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Complain Or Fish ? A game warden on Lake Shelbyville noticed that a certain fellow named Sam consistently caught more fish than anyone else. The other fishermen on the lake would only catch three or four a day, but every day Sam would come in off the lake with his full limit and they’d be big ones.
Depending on the season, Sam would come in with stringers filled with crappie, bass, or catfish. The warden became so curious he finally asked Sam his secret. Beaming with pride, the successful fisherman invited the game warden to accompany him and observe. So, the following morning the two met at the dock and took off in Sam’s old Johnboat. When they reached a likely looking spot, Sam stopped the boat and the warden began to get comfortable so he could watch a master fisherman work his magic. Sam's approach was simple. He took out a stick of dynamite, lit it, and stuck it in a jar which had been sufficiently weighted to insure is sank quickly. Then, after quickly capping the jar he threw it in the water. With all the force of a small depth-charge the resulting explosion rocked the lake. Moments later stunned fish started floating to the surface. Sam grabbed his dip net and started scooping up the larger fish before they revived. Well, you can imagine the reaction of the warden. When he recovered from the shock of it all, he began yelling at Sam. "I can’t believe you did that !! And, I can’t believe you did it right in front of me !! You can't this! Sam, I’m goin’a put you in jail and when you get out, you probably won’t live long enough to pay off all the fines. Meanwhile, Sam set his net down and took out another stick of dynamite. He lit it, stuffed it in a jar and tossed it in the lap of the game warden with these words, "Are you gun’a just sit there all day complaining, or are you gun’a fish?" Seems to me we have two similar options as Christians -- we can spend our time complaining or we can “fish.” You will recall that Jesus used the concept of fishing to describe the work of evangelism ("Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." -- Matthew 4:19 ) The method we use does not involve throwing sticks of dynamite, but it does involve the word from which dynamite comes to us -- "dunamis," the Greek word for "power." "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." ( Romans 1:16 ) I've known some folks in the church who use the "dunamis" of the gospel to fish for souls, and I've known other folks content to do nothing but sit back and complain about what everybody else is or isn't doing. It's your choice -- Are you going to complain or are you going to fish? |
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