My Dad was the best fisherman I ever knew. He could catch
fish when no one else could, and I saw him do it several times. One of His
favorite places to fish was at the bottom of the spillway at Clearwater Lake.
There was a retaining wall that curved away from the spillway and made it
impossible to get close to the water as it cascaded in a waterfall through the
spillway. But if the angler was strong enough and clever enough there was a
sweet spot where the biggest fish gathered at the bottom of the waterfall.
Dad figured out that the right amount of weight on the line
would allow him to cast his hook the right distance to hit the sweet spot.
Another problem was the large rocks on the bottom of the river that would catch
the weights and cause you to lose your line, along with the fish.
One day he just started catching fish. People saw him
catching fish and assumed the key was where he was standing. As people began to
gather around Dad He would gather up his gear and walk around the spillway to
the other side of the river. The people he left were still not catching fish.
But they soon noticed that Dad, on the other side, was catching fish there too.
Some decided that it was the fisherman, not the location, and moved on. Others
tried to get Dad to tell them his secret. He told them it was the weights. But
when they tried to add more weight they just lost their line and got mad at Dad.
It was the weights. It was also a little trick he left out
when he talked about it. The reason he left that out was because it cost him a
lot of hooks, line, and sinkers to find out how to catch those fish. If you
wanted to know what he knew you would have to find out the same way he did. He
would point any fisherman who wanted to know in the right direction. The rest
would be up to you.
I saw a poster once that said, “If fishing was easy it would
be called Catching.” A father can teach a child to fish but the child will not
learn unless the father turns over the pole and allows him to learn the rest
for himself. Father’s Day is a reminder of the direction, wisdom, and guidance
our fathers give us.
Jesus called us to be fishers of men. (Matthew 4:19) If we
follow Jesus then we will learn how to point people in His direction. The rest
is up to them. We do the fishing and He does the catching, and the cleaning.
Happy Father’s Day
Bro. Robin
