I decided to get in some fishing
yesterday. Josh and Christi and their
boys are coming next week, so we need to build up our stash of fish to fry –
fast. It was way too rough to go wade
fishing in the surf, so I headed out to Jamaica Beach for an attempt at the canal
in front of Nathan and April’s house. I
have had luck in Jamaica Beach before, and I had some pretty good live shrimp
for bait, so I was hopeful. And I did
catch a good-sized croaker on an early cast, so
that was a good sign.
I texted Nathan once I got all set up and
had a line in the water. “Whenever you
decide to wake up, I’m fishing in your front yard.” I thought maybe it would get at least a visit
from Cailyn. It worked. It did take a while for them to get out of
bed (OK, that’s speculation. I wasn’t
inside. They may have been up for hours
and were in the middle of solving some critical family situation). But whatever they were doing, they finally
appeared, jumped on their bikes, and joined me.
At first Cailyn didn’t seem excited at the prospect of doing some
fishing. Nathan reminded her that she
had been begging for the opportunity, so she reluctantly agreed to hold a
pole. And that did it. Well, that and the fact that she could sit
next to her DadDad at the same time.
Sometimes it helps to hold a legendary status as “a fisherman.” Of course she had to get me to sit down so
she could snuggle up close. That wasn’t quite
as easy as it sounds, for her or me. she
had to insist several times, and of course I had to force my creaky old knees
to respond. But it was worth it. Especially when she hooked a croaker. She didn’t even know it was there, but her
pole was bent and the fish was tugging, so her Mom finally convinced her to
reel it in. We got some pictures of the
trophy whale.
Now she was into the whole fishing
experience. She even got live shrimp out
of the bait bucket whenever we needed one.
That proved to be an invaluable point of assistance … for her
mother. Seems April is not too fond of
that particular chore. We ended the day
with four croakers, a few piggies, and five or six hardhead catfish. Sadly, it was a pretty typical canal fishing
day. Not many fish. Lost a lot of bait. Too many hardheads (well, one is too many of
them). I think Cailyn had fun,
though. That makes it worth it.
I did get some work done while there. One of our elders lives nearby, and he came
down to get me to sign some letters. Then
later on I heard a timid, “Pastor Kelley?”
Well, it may not have been all that timid, but I didn’t have my hearing
aids in, so I barely heard it. A lady
had some questions she wanted to ask about what she had been reading in 1
Timothy. Without her Bible to show me
where she was reading, though, I couldn’t ever understand for sure what her
question was. It had something to do
with the Gnostics. She didn’t stay
long. She had to get ready for work, but
she said she would email me the passages and her questions. Fishing with the granddaughter and doing some
ministry. A fine day’s work.
Psalms 91:9-10 says, “If you make the Most High your dwelling — even the Lord, who is my
refuge — then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.”
Father, thank you for fishing trips and
ministry opportunities. Amen.
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