I love camping. I love being outdoors. I love the fresh smell of pine and sage and sleeping in a warm bag, with frosty mountain air on my face. My wife tolerates camping, mostly because there are no computers, XBoxes, or other distractions to interrupt family time. So, when our friends offered to take us camping with them to a lake in the high Sierras, we jumped at the chance. Now, as much as I love camping, I really haven't had much experience with fishing, but after watching my friend cast his line into the water and pull out a couple fat lake trout, I figured "how hard could it be?"
So I cast my line and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Since the fish obviously weren't interested on that side of the boat, I moved and cast again. And waited. And waited. Waiting in the sun is thirsty work, so I handed my rod to my wife and went to the cooler to get a drink. No sooner than I did (Bet you saw this coming.), and there was a tug at the line. My wife pulled up a nice plump lake trout. She squealed with glee as our friend helped her bring it in, and was instantly hooked (pardon the pun). She cast again and brought up another fine specimen.
In a huff, I took over the rod and cast in the vicinity of my wife's success. After what seemed like an eternity (I think my friends stayed out longer than they planned, out of pity), I got a bite! I reeled and reeled, full of excitement, finally landing, well... something a little larger than a goldfish. I'm almost convinced it was a trout.
Now, I wasn't thrilled at being skunked at that manliest of pastimes by my wife (my eight-months pregnant wife, at that), but I sure did enjoy the taste of pan-fried trout that evening. And it's a good thing my wife caught what she did -- my catch of the day amounted to about 2 or three bites. Is there a moral to this story? Yep; here it is:
One of the first recorded commands we see Jesus giving at the beginning of Matthew is: "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19). The last of Jesus' recorded words in Matthew read: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20).
It is interesting to note that being a disciple of Christ was equated with fishing for people from the very beginning of His ministry. From the earliest days with His disciples, Christ was preparing them for a life of spreading the Gospel. You see, witnessing to others about Christ isn't merely one of the approaches to Christian living; it is the only approach.
Now I have no way of knowing whether those two fish my wife caught were just happening by at the right time or whether they were lured to the area by my initial casts. Similarly, we may go our whole lives earnestly telling others about Jesus without ever actually seeing our words transform a single life, but at the same time we have no way of knowing whether the seeds we sow will begin to germinate just as a fisherman downstream casts his line into the water. We do know that God makes us this promise, concerning His Word: "so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11).
And that should be enough to keep us casting, whether the fish land in our basket, or go on to get hooked downstream.
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