Don't forget to tell mom you are going fishing

Good morning,
I pray the day is finding you well.

It is early Monday morning, and I am sitting in my living room listening to the ripple of the river, the squirrels haven't started their morning ritual yet of chasing each other through the branches of the trees that line the river. The birds are still asleep. The world hasn't woken up yet.

Last night Laurie and I stayed up late to watch a meteor shower. We laid in the hammock, staring at the sky. We watched as satellites raced across the heavens; we failed to see the huge show however, and only saw a few bright lights racing across the sky.

When I was a kid, back on the farm, I used to watch the sky all the time. Back then there wasn't much ambient light to get in the way and the stars were huge. There were not satellites when I was a kid; well, there were satellites but not very many of them. I cannot remember seeing any.

The night sky has always been a place of wonderment for me. I can stare at the stars for a very long time. When I look at the night sky, I cannot help but feel the grandeur of God. I cannot help but wonder what He must have been thinking when He breathed life into the universe.

One day, Bob, one of my friends wanted to go fishing at one of the ponds that were only a few miles from town. I thought it would be fun, we made plans to go fishing and spend the night at the pond. As we were making the final preparations my dad shows up and asks us what we are doing. We told him. He thought it would be fun, so we asked him if he wanted to go along. He said, "Yes."

So we left.

We fished all night. Well, fishing is a very loose term; I think you actually have to do two things that constitute fishing: one, put a hook on your line, and two use bait.

Dad really wasn't much of a fisherman. He thought that actually catching a fish ruined the whole experience of fishing.

I guess it would be more accurate to say we almost fished all night since we never actually put lines in the water. We had conversations, we watched the night sky; mostly we sat silently together. One of dad's favorite sayings was, "You don't learn anything when your mouth is open."

The next morning we went home.

When we got to the house we discovered that we had forgotten one small detail in our preparations for the fishing trip; we forgot to tell mom where we were going. I tried to pull the old, "I was with dad." excuse. Dad tried to pull the old, "I thought Roger told you?" excuse. Neither worked.

We were in trouble an we knew it.

We apologized profusely.

The chore list went way up that day.

Sitting in church yesterday there was a teaching on "The Good Shepherd." Afterward someone talked about how they were a lost sheep and someone from the church had reached out to him and he was so grateful that he had been found.

Mom, wasn't so mad at us as she was scared. She was afraid something had happened and we were gone. She had looked for us all night.

At the end of the day, it is good to know that someone is looking for you even when you are not looking for Him.

I saw a cartoon on facebook that went like this.

Christ is talking to someone and says, "You see the footprints in the sand."

The person says, "Yes."

Christ says, "You see where there is only one set of footprints, that is where I carried you; the skid marks are where I dragged you for a while."

As I look back on our "fishing adventure" I am glad that mom was upset that we were gone; that only means that we were missed.

I know that the Good Shepherd is continually looking for His lost sheep, He will not rest until He finds all of them and brings them safely home.

I want to help Him find his sheep.

Will you help Him too?

Blessings,