Limiting Out

 

Something from the tackle box:

       Jesus later appeared to his disciples along the shore of Lake Tiberius.  Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael and the brothers, James and John, were there, together with two other disciples.  Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing!”

       The others said, “We will go with you.”  They went out in their boat.  But they didn’t catch a thing that night.

       Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was.  Jesus shouted, “Friends, have you caught anything?”

       “No!” they answered.

       So he told them , “Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish.”

       They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat.

       Jesus’ favorite disciple told Peter, “It’s the Lord!”  When Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put his clothes that he had taken off while he was working.  Then he jumped into the water.  The boat was only about a hundred yards from the shore.  So the other disciples stayed in the boat and dragged the net full of fish.

       When the disciples got out of the boat, they saw some bread and a charcoal fire with fish on it.  Jesus told his disciples, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”  Simon Peter got back into the boat and dragged the net to shore.  In it were one hundred and fifty-three large fish, but the net did not rip. (John 21:1-11 CEV)

        One of the things that will put me in an enthusiastic mood for the start of the fishing season is when we experience a beautiful and mild arrival of spring.  When the sun has been shining brightly on the newly budding leaves and the tulips and daffodils are stretching their colors up to a relatively warm and cloudless sky, the water in the ponds, streams and lakes all start to look invitingly fishable to me.  Come to think of it, the mild days of spring do something to put me in a grand mood for praising God for his creation, and his promise that I will someday enjoy a redeemed creation for all eternity, as well. 

Tinker's Creek this morning

       Well, that full bloom of spring is finally here and, wouldn’t you know it, trout season opened this morning.  So I took my lightest weight fly rod and spent two wonderful hours on Tinker’s Creek – along with a lot of other fishermen.  Opening day is bound to bring pretty high traffic levels to any decent trout stream. 

       While out there I met a nice young man named Joe, fishing a ways downstream from where I was working my buggy whip.  Joe was fishing with worms and managed to pull three nice brown trout out of a honey hole under the covered bridge ( right where I would have set up had he not gotten there first).  He was very pleased with himself, and rightfully so.  I told Joe that I had had a nice fish on my line just upstream, but that he shook off pretty quickly.  Truth be told, - it might have been a snag, - but it could have been a fish! 

       The scripture passage I pulled out of the tackle box to start my story with is one of my favorites.  It involves men who decide to go fishing when they could have, and probably should have, been doing other things.  I am a kindred soul with those disciples in that respect.  I love the Lord, - but I also love to fish, - and I’m not the only one I know.  There are several other enthusiastic fishers of fish, who are also members of the very church that I serve as pastor.  One of the folks in my congregation who likes to fish is Buddy Walker.

       Now, I like to do all kinds of fishing, but one thing that Buddy and I have in common is that we both like to do a lot of our fishing with fly-rods and little, teeny tiny, hand made artificial bugs and spiders that float on top of the water as bait.  This sort of sets us apart from most other fishermen. 

       Buddy lives right on Jordan Lake, just four blocks down the road from the parsonage, on a stretch of shoreline that I like to wade into and fly-fish along.  There’s good firm bottom, and plenty of room to work the old buggy whip, right next to Buddy’s place.  I’m sure this is one of the reasons that Buddy likes the spot where he lives so well.

       While all fishermen share a common bond in our love for the sport of angling, the difference of opinion between fly-fishing enthusiasts and those wed to all other fishing methods can be pretty passionately held.  You are either a dedicated angler or a true nutcase to be a fly-fisherman, depending on which side of that divide you come down on.  We see fly-fishing as a pure, graceful, even artistic, way of catching fish.  A way to fish that isn’t for just anyone.  A way to fish that is superior to all others.

       Those others love to remind us - that our method is a lot harder way to catch fish, - a way more expensive way to catch fish, - and a generally less productive way to catch fish, all told.  All of which statements are true, when the comparison is informed by the non-subjective, empirical measurement standards that will tell a lie with that ring of authority which no other opinion can match, regardless of the level of passion with which it is held. 

       And so it goes.  When I’m fly-fishing down by the chapel park at the east end of Jordan lake, where M-50 runs right along the shore, I actually get comments from passing traffic.  Sometimes perfect strangers will honk their horn and give me a big Thumbs Up sign.  Other perfect strangers will honk and give me a different sign, or roll down their windows and yell out, “Fly Fishing &%$#@!”  -  I just smile, wave to them all, and keep right on fishing.  I love fly-fishing, and no one of any other opinion can take that joy from me! 

fly-fishing is beautiful on so many levels

       My friend Buddy has more than once reminded me of a scene from the movie, A River Runs Through It, which has a preacher who loves fly-fishing as a main character.  In this scene the preacher is quoted as saying that, if Jesus loved his first disciples because they were fishermen, then they must have been fly-fishermen, – and no doubt he loved John the most because John was a DRY fly-fisherman! –

       Of course, this is not true, the disciples were all netters, - no more than glorified smelt dippers at best! - Still, regardless of their preferred catching method, they were all men with fishing in their blood, and so I can identify with their predicament in our selection from the tackle box.  

