Sand Mountain Sermonette 21
Mark 1:16, Luke 19:10
Sand Mountain Sermonette 21
Gone Fishing!
My hometown of Albertville, Alabama, rests atop what is known as “Sand Mountain.” If you travel about ten miles north on Highway 431, you will come to Guntersville, Alabama, which features some of the best fishing in the state. Now, I’m really a city boy when it comes down to it, but I can tell you this, I loved to fish when I was a youngster and most of the time I fished with my Papaw Mabrey on some select spot on the Guntersville River if not at the pond which was located at my grandfather’s brother-in-law’s house a few miles out of town.
Having said this, I want to tell you of my first time to use a rod and reel. Some friends of my grandparents had invited them to use their boathouse any time they wanted so my Papaw and Mamaw Mabrey invited my family to join them one Summer afternoon for food and fishing down on the river. When we arrived my mom and grandmother began to prepare the means to a delicious river meal comprised of catfish, hush puppies and coleslaw.
In the meantime, dad and his dad proceeded to bait a rod and reel for me and then place near the end of the little dock beside the boat house for a time of fishing. Well, they backed up a several feet and begin to talk, but it wasn’t long until I the bobber bobbed up and down and I began to pull up on my fishing pole with all my might and lo and behold, something round came up out of the water and its momentum swung me around so this most amazing catch landed on the dock behind me! Then it began to move towards me—a snapping turtle! I couldn’t go forward or around it, and if it came any closer, I would find myself falling off the dock and into the river only a few feet away. So, I yelled for my dad and grandad, and they came and rescued me from the turtle. But after this, and to my dad’s surprise, I asked if I could take my “pet” turtle home to which he lovingly warned me it would never work, but who gave in to my longing to have this turtle anyway. So, we ate our supper and went home with my turtle in a box, but the next morning as you would have guessed it, the box was tipped over on its side and my turtle was long gone.
Do you have a favorite fishing experience? Mark 1:16 tells us that as Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel l He saw Simon Peter and his brother Andrew casting a net in the sea for they were fishermen. The next verse reads, “And Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” That is Jesus’ heart and that is Jesus’ calling on our lives as His followers, “to become fishers of men” for Jesus said that He had come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
To be a fisher of men is what interests God and that is what Jesus want’s His followers to be interested in. That day on the dock at the Guntersville River I learned that not only was fishing a big deal, so was the catch! Perhaps you have been praying for a loved one to come to Christ for a long time; do not give up! Like a good fisherman (as my grandfather was), be positive, be persistent, be patient, and be passionate for the souls of men, just like Jesus!
Pastor Louie