This week’s note from Rev. Bill

TASTES A BIT LIKE…PORK?

               A few weeks ago one of our new people at the church invited me to go out fishing. As you know, this is a burden that I am willing to bear as a pastor – it’s tough, but my love for you keeps me going in situations like this!

               We got up EARLY in the morning and headed out on his boat to the Gulf. It was a beautiful morning – warm breezes, glowing skyline, the birds just starting to wake up. We stopped on the inlet and caught a dozen or so ladyfish to use as bait, and then headed out to the main fishing grounds. 

 He said that this was a good place to catch sharks, so we baited up the hooks, and waited. 

               And waited.

               And waited. 

               And evidently nobody had informed the sharks. So we pulled up and went to another area, to see if there were any there. 

               There weren’t. It appeared that all of the sharks (and the other fish, other than the ladyfish) had been invited away to someplace else and had not bothered to inform us. 

               So we slowly headed back to our original spot, where he swore that he always caught stuff. 

               Now, I had no reason to disbelieve him. I have done a bit of fishing myself, and I know that sometimes the fish just don’t want to bite. It never crossed my mind that he would be trying to deliberately deceive me, taking me out to a place where he knew we would have zero chance of success that day. 

               I trusted him. So we stayed. We re-baited the hooks, set everything up, and waited. 

               And then one of the poles doubled over – we had a shark! A good, 3-foot hammerhead!

And then another one – a sand shark this time!

And finally, we hooked onto a blacktip – which evidently are very good eating! We released the others but kept that one, and I cooked it up. It tastes, amazingly enough, like pork! (Not what I was expecting – usually everyone says something “tastes like chicken”. Not shark! And yes, we only ate 6 ounces and froze the rest, to be safe about mercury levels!)

              Sometimes ministry to me is like catching sharks – I have never doubted that God has sent me some place for a reason. There are times when it appears that nothing is happening, but I trust that God is not trying to waste my time. God wants for me to succeed, because I want to lead people to Jesus!

               So I faithfully do what I am told to do. I set things up. I prepare. And I wait. 

               Sometimes fishing is good, and there is immediate gratification. Last week I went out and caught 15 fish in one evening – 2 on my first 3 casts! Other times I wait for hours and wonder if anything’s happening. 

               But God is a good guide. God wants for me to succeed. And God wants for you to succeed, too. 

               When you feel as if nothing is happening, that’s okay. Enjoy the sunrise. Feel the breeze. Take time to breathe and relax, and know that God has a plan. 

               It may not be in your timing, but it will happen. And when it does, hold on! Because sharks can PULL!!!

• Rev. Bill