       Here are a group of Jesus’ closest followers who, the story tells us, have already had two encounters with the risen Lord before this episode.  And yet, during a short lull in the happenings of this miracle laden, holiest of times in their lives, repeatedly interacting with a resurrected Lord Jesus, back from the dead, - one of them, Peter, says, - “I’m going fishing!”

       Now, many people have wondered about this ever since.  How could Peter say such a thing with all that’s happening then?  But I understand perfectly.  It’s just the kind of thing that I would likely do in similar circumstances.  I’m not even surprised that six of Peter’s companions responded to Peter’s declaration with, “Now there’s a great idea! – We’ll go fishing with you!”  So off they went, seven men spending the day in the best way they could figure out to spend a day right then, - fishing. 

Wayne and I returning from a good day fishing

       It sort of reminds me of another fisherman in my congregation, Wayne Swiler, and I.  Amazingly, Wayne seems to actually enjoy the company of a preacher while he’s fishing,  (this is not that common of an attitude among fishermen in general, I can assure you of that!) so I frequently take him up on his standing offer to go fishing whenever I have the time and the weather is cooperating.  It’s sort of like Peter and his buddies.  There are other things that I could be doing, and maybe even should be doing, but right now I’m going out to fish, and it’s nice to have a friend who say, “Well then, - I’ll go with you,” and does, - often.

       Now, Wayne and I have had some very good days fishing together, and we’ve had some pretty poor days fishing together.  Every fisherman knows what it’s like to go out fishing and get skunked.  It happens way more often than any of us would like, but it’s just the nature of fishing.  Sometimes they just aren’t biting and you have to be OK with that to become a real fisherman and not give up on the sport. 

       You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker, “A bad day fishing is better than a good day working!”  There’s a lot of truth in that statement.  A bad day fishing can still be pretty nice in many ways.  It’s nice to take fishing pole in hand and just be out on the water in a boat, or wading in a stream like I was this morning, even if you don’t catch anything at all!  I didn’t catch anything at all this morning and I had a wonderful time. 

a good day fishing!

       That being said, I can also say that a GOOD day of fishing beats a BAD day of fishing every time, HANDS DOWN!  Going out and catching nothing just doesn’t compare to going out and coming back with a fish or two in your creel, or a picture or two on your camera if you catch and release.  It’s the icing on the cake.  And then, even better, are those wonderful and rare days when you actually have to quit fishing early, because the law says that you aren’t even allowed to catch any more fish than you’ve already caught for the day! - You’ve limited out!

       I’ve only limited out a handful of times in my whole life (a couple of those times have been fishing with Wayne Swiler, so I do have a witness)  and believe me, it’s way better than getting skunked, which I’ve done many, many, many times in my life, including this morning. 

       In the gospel story from our tackle box, Peter and his six fishing buddies are out in their boat all night long – getting skunked!  It’s probably been nice to be out on the water together in their boat again, it always is if the weather is decent, but they aren’t getting any fish!  In that regard, it’s been an unproductive fishing adventure and they are undoubtedly all feeling like it’s been a BAD day fishing.
       Oh well!  As I said, it’s part of fishing.  You will have bad days fishing, there’s no getting around it.  No doubt the disciples have had them before.  Maybe Peter and the sons of Zebedee are all thinking about one particular bad day of fishing they had together, just three short years ago, and how that had turned out. 

       Back then this new Rabbi Jesus had just started teaching in the neighborhood around the shoreline they did all of their fishing from.  The gospel of Luke records it sort of like this:

       One day Jesus was standing by the lake shore with the people all crowding around him and listening to the word of God.  He saw at the water’s edge two boats left there by some fishermen who had pulled up on shore to wash their nets out.

       Jesus got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Peter, and asked him to put out a little from shore, which he did.  Then Jesus sat down and taught the people from the boat.  When he had finished teaching he turned to Peter and said, “Let’s go fishing! 

       Peter replied, “Rabbi, we’ve been fishing hard all night, but the fishing is BAD!  In fact, we’ve been skunked! – BUT – since you want to go fishing, I’m willing to give it another shot.  After all, a bad day fishing is better than a good day on shore washing nets.”

       So Peter went out fishing with Jesus, and this time they caught so many fish that their nets began to break!  Peter signaled his fishing buddies, James and John to bring the other boat to help.  They filled both boats so full of fish that they almost sank!  They had limited out!

