Fishing

Some 17 years ago my father took me and my brother-in-law on a fishing trip to Sitka Alaska.  Except for some Colorado skiing, our family wasn’t outdoorsy, but my dad’s cousin has a charter boat there (www.sitkasecret.com) so we had some sense of security to go along with the adventure.  Except for getting sea sick my first day out on the water, my memories are fond as we caught fish and saw sights that just aren’t available in the burbs. 

A lot has changed in the last 17 years with kids and career, and in that time we had frequently talked about getting back Alaska to fish again.  This past week it finally made it happen, this time with my father and my son.  The timing seemed right as we anticipate Riker getting busy as he’ll be starting high school and summer football practice starting in a week.  Dad will turn 78 this summer and remains active and in good health, but as they say, none of us are getting any younger. 

The trip was great.  Sitka was largely how I remembered it.  The weather was decent and none of us got seasick!  There have been overall declines in the fish population resulting in tighter restrictions, but our 3 days on the boat still resulted in us catching our limit and ample quantity of salmon, halibut and rock fish.  With the catching, there was also “the waiting”…  On the last afternoon we had about a 3 ½ hour drought between fish.  You never know when fish will bite so you have to be diligent in watching for that certain jiggle in tip of the rod, and when it does, you have to act to be sure to set the hook.  The analogy was obvious, you never know when an opportunity might come and you do need to be intentional with what you’re looking for, where you’re likely to find it and what will raise the odds of attraction.  Even with all the right planning, you still have to stay diligent, expectant and hopeful.  What am I “fishing for”?  Am I doing my part or am I just feeling sorry for myself that fish haven’t just jumped into my boat?

The trip also brought a number of whale sightings, some at a distance and one that surfaced only 50 or so yards from the boat.  I was reminded of Jonah.  Of course we all know the childhood story where Jonah spends 3 days in the belly of a whale, but I really enjoyed reading the 4 short chapters of Jonah as am adult.  (I like the New Living Translation, a straight forward translation without the “thee’s and thou’s”.)  Jonah is a fascinating story.  First that God wanted Jonah to do something. God is God and can do anything, but somehow interacts with humanity where we play a role.  For whatever reasons, Jonah runs… he seeks to escape his calling, role and responsibility.  What’s great about the story is that God goes fishing… God pursues Jonah, He brings storms and involves others in his life that eventually lead Jonah to understand the err of his way.  He ultimately cries out to God.  That’s where we read the wonderful words that “The Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah.”  Following, Jonah does fulfill God’s will for him, but has his own expectations about the outcome and ends up pouting that God’s did something different.  I thought the great fish was the miracle, but was pleasantly surprised to see that the later chapters included two other references to “the Lord arranging” other things to gain Jonah’s understanding and relationship. 

Wow, the Lord fishing for us, arranging things for our understanding, relationship and role in this world.