Dear Grace
Family,
I remember fishing at the old farm pond with my Daddy. I was about 5 and I followed him in the way
he fished or walked or even the way he yawned.
I tried to imitate everything he did.
When we were out in that little boat at the farm that day, I caught one
that bent that old cane pole almost to the water. This fish was so big I knew I wasn’t going to
pull it in. I had to have help! My daddy came up behind me, wrapped his arms
around me from behind and got a grip on the pole! While I nearly hyperventilated from
excitement my daddy and Uncle Dan pulled in the biggest fish to ever come out
of that scum covered pond! It had to be
at least a 20 pounder! Only this fish
wasn’t a fish...it was an old Maxwell House coffee can full of concrete with a
rope attached to it. The other end of the rope was attached to the boat. I had caught a big one! A great big concrete boat anchor! My dad showed me the boat anchor, wrapped his
arms around me and threw it back in the pond.
In Matthew 4, Jesus calls out to Peter, a fisherman, and says, “Follow
me and I will make you a fisher of men.” Later, in John 21, Peter gets his eyes off of
following Jesus and becomes more concerned about other lesser things in
life. Jesus’ response is firm. Basically he tells Peter to quit worrying
about those other things, you follow me! Life is full of exciting distractions that
can seem important at the time but are really just concrete boat anchors. The anchors drag you down and turn an
otherwise great day into anxious discouragement. The anchors can turn a joyful life of
“fishing for men” and leave you wondering what happened to your well planned
life! What do you do then? God gives us at least two answers… first, he
reminds us to follow. Just follow… follow
Jesus Christ. Fix your eyes on
Jesus and follow him. Second, as we will
see from Romans 8 on Sunday morning, God has given us the Holy Spirit who remains
with us to help us to follow.
Sometimes what we spend our time on isn’t an exciting big fish at
all but just a heavy, worthless anchor.
Follow Christ and he will show you the difference. Life is so very, very short. By God’s grace, follow Jesus Christ and love
well.
Harrison Spitler, Pastor
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