       All of them were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken – and a bit shaken up.  This Jesus, whom they had been too busy cleaning up their fishing gear to pay all that much attention to before, was obviously no ordinary preacher who tinkered around with fishing when he wasn’t preaching.  He was GOOD at it!

       Peter got a notion about what was really happening and said to Jesus, “You’d best leave now, because I’m not the kind of man you should be hanging around fishing with.”

       Jesus said to Peter, “Don’t worry about it!  From now on you will catch people for me as abundantly as I just caught fish for you!  We’ll be limiting out in more ways than you can imagine!”

       And so they all pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed Jesus.

       As I said, that scene had played out for Peter and the others a good three years before we see them today in our selection from the tackle box.  What an amazing three years those had been!  They had experienced the wonders of traveling with Rabbi Jesus, - of learning about God from Jesus every day, - of watching him perform miracles in the places they went to, - feeding people, - healing people, - removing demons from people’s lives, - and shedding God’s light and love everywhere they trod.  They could remember the joys of going with Jesus to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover every year.  Especially the last celebration when Jesus was welcomed by an adoring crowd and a big parade right into town!  Everyone there was proclaiming Jesus to be the King that his disciples already knew him to be, for they had come to know Jesus as God’s Messiah over the past three years together.

       They also remembered the horrors of what happened to Jesus after that triumphal day – along with the parts that they had played in all of it, the betrayal, the arrest, the torture, the denials, the execution, the burial, and they all hiding in fear for their own lives.  A rough weekend on everyone for certain. 

       But then – the resurrection had wiped all of that away! – Twice already now the disciples had met with the risen Lord as a group.  Others had met with the risen Jesus as well, one on one, or in small groups.  All of his followers were abuzz with the news and there was no doubt about it, - the man they had all come to know as God’s Son over these last three years - had even won out over death!  -  And yet, - something wasn’t quite finished.

       I don’t know how many times Peter and the others had gotten out to fish for fish together in those three years of following Jesus.  Probably zero.  Life with Jesus had been even better than a GOOD day fishing!  WAY better!  But now – they were out fishing again. 

       Things were unsettled.  This resurrected Jesus wasn’t with them all the time, not like he had been over the past three years.  It seemed like he would just come and go as he pleased now.  Maybe he wasn’t as interested in them as he used to be.  After all, they had behaved pretty badly in those days of his arrest, trial, execution and burial, - and none more so than Peter! - Maybe Jesus was just gently cutting his ties with them for good with these resurrection appearances, showing them that he was indeed alive, - but leaving them to fend for themselves now, - the partnership over, - the risen Jesus with his Father in heaven, - Peter and the others – left behind. 

       If that was what was going through their minds, as I think it might have been, then a bad day fishing would have seemed better than a good day working for the boss again, to all of them.  And so that’s what Peter and the others had treated themselves to, - a bad day of fishing. 

       But then they saw the stranger on the shore, the stranger who seemed to mock them for being the bad fishermen they were with his cornball fishing strategy suggestion.  I can hear them all grumbling: “ ‘Cast your net on the other side of the boat,’ he says! Like we don’t even know how to fish!  What difference could that make?  Well, we’ll show him!  Go ahead and pitch it over the other side, Nathanael.” 

       And when they did – it was a miracle! – Fishing where there had been nothing before, - they now limited out!  That had only happened to them once before in all their lives – about three years ago.

        John (always one of the quickest disciples) turned to Peter and said, “It’s the LORD!”  And it was.  He was waiting for them on the beach with a fish and bread breakfast ready and waiting for his fine fisherman friends.  They ate that breakfast with Jesus, - and they talked with Jesus, - and the disciples came to learn some new things about what it means to follow the risen Jesus as Lord.

       They learned that he will always love and care for them and that he will always be there to feed them when they need him.  They learned that, if they really loved him in the way that he loved them, they were still to be fishers of folk and tenders of his flock, no matter what else they might be doing in life to get by.  They learned that even though you may claim to believe in him, and even to love him, you still have to follow Jesus to make that stick.  And even though you may not always see him, - Jesus is always there.

Something to take home in your creel:

       Many times in my career as a preacher folks have asked me, “What’s up with the exact count of one hundred and fifty three large fish the bible says the disciples hauled in that day Jesus met them on the beach?  Does the number have a significant meaning we’re supposed to understand?  Is it part of a secret “bible code” we need to figure out?  Perhaps it’s a key to predicting the approaching end times?  What do you think, pastor Mark?” 

