Don’t live in fear, you might miss your fish!


When my husband and I were on vacation in 1999, he wanted to go deep sea fishing. He did not want to go on one of those boats where everyone is lined up along the sides of the boat fishing. No, he wanted his own boat. I preferred laying on the beach reading a book but he kinda wanted me to go so I would not miss anything and I kinda did not want to go. However, being the nice wife I am, I agreed. We had to get up really early and be at the docks by daylight. David is a lot of fun especially on vacation, he makes sure everyone with him is having a good time. He goes into activity director mode. I love this about him! He had it all planned out, he made sure I was up, dressed and ready on time. He even had my coffee poured and two Dramamine beside my cup. Let me just stop to say, I have been sea sick in the gulf, and it will ruin your day and maybe everyone else’s, however, we were not in the gulf and I had been out before in the same waters without any sickness. He was providing what he thought would make for a better day. Fear comes in many ways, trembling fear, fear of failure, fear for others, fear of things not going your way, fear of being under or overdressed for an event, fear of (sea) sickness. So without thinking I just took them and so did he. I cannot squeeze in all the details of this story as it would be to much for you to read, some of you have heard it before and are probably laughing already. But let me just say, this is a funny funny story. To this day I love to hear him tell it! I truly wish I could get all the details in. They start about 30 minutes after the pills hit our stomachs. The drive was the worst. I am so thankful we made it to the docks at all. Let me just say we stepped on the boat and stepped off eight hours later and it all seem to happen in a few short minutes . We had a very expensive nap on the ocean that day. ( the crew still wanted a tip!)
We cannot go through life fearing the unknown. I am guilty of this but with age and using my faith I am way better than I use to be. Our pastor said , this past Sunday; you may not think you can, but God knows you are fully capable. Fear holds us back from enjoying life to the fullest, taking chances that could lead to sheer joy, helping others and accomplishing the unthinkable, all in the name of Christ.
We have all heard about Jesus walking on the water. Peter had no fear and stepped out of his comfort zone to do the same because Jesus called to him at Peter’s request. There is something that we all would like to do, but are afraid for many different reasons. If we would just ask Christ to “call us out” and not let fear block our faith. Peter did just that, he looked around at what the world was doing around him and lost his faith due to fear and began to sink, Jesus did not let that stop him from coming to him. He just reached down and took his hand. I think Peter missed his fish! Either way God proves He is worthy of being trusted and not living in fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
I would not change a thing about our boat trip, David might say different, but I love the story. I think it made way more of a fun memory than catching a fish! I’ll just bet Peter felt the same way, he did learn that Christ is there through failure and success.
Don’t be asleep from fear and miss your fish today!

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