Something from the tackle box:
Every year Jesus’ parents went to
Jerusalem for the Passover. And
when Jesus was twelve years old, they all went there as usual for the celebration…. Three days later they found Jesus sitting
in the temple, listening to the teachers and asking them questions. Every one who heard him was surprised
at how much he knew and at the answers he gave. (Luke 2:41-42, 46-47 CEV)
If you
read the story that I posted this past April titled, ‘A Cribbage Club Fishing
Story,’ you know that not all my fishing stories are the product of my own
memory and imagination. I am
perfectly willing to write up a story given me by another person, and give them
credit for it to boot! Here is
another story that I heard from the same person who gave me the tale I just
mentioned, Heather Prater. Again,
this tale was related to me while sitting across a cribbage board at our Monday
afternoon Church Basement Cribbage Club gathering. As before, I’ll do my best to relate it as I heard it.
After the cut, as I’m dealing out
the first hand of the game, Heather says, “Hey, Pastor, I’ve got another good
family fishing story for ya, if you care to listen to it.”
“Of
course I want to hear it,” I replied.
“If it’s as good as your last one I’ll post it on my blog site, just
like I did before. That story
about your uncle Joe got over fifty hits, and those are pretty good numbers for
my sorry little blog.”
“Oh, come
on now!”
“No,
really, let me hear it…. Wait a
minute. This isn’t another story
about your Uncle Joe is it?”
“Noooo,…
but he was there for this one!”
“Well, go
on then.”
“Well,
last weekend,” She started, “the family and I were up in Gladwin County for the
McIntosh family reunion. We have
one every summer up there.”
“Is it a
big gathering?” I broke in.
 |
| "seems better for coolin' than catchin' today" |
“Oh
yeah! There’s always a hundred or
more family members that show up for it.
We hold it at my cousin Michelle’s house every year. She’s got a big place right on the Cedar
River up there.
“Anyway,
my cousin Roger is there with his nine-year-old grandson, Cody. Now Cody has got a brand new fishing
rod with him that Grandpa had promised to teach him how to rig ups and fish
with, and Cody is pretty excited about it because fishing is a big deal in the
McIntosh clan, as you know.
“The
thing is, Michelle’s place is pretty far up on the Cedar River, and it’s not
much more than a little stream where it runs by her place. And, on top of that, with all the rain
we’ve had lately it was a pretty blown out muddy little stream last weekend. So, being the fishing folk that we all
are, everyone is telling Cody not to get his hopes up too high. In fact, we’re all telling him that it
might be better to wait and have Grandpa teach him how to set up his new rod
some other time, at some other place, where he’ll have a decent chance of
catching something on his first try with it. But, as you can guess, Cody is having none of that! He and Grandpa are going to do some
fishing, and that is that! So off
they go to fish.
“Now
they’ve got cousin Ann in tow because,…. well,…. she’s a McIntosh through and
through.
Ann is probably… No, let
me say that
without a doubt, Ann is the
biggest fishing nut in the whole family.
She just loves to fish, fishes all the time, and she pretty much
figures that she knows as much or more about fishing than anyone else in the
McIntosh clan, which is saying a lot.
And, to tell the truth, she probably does!
So, she just had to go and watch this expedition, providing
expert advice at every step of the process, even though she’d been one of the
biggest naysayer of all to the idea of them trying to catch anything in that
muddy old mess of a creek right now in the first place.
Which
opinion, by the way, she
continued to
express while Roger was showing Cody how to rig up and cast with his new
spinning tackle.
 |
| ann just can't believe it! |
“Well,
wouldn’t ya know it, they start fishing and on Cody’s
very first cast into that soupy old stream with his brand new rod,
he hooks into a fish that starts jumping around and splashing all over the
place as he cranks it in.
It turns
out to be a nice, thirteen inch long trout!”
“That’s
amazing!” I cut back in. “What a
great story! If I dress it up a
bit I can sure use that one on my blog.”
“Oh,….
it’s not over yet!” she continues, “The best is yet to come!
“As you
might expect, Cody is so thrilled with his catch that he unhooks the fish and runs
off with it to make sure that every single person at the reunion gets a chance
to see what he just caught.
And,
when he runs off, he leaves his rod just lying there on the grass by the
river.
Well, cousin Ann, who’s
just standing there, shaking her head in disbelief at Cody’s luck, decides to
pick up the abandoned rod and try fishing for herself.
After all, highly experienced fisher-woman
that she is, she’s got a reputation to uphold.
She’s not going to let herself be out-fished by a
nine-year-old kid without taking her own shot at the spotlight!
So she starts fishing right then and there…
with Cody’s new rod.
 |
| ann takes her shot |
“Of
course, once every McIntosh on the place has had the opportunity to see Cody’s
trout and make a big fuss over his great catch, he comes back to the river bank
to fish some more. And when he
does, what does he find but cousin Ann fishing with his brand new tackle! Well, he watches her make one cast,
walks right over, grabs the rod right out of her hands and says, ‘Here! Let ME show you how to do it Cousin Ann!’ And that’s when everyone around just busted
out laughing!”
At this
point in the story I’m chuckling pretty hard myself.
“Well,” I
said, “I guess young Cody proved himself to be a McIntosh through and through at
the family reunion this year!”
“He sure
‘nuff did!” Heather replied, “And I’ve got the pictures right here on my phone
to prove it,… if you want to see ‘em!”
I sure
‘nuff did!
Something to take home in your creel:
To have gained genuine wisdom and
understanding about any subject is a noble attribute. To pass on your wisdom and understanding to others is a
noble undertaking. Just remember
this: HOW you go about imparting your knowledge and understanding to others
will be what determines how noble you are
perceived to be in doing so.
Years ago, I was given an
alternate definition for the word, “EXPERT.” I was told, that to be properly understood, the word needed
to first be divided into the two conjoined words of which it is composed. The first part of the word is, “Ex,” which is the spoken representation
of the algebraic symbol, X. In
mathematics, X always represents an unknown
factor, as it does in this case as well. The second part of the word is, “spurt,” which is nothing more than an apt description for a drip subjected to pressure. Put these two definitions together and
you’ve got an expert.
As I have grown older, I’ve
learned the hard way to keep this useful insight in mind when practicing my
profession as a pastor, preacher and spiritual director. I also try to keep it in mind when teaching
or advising others about any leisurely pursuit that I may know a bit about, of
which cribbage and fishing are two prime examples. This habit has, I am quite certain, saved me from more than
a few embarrassments over these later years of my life, if not the earlier.
It is
certainly good to know things. It is far better to be educated than to be
ignorant. Education is a virtue
and willful ignorance is a sin. So,
if something interests you, learn everything that you can about it, be it
theology, fishing, or any other thing worth learning about. And, when you seek your knowledge, try
to learn from genuine experts if you can, people who really do know what
they’re talking about when they teach you something. You will be glad that you did.
Who knows, if you learn enough,
you may become an expert yourself.
That is not a bad thing. In
fact, it is a very good thing.
Just remember, O wisdom filled expert angler that you have become, that pride
still goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