       I used to tell them that I did not know for sure what the number signified.  Some say it’s the number of known countries in the world of that day, countries that the disciples were supposed to go and “catch” for Jesus.  Others say other things.  But I always said that I wasn’t sure about it. – But then I figured it out! 

       It’s so obvious!  I now know exactly why it’s recorded that Jesus caused his fishing buddies to catch exactly 153 fish when they cast their net on the other side of the boat, and why they counted and recorded that number. – It was a Fish and Game Warden!

       Fishermen have always been tempted to take more than their legal catch limit, - and there have always been Fish and Game Wardens to patrol and write citations to those who do.  They especially pay attention to those whom they can see are doing really well out on the water!  There is no doubt in my mind that there was a Galilean Department of Natural Resources Officer patrolling the shoreline of the Sea of Tiberius that day, watching them haul in that overstuffed net, and zipping right over to check it out!

       Now Jesus had seen that Game Warden, even though his seven fishing disciples had not, and so he caused exactly 153 fish to be caught up in their net that day.  When the Fish and Game Warden told them to line the fish up and count them out for him, which they did, there would be exactly 153.  When you add the seven fish that Jesus was already grilling on the fire, one for each disciple’s breakfast, you get a total of 160 fish, the exact bag limit of 20 fish per day for each of the eight men standing on the beach getting checked out by a very frustrated and incredulous Game Warden – there on the shore of Lake Tiberius – in the year 33 A.D.

 

 

Wading In

Something from the tackle box:

       Jesus’ favorite disciple told Peter, “It’s the Lord!”  When Simon heard that it was the Lord, he put on his clothes that he had taken off while he was working.  Then he jumped into the water.  The boat was only about a hundred yards from shore.  So the other disciples stayed in the boat and dragged the net full of fish.

       When the disciples got out of the boat, they saw some bread and a charcoal fire with fish on it.  Jesus told his disciples, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.”  Simon Peter got back into the boat and dragged the net to shore.  In it were one hundred and fifty-three large fish, but still the net did not rip.

       Jesus said, “Come and eat!”  But none of the disciples dared ask who he was.  They knew he was the Lord.  Jesus took the bread in his hands and gave some of it to his disciples.  He did the same with the fish.    (John 21:7-13 CEV)

 

       In my last story, ‘Seeing Into the Water,’ I wrote about how I like to look into the water with my own eyes when I fish.  I like to see for myself what’s going on under the surface and then use my God given abilities to make good decisions about how best to proceed with the fishing.  At the end of the story I tried to draw some parallels between this practice and how God has equipped us to deal with much in our lives using our own abilities.

       God has seen to it that we can do well for ourselves and, if we do so, we will tend to prosper physically, materially and spiritually, all by way of our own observations, decisions and actions.  This God-given self reliance ability generally works quite well for us, – until, – of course, – it doesn’t – because we just can’t see into the water of our life, - or we don’t have the experience and knowledge necessary to make good decisions based on what we do see, - or – we just don’t have what it takes to do what we know ought to be done once we’ve made a good decision.

       We can all do a lot with what we’ve been given, and often do it very well, but we can’t do it all!  Even the best fishermen among us, who know and understand the waters of their particular lives the best, need to constantly be listening for and trusting in the voice of the Lord telling them to try fishing off the other side of their boat for a change. 

       With this story I’d like to go a step further with that idea and talk about actually getting into the water to fish. 

the shallows by the chapel

       I like to actually get right into the water when I fish.  I’m often in the water wearing waders, or just some shorts and water shoes if the water is warm enough.  In Lake Odessa I am almost famous for fishing in the shallows down by the chapel where M-50 bends around the east end of Jordan Lake on the edge of town.  There are some good sand bars that will allow you to wade out forty yards from shore to fish, sometimes even more if you’re careful, and I have fished out there a lot over the years. 

the road and traffic on M50

       A constant stream of people going past in their trucks and cars can see me every time I am out there, especially if they are coming into town from the east and get a better view of the lake than those leaving town.  I have gotten a lot of honks and waves from both friends and strangers passing by on the road while I have been wading in those shallows, especially if I happened to have a fish on the line!  I used to catch a lot of fish in that spot, but that was back when I was pretty much the only one wading in there. 

       The problem with catching fish in front of an audience is that everyone else wants to get in on the action!  Who can blame them?  The first summer I fished down by the chapel, about twelve years ago, I pretty much had those sand bottom shallows all to myself.  The second summer that I waded in the water down there I met a couple of other folks wading around from time to time as well.  The third summer it was quite a few more than a couple.  Now, I always drive by the spot first to check it out and see if I can get into the water without pushing someone else out, which I would never do. 

