannies and bends and pools he had ever fished and they must have been legion.

I think more than fishing Charlie loved to read his Bible and help me understand the love of God as best he could. A lot of people thought Chas was the best teacher they had had. I tend to agree with 'em. patience and perseverence, kindness, love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, self control. God put fish on the Earth to teach us how to be fishers of men.

Go fishing!