I
got a text yesterday morning just as I was finishing up breakfast. Thankfully it was not one of those “on call
for 24 hours a day pastor” calls. And it
wasn’t a “Hey, Dad, I love you, let me tell you something” call. It wasn’t even a “House on fire, flames
visible” call. And Chris was sitting in
the chair right next to me, so it wasn’t her.
Nope. This was just a text from a
friend imparting some information. And
what information might that be, that it would merit the opening paragraph of a
blog post? Very simple. To the point.
“Gulf is flat this am.” Music to
my ears.
After
receiving Bob’s text, I went to the Galveston.com website to check out my
specific favorite spot. Amazing that
they would put a camera right near where I like to go wade fishing. Thanks for that. Sure enough, nothing but gentle swells. It’s good when this happens early in the
week. It is so much easier to adjust my
work/study schedule on Monday or Tuesday than later. So I just moved everything back so my start
time would be in the afternoon. It
didn’t take long for me to change clothes and load up the truck and head for
some bait
It
was getting pretty hot even as I arrived.
I found out later we were under a heat advisory again. Something about the heat index being
113. It was getting pretty hot. But water conditions seemed to be really
good, so I had high hopes. Well … for
the first hour or so I did my part in the feeding of the Gulf’s growing crop of
hardhead catfish. There were a few of
those tiny little gaftops as well that were gnawing on the shrimp. Waste of good bait. Among the toss-backs, I did catch one
ladyfish, one needle-nosed eel, and a small black drum. All exciting, had they been hooked by one of
my grandkids. The award for the best
fight of the day, though, has to go to the sting ray. First one of those I have ever caught in the
surf. Caught plenty in the Bay, just not
in the surf. He fought just like a red
fish, which was what confused me.
Usually they just head to the bottom and bury and refuse to come
up. This guy took off, though. Several times. And when
I got him close I had to figure out how to get to my hook without him
finding me with his barb. I managed to
get his tail in my dip net first, so his business end was incapacitated while I
took out the hook. Disaster averted on
both ends. He swam away happy. I had no barb wound.
But
I was trying for some food for my family.
That moment finally came when I hooked the first spec. And then the second. Ended up with five nice specs, two sand trout
and one whiting. I’ll take that for a
good fishing day.
Of
course I still had to get some work done.
I was worried that I would succumb to the evil exhaustion monster and
fall asleep, but a little prayer and the fact that I was working on church
stuff kept me awake to get a lot done.
And now it’s on to the grindstone once again. But before I do, let me offer one last … Than
you for the text, Bob. Keep ‘em coming.
2
Corinthians 4:5 says, “For we do not
preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for
Jesus' sake.”
Father,
thank you for Bob and his thoughtfulness to let me know beach conditions. I know he doesn’t have to take the time to do
it, so please give him a special blessing for that. Amen.
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