       To be honest, while it’s still a convenient spot, a place where you might still see me wading in the water every now and then, the fishing in the shallows down by the chapel has not been very good for several years.  We’ve had horrible algae blooms on Jordan Lake for the past three years in a row and the east end of the lake is where the prevailing winds blow a lot of the floating green scum that gets churned up by the boats and jet-skis on the lake.  A clean surface is a must for fly-fishing and in recent years it’s been hard to find one in the shallow waters of the east end, or anywhere else on Jordan Lake for that matter, from late May through early September.  So I’ve had to find some other good spots to wade in the water to fish like that. 

taken from the middle of Tinker's Creek looking downstream

       One spot I’ve been using a lot in recent summers I’ll call Tinker’s Creek.  That’s not its real name.  I couldn’t do anything about the people in cars watching me catch a lot of fish down by the chapel, but I’m not obligated to tell people where I’m catching fish if they don’t see me. 

       Tinker’s creek is a pretty decent little trout stream less than half an hour’s drive from where I live, and I want to tell you some things about it, and about wading in it, before I draw out the some life lessons in this story.   

       Tinker’s creek isn’t a big river.  It’s only about as wide as a pick-up truck pulling a boat trailer is long in most of the places that I fish in it, and most of the time it runs shallow enough that I only have to put on hip boots to do so, which is a lot more comfortable than wearing chest waders. 

trout hang out in the shade of the covered bridge

       For much of the length of Tinker’s creek the trees and other plant life along the banks is pretty dense, too dense to go fly-fishing for certain.  But there is a half-mile stretch through some open country where the dedicated members of the local Trout Unlimited chapter, an organization I belong to, have worked to improve the fly-fishing prospects.  That stretch does offer a dozen or so spots where you can get into the water and practice that gentile art of working the buggy whip if you wish.  And so that’s where I go, because that’s what I love to do. 

       Now even though Tinker’s creek isn’t very wide or deep you do have to be careful when you are wading in it. The bottom of the stream varies between large rocks, sandy gravel, and softer spots where underwater weed beds have taken hold.  The water can runs pretty swiftly through this sections of the stream, which is something that trout like, and there are lots of hazards in the water like big rocks and deep ruts, or fallen logs with branches reaching out underneath the surface, which are also things that trout like, but all of which can trip you up.

       People who don’t know much might think that fly-fishing in Tinker’s creek is all about what you can do with the pole and line held in your hands, but it’s not.  It has every bit as much to do with what you do with your legs and feet.

some tricky footing just ahead

       You have to be very careful where you stand and where you step.  It is very easy to loose your balance in that swift water and go down unless you’ve got your feet firmly underneath you at all times.  The shallow water makes it less likely that you’ll go under and drown if you slip, but it also makes it far more likely that you will break an arm or a leg, or even crack your skull on one of those half or barely submerged rocks that are all over the place.  You need to constantly know what you are doing with the bottom half of your body if you are fishing IN the water, because you can get hurt pretty easily if you aren’t always paying attention to what’s going on around your shins. 

       People who see me fishing in the waters of Tinker’s creek might say, “Why don’t you just fish from the banks, like most people do?  It certainly would be easier, and there’s a number of good spots along here where you can do that, even with your fly rod!” 

       And I would have to answer, “You’re right!”  And sometimes I do just that, especially in the early spring before a lot of the bank foliage has grown up very high, but as anyone who gets into the water to fish will tell you, “It’s just not the same, and it’s definitely not as good!”  When you’re actually IN the waters of a stream you can move around and get angles on where that big fish is waiting to ambush that next mayfly that comes along that you just cannot get fishing from shore.

       A fisherman can fish from wherever they want to fish, even from the high and dry, and they can catch fish doing it that way too.  Maybe even catch lots of fish.  But, in some cases and some circumstances, the fishing is going to be better – and far more rewarding – if you are willing to get into the water to do it. 

Something to take home in your creel:

       God has been calling his people to get right down into the water of life with him for the longest time. Maybe it goes all the way back to the Genesis story of God asking Noah to build a big boat and save mankind, along with the rest of the animal creation, from the coming horrors of the flood.  But, for whatever reason, more often than not, it seems as if God has a struggle in getting us to actually take that plunge and do it! 

       From the time of Abraham down to the time of Jesus’ disciples, God’s chosen people are never too keen on getting their feet wet.  They don’t mind wells for drinking water, pools for ritual body washing, even small lakes to fish from boats on, but just ask them to cross a river that doesn’t have a bridge over it, and it seems as if God chose the most reluctant race of people to get their feet wet that he could have saddled himself with. 

 the Phoenicians had a navy, but not the Israelites

       I can understand why God had to part the waters of the Red Sea for Moses and the children of Israel to pass through, that was a SEA after all, but why did he have to do the same thing for Joshua and the people to cross the Jordan River into the promised Land?  My Goodness, there’s any number of places where that river is not much wider or deeper than Tinker’s Creek!  

