Water Haul

On the farm in Shake Rag there were two ponds. The pond by the house was the bait pond. Daddy Freeman had rigged a giant dipping net on the end of about a 30 foot metal pipe. It pivoted on a post so that the weight was distributed and the net would not be so heavy, especially when it was wet. We would lower the net into the water, throw some corn bread out above the net and in just a minute or two could raise the net capturing plenty of minnows and goldfish for a day of fishing.
The other pond was further away from the house, out across the pasture. That’s where the big fish were. Mamma Bea liked to fish with the minnows, us big guys (all of eight years old) liked to fish with a rod and reel. It seemed the fish in this particular pond were fond of plastic purple worms. We would rig the hook so that the worm twirled in the water as it was reeled in. This seemed like a fair proposition for the fish. They could bite or not, then if hooked, fight ferociously to escape, and they often did. I still remember a perfect cast of my line, landing my purple worm less than a foot from the bank when WHAM. The worm was gone and my line came whizzing back past my ear. It was the one that got away. My nephew, at the ripe ol’ age of 4, would hook a five pound bass one day. His didn’t get away.

A not so fair proposition for the fish was when we seined. A seine is a long net that would stretch from one bank to the other. It had floats on the top and lead weights on the bottom. On either end would be a pole that was used to pull the net through the water. This was always an exciting time because it usually meant a fish fry was coming but better than that, I could get in the pond to help with the seine. I would follow along behind the seine and if it got hung on a snag, I would free the net. Catching a snag was never good because it might tear the net but it also gave the fish an opening to escape. It was great fun to finally pull the net up on the bank to see what the catch was like. You never knew because pulling the net through the water always made it feel full, even when it wasn’t. A good haul would include large bass and catfish. For us kids, a good haul included a turtle or two and a snake. We once caught a turtle that was so big it hissed at us while snapping at anything that moved. Every so often, the net would not be held to the bottom of the pond as it was pulled through and all that would be in the net were a few tiny brim and moss. If the seine was pulled through the pond without holding the seine down again, the same thing would happen. Daddy Freeman called it a “water haul”. No matter how many times or how hard everybody worked, if done the same way, there would only be a water haul.

The disciples knew about water hauls. John tells us in his gospel that the disciples had fished all night with nothing to show for it. A stranger on the shore tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. This must have given them pause. “The other side is the same as this side,” they must have thought. But there must have been something in the voice, something of the man’s silhouette that got their attention because they did it. These professionals tried something new, as insane as it must have seemed to them. They probably didn’t know our definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over all the while expecting different results. So they did it. They listened. They obeyed. WHAM! The catch was huge and they realized what maybe they suspected but were afraid to accept. It was the Lord.

Listening can be hard work. Sometimes harder still is obeying, especially when it requires something new of us. Even small changes in life can be too hard and sometimes seemingly silly. If we take stock though, and listen, maybe we realize that some changes are in order. Doing the same thing over and over, expecting something different, plodding along in our faith journey and all we have to show for it is a water haul. How about being more attentive, more intentional, more willing to venture out and do something new. Let’s listen to that voice that calls out and says, “Try the other side.” It might work. And, well, that voice just might be the Lord’s. If he appears to be a stranger to you, you definitely need to listen . . . and try something new.

Learning to Drive

Abigail is learning to drive. I’m learning patience.
Now that she has her permit she has staked a claim to the front left seat of the car – the driver’s side. You’d think the girl had just crossed hundreds of miles of treacherous terrain whilst fightin’ the savages in order to possess this small piece of real estate. She thinks she has some inalienable right to drive on every occasion. Last night it was time to leave church so she assumed the throne of teen independence and reached for the keys. I yielded knowing that to protest that it was dark and that I hadn’t brought the defibrillator wasn’t much of an excuse to not let her drive. So off we went. It is my habit to not speak too loudly about her driving but to offer quiet, assuring words of correction. There was that one time that “STOP!” was necessitated by circumstances that are better not spoken of … ever again. Anyway, I was offering a few suggestions when Zackary spoke up from the back seat and said matter-of-factly, “Abigail, objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” Now, Zackary could not see the mirror from his seat and it was dark. Apparently he had committed the words to memory, waiting on an appropriate time to offer his suggestion from his vast wealth of driving experience. Normally, that would have been enough to send Abigail clamoring over the seat to put Zackary in a hold that would make the World Wrestling Federation proud. However, she was concentrating on driving so she ignored him.

“Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” What was he thinking? No doubt he wanted to be helpful but what was Zackary offering? Maybe a warning as in, “Abigail, that Mack truck is really close.” Maybe it was a statement of fact as in, “Abigail, that’s a Mack truck, not a Tonka toy.”

Who knows? Jesus may have found the same words useful in his day. Actually, it seems he may have said something sort of similar. “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.” Or how about, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” If you are like me, I tend to think that the kingdom of God is a good ways out there. It is far enough for me to have time to get things right. We (I) talk like we believe the kingdom will one day come, but, come on, really? We’ve got time. Objects in mirror are cl…o…ser than … Oops! You don’t even have to read the fine print. It’s as plain as that Mack truck. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” The word means “at arm’s reach” or “it can be touched”. In other words, the kingdom is here! God’s kingdom, God’s reign, is now. We’re not waiting for it, we are living it. The question is, “How are we living it?” “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” we pray. How about we all climb down from our own throne of independence and let God . . . well, you know.

(Addendum: This story came to mind this week as Abigail, a year later, had her first major wreck. I say first because I anticipate more. My car might be totaled. The important thing though is that she was perfectly fine afterward except for a bit of the jitters. That object in the mirror was really, really close!)