When the Fish ain’t Bitin

Four or five times in my life I have made a long trek up to central Ontario to go fishing for Northern Pike (and walleye and brook and lake trout).  This is an annual trip organized by my good friend, Chuck.  Chuck and I met in Bible study in the early 1980’s and have remained friends ever since.

This is a great trip with Christian guys.  It involves about 2800 miles of road travel, and several miles of boat travel.  The scenery is awesome, the food is great, the fellowship is hearty, and the laughter is abundant. 

Typically the fishing is terrific also, but NOT this time.

In fact, this was easily the worst fishing anyone, including Chuck, could recall- ever!

So what do you do when the fishing is bad?

You keep fishing.  You try different approaches- different baits, different depth, different spot, and different times of day.  But you persist.  Things will NOT change by quitting.

And so we did.  Though enthusiasm definitely flagged by the end of the week, most of us kept plugging away.

Not sure why we were persistent in fishing, but not so much other things- things much more important than fishing.  I suspect that part of the reason we persisted, was the persistence of the others around us.

Which brings me to the point:  G^d put us in the CHURCH for a reason.  We ought to encourage one another to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24-25) – and just keep on fishing.