     King David may have commanded great armies but he never commanded a great navy, or any navy at all that we know of, despite having a hundred miles of coastline to defend from surrounding enemies with long naval warfare traditions, people like the Egyptians, Philistines, Phoenicians and Greeks.  Some hardy seafarers would have served the nation of Israel well, - but nooooo! – Well, I guess you can’t have a navy if none of your citizens are willing to be a sailor in it!  You can’t even draft a navy when your sturdy young men are all crying, “Jonah gambled on going to sea once and look what happened to him!  For cryin’ out loud, that’s where Leviathan lives!”   

       Nope, God did not pick a very water-friendly bunch of folk to start working out his plan of salvation for the world with.  But despite this God has been calling his people to get into the water with him all along, because that’s where the action is.  Eventually, by the end of the biblical saga, people started to take heed. 

       First, John the Baptist comes along and starts calling people to get right with God by getting right into the Jordan River with him, - and the people came in droves – to get all wet – on purpose!  And then Jesus comes along and picks Galilean fisherman as his very first followers, men who are probably among the least water fearful people in that whole aqua-phobic nation! 

        It is true that those first disciples did insist on calling their workplace the SEA of Galilee when everyone else around the region just called it Lake Tiberius, (because that’s what it is, a lake not much larger than Houghton Lake here in Michigan).  Still, it is a big enough lake that when a storm does come up the waves will toss you around pretty roughly if you’re in a small fishing boat, maybe even swamp you, so there was at least some degree of danger associated with being a Galilean fisherman that put Peter, Andrew, James, John and Nathanial, fishermen all, head and shoulders above your average ancient Hebrew when it came to water comfort levels.  And Peter at least could even swim! – (or so it would seem from our tackle box scripture passage, - another story of Peter going out to Jesus on the water might imply a difference of opinion on this point.)

       So Jesus first brought to himself those who would be the most likely to get out of the safe, dry boats of their life, to get wet in the sometimes murky and threatening SEA of life – for him – and with him.  I think that is at least a part of what our baptism symbolizes.  It’s dangerous out there in the waters of life, maybe even deadly, but that’s where God calls you with the assurance that if you go, trusting in him, it will be OK come what may. 

       Even Paul tells us this is part of it.  He writes; Don’t you know that all who share in Christ Jesus – by being baptized – also share in his death? – When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ.  We were baptized so that we could live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father. – If we share in Jesus’ death by being baptized, we will be raised to life with him.  (Romans 6:3-5 CEV)

       Of course, every fisherman will have to come to this conclusion for himself someday by jumping out of the safe boat, or wading in off of the solid banks, and commit himself to the uncertain, bubbling and gurgling waters of life – and death – that God calls us all to jump into by faith, and cross over through in his care, to the feast that’s waiting for us all on the other shore.    

Looking Into the Water

Something from the tackle box:

       Jesus later appeared to his disciples along the shore of Lake Tiberias.  Simon Peter, Thomas the twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, and the brothers James and John, were there, together with two other disciples.  Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing!”

       The others said, “We will go with you.”  They went out in their boat.  But they didn’t catch a thing that night.

       Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was.  Jesus shouted, “Friends, have you caught anything?”

       “No!” they answered.

       So he told them, “Let your net down on the right side of the boat, and you will catch some fish.”

       They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat. (John 21:1-6 CEV)                                                                    

Thumb Lake is another very clear watered lake I like to fish

       I don’t own any high-tech, electronic fish-finding equipment of my own.  It’s not that I have anything against that kind of stuff, I’ve often thought about getting a fish locator and I probably will someday, but the good stuff costs some good money that I'd rather spend on other stuff.  Anyway, a fish finder wouldn’t get used that much with the kind of fishing that I prefer to do when I’m out fishing on my own.  You see, I like to fish in clear shallow water that I can see into for myself.

one of my favorite clear water fly-fishing holes

       Of course, I love to fly-fish, and that’s all a case of reaching out and placing your small imitation bug or bait on or just under the surface of the water.  When I go to a site I’m going to fly-fish, be it on a lake or in a stream, I always start by spending some time looking at the surface of that section of steam or lake I’m planning to fish for those tell-tale splashes or ripples that show me right where the fish are rising to snatch a snack off the top layer of the water.

