Life of David The Redfish Have you ever considered giving God your day to see how He might use it? So many times the Lord has placed such a blessing on my family that I could never have arranged. I used to ask God each morning what I could do for Him and it was a great learning experience. Lately I have simply been thanking Him for the day He has given me and each morning I would give it back to Him and allow Him to plan the day for me. This particular morning I did the same thing. Vicky and I woke up much later than normal. She stayed in bed while I snuck out to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. After reading a few lines of scripture I began to pray about my day. Giving it back to God, a strong understanding inside me was leading me to go fishing… that we might call Vicky’s dad to see if he would take us. Later, as Vicky was pouring her coffee, she asked me, “What does God have planned for us today David? Have you found out yet?” “Well, I think He wants us to go fishing.” “Yea, right. I think maybe you want to go fishing,” was her reply as she laughed at me. “No… I really believe that’s what we’re supposed to do. Maybe your dad can take us,” I answered. Vicky looked at me with great doubt and said, “David… I think we need to pray again.” So we joined hands and began to pray. I asked God to confirm the fishing trip in Vicky’s heart if it was so and then I understood the trip was for Vicky. After about five minutes she looked at me with unbelief and I asked her, “Well, what did you get from God?” She said, “It’s hard to believe… but I think we’re supposed to go fishing.” It isn’t as though she wouldn’t want to go. God blessed me with a woman who loves to fish more than I do. Most people don’t realize that the Lord cares a great deal about our happiness and our joy. We’ve been learning that only when we are obedient to our Father… do we experience the fullness of joy. We have prayed for God to arrange fishing trips for us in the past and this is about the fourth one He has set up for us. It isn’t that we don’t expect Him to answer… it’s just that we don’t expect Him to set up a whole day for our leisure. Somehow it seems that there surely must be something more important that God would have us do. Vicky called her dad and he said he would be glad to take us fishing. Mr. Harris said to be at his house around three and the plans were set. I began to rig the rod and reels for large redfish. We both had tags we had not yet used for one red apiece over 28 inches, and they might take a lot of line. We stopped and bought a few lead weights on the way and then drove to Texas City. When we arrived at the Harris home the boat was already hooked up to the truck and Vicky’s brother, Bubba, was standing beside the boat ready to go. Mr. Harris came out the front door as we were packing our rods in the boat. Then we were on our way. The wind in her face and the spray of the saltwater did Vicky a whole lot of good. It had been quite a while since her last fishing trip and she loves being on the water. Today would certainly be a special day for her. Once we anchored, everyone baited their lines with live shrimp and cast toward the rocks at the jetties. We only bought a quart of live shrimp since it was late in the day and the smaller fish were taking the bait pretty quickly. I caught a small skip jack and decided to use it for cut bait to help conserve on the live shrimp until the reds moved in. After a few doubters comments from the others about my use of cut bait instead of live shrimp… I made a cast toward the rocks. Within two minutes I was battling a nice redfish. It was my battle alright. I’m not sure if the fish knew it was hooked, but I sure did. Vicky was very excited for me until I tried to hand her my rod. She quickly said, “No… I’ll catch my own fish, thank you very much,” acting as though she could hold her own and take care of herself. After about thirty five minutes Bubba netted my redfish and then we measured it. It was forty two inches long. Quite a fish, but both sides of the fish were trying to heal from what appeared to be a recent shark attack. I lifted the fish in both hands for a picture and then released it back into the salty water. Then I baited my hook again as I thanked God quietly under my breath. I thanked Him for the fish and reminded Him that the trip was supposed to be for Vicky. After casting once again, I sat beside Vicky and gently told her that I wanted her to have a good time and if I hooked another fish, she could fight it. She didn’t budge. She just said, “Thank you, but I like to catch my own fish.” As I reached to get a soda water from the ice chest, Vicky let out a scream. She looked like she was hanging on with everything she had and her rod was bent over double. She was screaming with excitement… and she just kept on screaming. Mr. Harris, Bubba and I couldn’t keep from laughing. Vicky was having a ball. The fish was taking line and you wouldn’t dare set the drag any tighter or the line might break. “He’s bigger than that forty two incher you just threw back,” Vicky was screaming… but we just laughed. She kept hoisting and reeling and screaming, hoisting and reeling and screaming until, about twenty five minutes later her redfish surfaced and came halfway out of the water. It looked like Moby Dick. As she hoisted the fish closer to the boat, Bubba netted it and then I helped him bring the fish into the boat to insure that the net wouldn’t break. My gosh… it was big. Vicky was still screaming and jumping around in the boat and Mr. Harris was still laughing too hard to quit. I tagged the redfish with Vicky’s allotted tag for larger reds and then Bubba helped with the measuring. Forty five inches long and bigger around than any red I had ever seen. And Vicky could still be heard. And you know something else. We often try to help God… but He didn’t need my help at all to get that huge fish on the other end of Vicky’s line. He just needed me to help get her there. So I encourage you to be sensitive to the Lord about your day off. Allow the faithfulness of God to plan your day for you or someone special that you love. His plans are much bigger and much more fun than ours. You won’t regret it. God makes everything special.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 13:32:45 +0000
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