Keep Fishing
I have a lot of very fond memories of fishing. I have fished pretty much all of my life. My grandpa first taught me how to fish, and while I don't remember the age, I do remember out in the yard at their house in Lebanon, Oregon, learning to cast. We would try and cast a cork into a bucket. I have been fishing continuously for over 40 years. I do not think I ever went and entire year in that time without getting out and going fishing. I still get excited catching a fish.
I have learned a lot of lessons about fishing and from fishing. One thing I have learned is that you will never actually experience the joy of catching a fish by talking about it, reading about it, or by buying new tackle. While each of these things are fun, they just never seem to catch any fish. The only way to actually have the possibility of catching a fish is by fishing. You can not catch a fish without having your hook in the water. (Although I know someone for whom a fish jumped in the boat).
Jesus said he would make us fishers of men. All analogies break down so lets not get caught up in trying hook people, or catch them in nets to bring them to church! However, we can't really expect to catch fish with out participating in the actual activity of actively fishing. Some people seem to think that they will some how be evangelistic and lead people to Jesus Christ by talking about evangelism, reading about evangelism, or participating in thinking about the new effort but never actually “doing” evangelism. If we want to actually catch something we have to actually actively fish.
This weekend we have our Family Fishing Day. It is a lot of fun, and I hope you come out and enjoy the time. But even more importantly, I hope you invite some others to do the same. I hope that you invite them to come and be a part of our fellowship and the fun that we have together. Even if we have never caught anything before, even if it doesn't look like we will, we can't give up. We have to keep fishing! We have to keep trying and keep at it. The consequences are too important not to. In addition, you will find that when Jesus comes along, the fishing dramatically improves.
Keep fishing!
Pastor Chris