       If I see a lot of this kind of activity I look to see what’s buzzing around in the air over the water or skipping around on the surface.  Then I tie on something that sort of looks like that particular gnat, skeeter, skipper, hatching fly, or whatever.  You’d be surprised how much success I’ve had doing that, especially with the lake shallow dwelling bass and bluegills who aren’t nearly as picky eaters as stream dwelling trout are most of the time.

a spot I fish on the Sturgeon River

       But even with the trout, fish that can be notoriously finicky about what bugs they will rise to, if you fish where you can see that they are currently feeding, and you’ve got a good selection of flies in your box, you will often find that they will take a chance on your fly if you present them with something reasonably close to what you can see is actually buzzing, swimming or crawling around near the water’s surface at that time. 

       It takes some critical observation and deductive reasoning skill to really do well at it, but fly-fishing is not rocket science, not even close.  If you spend some time looking into, on, and around, the water, you can get it figured out a lot of the time all on your own and do pretty well fishing like this. 

       Even when I’m fishing with a spinning rod or cane pole, whether I’m using an artificial lure or some live bait, like grubs, worms, minnows, or crickets, I tend to like fishing in shallow or very clear water that I can see into, finding the fish for myself. 

the crystal clear water by my dock on Long Lake

       When I’m up at my place on Long Lake in Cheboygan County I’m blessed because the water is so clean and clear that I can easily see fish swimming around ten feet or more below the surface.  I can find the weed beds, reed banks, rock and log formations, where they are hanging out.  I fish them using my own eyes to tell me when to stay put or to move on.  I get a lot of satisfaction fishing that way. 

       But, not every lake is as clear and clean as Long Lake, and sometimes, especially in mid-summer, the fish aren’t in the shallow water, or anywhere near it, anyway.  Clean Long Lake water or not, I can’t see forty, thirty, or even twenty feet down.  It gets too dark down there.  And on most lakes I get to fish on I can’t even see more than four or five feet down, sometimes much less, because of all the stuff in the water, the plankton, algae, and the silt or mucky bottom dirt some lakes have, which gets churned up by weather conditions and power boats and stays suspended in the water for a long time before settling back down.

       Now, deep and even somewhat cloudy water doesn’t mean that the fish aren’t there or that the fishing won’t be good if you find them, it might be fantastic, it just means that you aren’t going to be able to see into the water for yourself and find where the fish are with your own eyes before you set up shop to catch them. 

       Now, I don’t mind fishing deeper, darker water, and some people I fish with actually prefer it.  They say that the deep dark holes are where the really big fish hang out.  This is where a fish finder can really come in handy!

my good fishing buddy, Wayne Swiler, fishing on Augst Lake

       My friend Wayne will usually take a fish-finder out when we go to harvest the big bluegills that populate Augst Lake.  We almost always try the shallow water around the cattail-lined banks first, but sometimes they just aren’t there. And when they aren’t there we start crisscrossing the deep dark water in the middle of that eighteen-acre pond, where the fish might be bunched up anywhere, five, ten, fifteen, or even twenty feet down on the bottom. 

       The fish-finder has a screen that shows us when we are in the vicinity of fish, about how many there might be, one or two, a few, or a lot, about how big they might be on average, and about how deep down underneath us they are swimming around.  In short, if it’s worth while dropping anchor and sending down a worm or two to see if they’re hungry or not.

       Now, you might not catch any of those fish even if you do stop to feed them.  But, as Wayne says, “At least we know they’re there.  They might not be biting today, but you certainly aren’t going to catch any fish if they aren’t fishing where the fish are at.”  And, I have to admit, that observation is the truth of the matter.  You aren’t going to catch any fish if there aren’t any fish there to be caught.  But, as I said, even if there are, - there are no guarantees. 

       This past summer I went up to fish with my friend Jerry Jones at his place on Rainbow Lake in Montcalm County.  Jerry is the retired pastor of the Greenville Congregational Church and we’ve been trying to get together and fish one day every summer for some years now, since the days when he kept a place up near Lake City.

       Now, Jerry has a really nice boat.  It’s actually more boat than you need for Rainbow Lake, but it’s the boat that he used to keep on Lake Missaukee when he had his place up there, and he’s just kept it. 

       Anyway, this boat is equipped with a built in sonar fish-locator that’s way nicer than any other I’ve ever used.  A big screen a with color display that’s attached to the dash, but can be pulled out and swiveled so it can be viewed from any seat in the boat.  It can be programmed to give you all kinds of information about the environment it’s looking into, if you want.  Things like, water temperatures, bottom conditions, height and density of vegetation, and of course, location and size of fish, all in clear and colorful graphics.  It’s really kind of fun to look at, and I told Jerry that it was as fine a piece of useful technology as I’d ever seen. 

       When I got there Jerry let me know that he already been scouting and knew right were the fish were at.  We only motored out a couple of hundred yards into the lake from his dock, near where another boat was already anchored and fishing, and sure enough, the fish started showing up on Jerry’s fish finder in huge bunches.

