If we’re connected on social media you already know that I’ve got a bit of a fishing thing going on. It’s not quite an obsession, but I’m trying to figure out how to salt water fish.
- Last year I bought kayaks, equipping them for both recreation and fishing.
- I’ve acquired all sorts of fishing gear.
- I’ve spent hours and hours watching “how to” videos on YouTube.
- I’ve spent hours and hours working on casting techniques and finding spots to find fish.
- I’ve learned about a wide variety of species found in local waters.
- I’ve learned way more about the impact of tides and the lunar phase than I ever cared to know.
- I’ve jumped in on a couple local fishing forum communities.
- I’ve gone out on open party charter boats, including this week when several of us from church went on a boat to the Coronado Islands in Mexico.
- I’ve spent hours and hours fishing with varying levels of success.
Fishing is Hard
What’s the pay off? To be honest… I haven’t seen it yet. I really want to be near the water. I really need any sort of physical activity. But I also really want to learn how to catch fish!
When I was a kid I used to fish with a bobber, a couple sinkers, and a minnow at our family cottage. And we caught tons of blue gill, perch, crappy, and the rare small mouth bass. And in my mind that was pretty easy.
But fishing on the San Diego Bay or Mission Bay just isn’t easy. There’s a learning curve to it… and that learning curve comes with the double-cost of acquiring all the right stuff and putting in all the time practicing.
Sometimes I don’t even really know why I’m fishing. I definitely enjoy it and I love being outdoors. But there’s something beyond what I can grasp right now going on. (I almost never keep the fish I catch to eat.)
Pursuit
Fishing is, to some extent, about catching. Certainly there are people who do it for work where they are fishing to make money, so they have to be experts and haul in fish.
But fishing is also about pursuit.
If you just went to Wal-Mart, bought a basic kit, and slung a line in the water to haul in fish… that wouldn’t really be a pursuit. And I can’t lie to pretend that it’d be all that interesting to me. If it were easy, I’d probably only go out to fish if I wanted to eat fish. It’d be more of a chore (work) than a hobby. (recreation)
They Thought Jesus was an Idiot
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
Having been on some fishing boats and having NOT caught fish a whole lot, I can’t under-emphasize how crazy this story is. The guys fished out on the water all night, they’d cleaned their boat, the nets were hanging up to dry… and Jesus tells them to push off just a little bit and drop their nets?
Not even an idiot would do that.
Only someone completely insane would even ask that.
But Jesus had something to teach… you might pursue fish for a living.
But even the fish know to pursue Jesus.
It’s about pursuit.
Leave a Reply