I grew up fishing.  My great grandparents had a farm pond they stocked with bass, blue gill, and catfish.  Summers meant fishing at the pond or the creek that ran across the north end of the farm.  I had a Zebco 33 rod and reel that was my favorite and we would go in town to the Otasco hardware store and buy tackle – usually a spinner bait.  Of course, on the farm were ample earthworms and grasshoppers for live bait.  I was fortunate because my dad taught me how to put a hook on a line, where to place a sinker and a bobber, how to put the bait on the hook, and then how to cast.  We fished a lot and caught many fish in that old pond.

As an adult, I was lucky enough to fish in places that were far from the farm pond.  Colorado streams, Idaho lakes and rivers, in the Gulf of Mexico and far off shore in the Atlantic.  The largest fish that I have landed was an 80-pound bull Mahi Mahi.  That was fun!  Next on the list was a 4-foot Mako shark.  Both were very tasty!  Unfortunately, I do not fish as much as I used to – I think I still have a fishing pole tucked away somewhere in our garage.  I do recall that several years ago we went on a family vacation to Table Rock Lake.  My parents had three units for a week in Kimberling City.  I remember trying to teach Skylar how to fish.  Actually, I did all the work while he held on to the pole.  We have a great picture of him catching his first sunfish.  It is a close up with him grinning from ear to ear.  He loved fishing . . . for about a minute.  I have not taken him fishing since then.

For most of us in the mid-west, fishing is a recreational sport.  It is a past time that we enjoy.  It is not our primary means of living.  For James, John, Andrew, and Simon it was their way of life.  Fishing on the Sea of Galilee was their business and they knew their business.  The writer of the Gospel of Luke tells us that “once” Jesus was walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee.  A large crowd had surrounded him and he needed some space.  He saw four men who, after a full night of fishing, were washing their nets.  Jesus climbed into Andrew and Simon’s boat and told them to cast off.  For some reason, they brought nets with them.  A little ways off shore, Jesus sat in the boat and taught the people.  Afterwards, he told Simon and his partners to try some more fishing, even though it was the wrong time of the day.  Simon mildly objected but then reluctantly agreed.  The story tells us that they caught so many fish that their nets where bursting and once they got all of them into the boats, they were in danger of sinking.  This was actually Simon’s third encounter with Jesus and he tells Jesus to leave him because he was a sinner.  However, Jesus saw a different Simon.  He saw a Simon who would become a great fisher of people.

Adam Hamilton wrote in his book Simon Peter this, “Sometimes Jesus inconveniences his followers.”  I am not sure it has ever been easy to follow Jesus.  I know this much, it is not easy to be a witness for Jesus in our current environment.  We may even see it as an inconvenience.  Never the less, just as we pass on our love for things, like fishing, Jesus commands us to pass on our love for him.  After all, it is the main task of those who claim to be his disciple.      

I invite you to take time and read each of the scriptures above followed by reflection on the questions below.  Consider the ways in which you “tell” others about Jesus.  Lastly, I pray that God bless the reading of God’s Word and the meditations of your heart.