       There was a depression – a hole – where the bottom dropped down to twenty-three feet deep from the average of fifteen to twenty that you would find across most of the lake.  And on the screen you could see two big bunches of fish congregated in and over that hole.  One big school was right down near the bottom, hovering one to three feet off the floor of the lake.  The other school was directly above the first, about ten feet higher and just ten or so feet below the surface of the lake.  Both schools showed good numbers of good-sized fish on Jerry’s fish-finder. 

       We anchored, and Jerry told me that folks were getting them by putting a heavy sinker on and dropping it right on to the bottom and then slowly drawing the bait back up through that lower mess of fish you could see on the fish finder screen. 

       Of course, being as contrary as I am, I said that was all fine and dandy for him, but as for me, I intended to set the line stop for my slip bobber about ten feet up the line and hang my bait from a float right in the middle of that higher school, which looked just as good as the lower school of fish to me on his screen.

       “Suit yourself,” is all Jerry said to my declaration, - with a smirk on his face.  -  I should have listened to his advice. 

me with a nice one on Rainbow lake fishing with Jerry Jones

       After Jerry had pulled up five or six nice fish, while my bobber hadn’t even twitched on the water, I got another pole out and rigged it up to jig up off the bottom, just like I had been advised to do in the first place.  I may be headstrong, but I’m no dummy, after all.

       I was soon catching just as many and as nice of fish as Jerry was fishing off the bottom.  I even landed a bluegill that was a full ten inches long, which is as big of a bluegill as I’d ever caught before. 

       All this time I also kept that other line out there, hanging right in the middle of that upper school of fish from a bobber, with the same hook and bait as I was catching fish with coming up off the bottom.  You know, I never got one hit on that line the whole time we were out there. Fish showing ten feet down on the fancy fish-finder or not, Jerry knew what he was talking about.  -  It was his lake after all. 

Something to take home in your creel:  

       God has given most of us a whole lot of abilities.  We’ve been given eyes to see with and ears to hear with.  We’ve also been given minds to think with and hearts to perceive with concerning the things that we see and hear.  And we are expected by God to use these abilities, - which are his gifts and not our own concoction, - to get through life in a way that pleases him in the end, - a way that’s best for us and for the world around us as well. 

       For much of our what life throws at us, the gifts we’ve been given by God for getting through it all suffice on their own.  We can see into the water of life around us and, if we’re paying attention, we can figure out what the situation calls for, all on our own, just using the gifts God has given us for that purpose.  It may take some critical observation and deductive reasoning skills to do it really well, but most of life is not rocket science.  Not even close.  You see what ought to be done, and you do it, because you know what is called for without direct orders.

       The apostle Paul even tells us that it works this way, - sometimes.  He writes: Some people naturally obey the Law’s commands, even though they don’t have the Law.  This proves that the conscience is like a law written in the human heart.  And it will show whether we are forgiven or condemned, when God has Jesus Christ judge everyone’s secret thoughts, just as my message says.  (Romans 2:14-16 CEV)

       You’ve been given the ability to understand the world around you and how you should relate to it.  You’ve been given a brain to think with and a heart to perceive with.  The kind of life you live, and the resulting soul you end up with as a result, is, in large part, up to you, - - but not completely! 

       There are times and situations in life that call for seeking information that comes from beyond just using the abilities that God has given us to get through things on our own.  We are well advised to do so, however well we’ve developed our natural competencies and capabilities to get by.  Maybe even - in spite of them. 

       When Peter, Thomas, Nathaniel, James and John decided to go fishing in our scripture passage, I don’t figure they felt like they needed to be told how to fish!  They were fishermen by trade, and they were fishing on their own lake.  Nobody could see into those waters any better than Peter, James, John and the others who went out.  Except, of course, the one who had created those very waters for his own purposes, and who could see, understand and know, what even the most experienced fisherman equipped with the finest boat and gear – right down to a high definition, color screen readout, state of the art fish-finder – could ever see, understand, or know. 

       Even if you do know what you are about in life and are headed in the right direction, as far as you can tell.  Even when life is generally going well for you and you’ve got no real complaints, other than maybe not as many fish as you would like.  Even if you are confident that you haven’t done much of anything wrong with your life, much that God would take exception to, let alone condemn you for.  Even when life is going smooth, so smooth that it might even seem a bit dull and unfulfilling.  Even if all of this is the case and more, always, always, always, be tuned in to the One who authored that good life of yours in the first place. 

       Listen for the voice of God that says to you, “Now try fishing off the other side of your boat for a change.”  Listen for it with a willingness to obey that voice when you hear it, and then see what happens when you do! 

the mess of fish Jerry and I caught on Rainbow Lake this past summer.