“Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything?” Amos 3:5
I was at my son’s place doing some work when, over in the corner, I caught sight of his 3 fishing poles and a bag of gear. Having worked all day, I could hear him in my head saying, “Go on, take a break.. go fish!” The idea sunk deeper and sprouted into action as I thought, “Yea!!! Why not?” Looking through the fishing gear, I had to admit I knew little about using the artificial baits he had in the bag.
I’ve fished many times in my life, and used to be OK at it. But the plastic baits in his bag were the kind one needed to know HOW to throw and jig to attract a fish. My skill and energy level didn’t meet any of their criteria, so I mentally began to go through a list of possible baits I had in my cooler. Satisfied I had at least a possibility, I grabbed a pole and headed to the dock… with some beef jerky!
The stars were out and the night was beautiful. I felt like the luckiest man on earth. Being the only guy out there on the island, and sitting there alongside Jesus, I carefully stabbed the hook into a generous piece of jerky and lowered the line into the water. It didn’t take long for imagination to spring to life to give me hope! Soon, I was enjoying imagination FAR more than reality could offer!
“C’mon man! It’s BEEF JERKY!” I thought to myself. There is NO WAY some big sport fish is going to sneak up to that bait and think… ‘now would ya look at that… something different for dinner!’ But for a moment, Jesus and I had a laugh. And that in itself is enough for this story. Jesus and me… sitting on a dock together. Come to think about it, that is a WHOPPER of a tale.
Who could imagine? The God of the Universe wanting and loving ME SO MUCH, that He used His own Son as bait to catch me? And when at my worst, when I most needed to be caught and reeled in, He showed me something different than I deserved… and I bit! Are YOU magnificently caught by the Savior? Are you helping Him fish for others?
