Tired of waiting on them to show up? Let's go
11/4/2011
The early morning sunrise reflected reds and purples on the glassy surface of the lake, crisp fall air surrounding the empty dock.
“Jack, give me your line and I’ll get it ready for you.”
“Can’t I do it, Pop? I think I can.”
“You’re only five, Jack – a little young to do a sharp hook. But you can put on the weight and one of these corks,” Pop said, pointing into the old tackle box that his Dad had given to him for his tenth birthday. In a few minutes they had one line in the water with a red wiggler worm, and the other with a minnow that was making the little cork jiggle.
After a biscuit, some coffee and juice, a few cookies and a Kit-Kat bar, thirty minutes passed. A couple of bass boats had been launched nearby, and Jack had thrown close to a hundred rocks into the lake beside the boat ramps.
“Come on back over here now Jack,” Pop said, “We’ll try to fish at a different depth. One of these bigger worms with some more weight might put him right on the bottom of the lake. Maybe a big catfish will be down there.”
Jack looked up at Pop with the face of a disappointed, five year old and said, “I’m really tired of waiting on the fish Pop. Can we go now? The fish just aren’t coming here today. Do we have to wait longer? Let’s go up the street to the playground!”
Pop was sadly disappointed. I want my grandson to love fishing. And now he wants to leave. My buddies and I caught stringers of fish here thirty years ago.
At that moment a boat with a dad and his young daughter pulled up at the other end of the dock. Jack ran down to greet them.
“Hi! Did you guys catch any fish?”
The girl smiled at Jack, “Come over to the boat and see. We’ve got a live well full of fish!” What Jack saw when he stepped into the boat left him amazed.
“How did you catch all these fish?”
“We went out to where they were.”
Jack jumped out of the boat, “Wow! I got to go tell Pop!”
Pop had all the gear together when he saw Jack running toward him, “Did you like that boat, Jack?”
“Sure, Pop! They have tons of fish in the boat. They told me they caught them because they went out to where the fish were. They were so big, Pop! Can we go find them next time ,Pop? Then we could catch them!”
A few questions to prayerfully consider and discuss together:
1) If our church is in decline, are we tired of waiting on new people to walk in?
2) When Jesus said, “Go into all the world and make disciples,” does that mean we are to actually go beyond the walls and initiate new relationships?
3) Should we seriously consider receiving training on how we can “go to where the fish are” rather than sitting on the dock, increasing discouragement?
Are you and others in your church ready to go? Let me know!
Rev. Jim W. Hollis is a General Evangelist, the founder and Executive Director of Proactive Ministries – a long term, teaching and consulting ministry with churches and Districts across America. You may reach him at pem1jwh@gmail.com or on Facebook.