Annual Trout Farm Expedition

Thursday, July 19th was the day of our annual visit to a local trout farm to catch a fish or two. I am very thankful that my young niece, Ms. Natalie, asks me each year to take her fishing for her birthday.

You see, if she did not ask me to go fishing, I would never go.

There was a time when fishing was a huge part of my life. I based my decisions around what time of year it was and whether rains had come or not - which meant what type of fish I would be fishing for and where. That was before I was saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8). Back then my eyes were set solely on the things of this world.

But God has chosen to open my eyes. Although I was blind, He has given me sight. Thus when a dear brother asked me to go fishing recently, I apologetically replied that I do not have the time. I am about Another's business now. And though I am a pitiful, unprofitable, and weak servant, the heart that God has given me desires to love Him and serve Him with all that He has given me.

But there is something special in the request of a child. I'm not sure exactly what it is. Something that draws us out of ourselves and what we think we have to do. Jesus had time for children (Mt. 19:13-15), blessing them and praying for them.

All too often I get caught up in the solemn responsibility that God has given me. I feel the burden of it but I miss the joy of it. As a dear brother of mine says, "I don't have to preach, I get to preach!" Service is a gracious gift to us from God Himself and is not meant to be a burden (Eph. 2:10). The burden that Pilgrim carried was not his love unto his Lord, it was his sin (this burden he placed at the foot of the cross of Christ to carry no more). And likewise, Horatius Bonar has well written that the strength for service is not found in solemnity or even Godly sorrow, though they be necessary for a time, but in the joy of the Lord. So, the strength for and the result of service ought to be joy.

The above picture says it all. Let me explain. Inside the Snoopy tackle box there are pliers. Grace has watched me use them several times to remove the hooks from the fishes' mouths. Happily she desires to help her daddy and joyfully went to get the tackle box and bring it to me without being asked to do so. There was joy in her work and joy in the result (affirmation from her mommy and daddy).

Jesus tells us that we are to seek first the Father's kingdom and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33). It will be difficult. There will be persecution from family, friends, the world, and the devil for doing so. There will be suffering - spiritual, emotional, and/or physical. But these light afflictions compare as nothing to what is set before us - being with the Lord Jesus, in His presence, for all of eternity. Therefore, let me encourage you in whatever struggle or trial you may be facing, if you have been joined to Christ, let Him and His joy be your strength always.