Fishing & Walking on Water

[Brad Fox]

There is one thing everyone who fishes knows:  you catch fish on their terms, not yours!  If the fish are eating at 5:00 a.m. and you roll out of bed and head for the lake at the crack of 11:00 a.m., guess who is catching zero fish?  If the fish are all on the south side of the lake but you insist on fishing on the north side-again, guess who is going home with zero fish?

Jesus said, "Come follow me and I'll make you fishers of men."  This is a big challenge for much of the church.  Why?  Because we value our traditions so much, we confuse change with compromise.  "We can't go to the other side of the lake," we think, "we've always fished on this side."  We rationalize, saying, "this is where grandma's house is; we've always fished under that big oak tree, sitting on an old stump."  But now, for whatever reason, all the fish have moved to the north end of the lake. 

What do we do now?  Do we stand on the shore and curse the fish?  "You damn fish!  How dare you become postmodern, post-Christian, sexually confused and tolerant fish?" 

While that's tempting, there is a better way.  Go to granny's garage, get the canoe down from the rafter, hose it off, find the paddles, and go to where the fish are-meeting them on their terms.

This is not easy.  We will fail a lot!  We will even inadvertently compromise or offend people.  If we commit to diversity and difference, there is no risk-free ground to stand on.  "This time we'll have to follow Jesus and walk on water."

The Outsiders pp. 114-115