“But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

It was a long weekend for Katie and I. Rare. With a sunny afternoon before us, we found ourselves with time on our hands. “What shall we do?” found us out on the water in our 2 person kayak with a fishing pole. Baiting it, I handed it to my wife, who is not really a fisher-woman. She caught a little fish, and I threw it back. But the next tug on the line was bigger!

The bobber sank and she cried out, “Oh MY!” And with that, the line went slack… the hook disappearing from the end of the line. Not having any more hooks, we paddled leisurely along in the sunshine. That is until she exclaimed those same 2 words with fear! When I cried, “WHAT?” She said… “don’t you see that big gator? Oh No! What are we gonna do?”

Truth be told I hadn’t. It was about 20 feet from us… at least 10 foot long! I had quit looking for gators over the years, because they’re usually hauled out of those canals before they get that big. But not this one! All I could do was laugh. I knew that gator wasn’t going to bother us. We were MUCH too big for it’s little brain to compare with food! We paddled on.

In retrospect it’s a good story. That big fish that got away? Eh… we didn’t need it. We had spaghetti waiting at home. The fact that we GOT home, at least in Katie’s mind, was evidence that WE were the ones that ‘got away!’ This picture was taken on the return trip! All in all it was a very good day! And we appreciated not getting what we didn’t really need!

Many of our Church folk are going through some tough times right now. Lots of physical and mental stuff lurks both above and below the surface… some of it appearing ominous. It’s times like these that retrospection helps remind me of one of my favorite verses. Today’s! Peaking over my years of living this verse, I am SO happy for SO much that ‘got away!’

Are you grateful? Why not thank and praise Jesus for all the stuff you DIDN’T get that you MAY have deserved!