As a young boy I always loved to fish. While I always enjoyed fishing, I had yet to be "hooked". One day while at our own pond.......a behemoth catfish broke my twenty pound test line! I had fought him up to the bank where he snapped the line right before my eyes! A couple weeks later my neighbor landed that six pound Catfish. It may have only been six pounds, but it was a whale to me!
After hearing about the Catfish experience a man in our church told me how to fish for Largemouth Bass. With new tackle employed, my friend and I went down to the creek. I approached a small log with water swirling around it and tossed my "Texas Rig" beside it. Before I even engaged the reel, my plastic worm vanished in a silvery flash while my rod was nearly jerked from my hands! That first Bass changed my life. Now I was officially "hooked"! From that day forward every time I saw murky water, I saw endless possibilities and potential. There was simply no end to the wonder and excitement I felt with each cast of the line! It was like a lump of adrenaline contained inside my chest that could burst at any moment...or just leak tiny shots of excitement every few minutes.
My two boys are just getting to the age where they are able to experience those same exciting feelings of heightened expectancy! I love to see their faces light up when they feel the tug of a fighting fish. There is something about experiencing something firsthand that separates it from just knowing it exists. My wife has always enjoyed fishing but hasn't been for a long time. Recently she took the kids to the pond and just happened to hook a Crappie barely bigger than a peppermint patty. The excitement she had couldn't be contained!
We all have a tendency to become overworked and complacent to passions we once had, but thank God for reminders! I am glad that God never loses his excitement for His children! Luke 15:10 says: "In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of angels of God over one sinner who repents". It is my belief that God is in heaven with a huge ball of adrenaline in His chest. He is throwing hints at each one of us waiting for us to catch hold of His vision for our lives. He wants an explosion of excitement so He can show up and supernaturally make the way for us. His blessings are already there but it is up to us to grab the string and rip the sack open! "Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19) Oh Lord, help me to see myself and my possibilities through Your eyes and not my own!
