Fishing

As you probably know by now, I love to fish. It's one of my favorite hobbies. My family did a lot of fishing growing up, and we practically lived at Smith Mountain Lake during the summers! Bass, perch, crappie, and yes, even carp were fair game (although we never ate the carp -- not that there's anything wrong with that!). The opportunities to go fishing nowadays are few and far between. Dear friends of ours invite us occasionally to their family's cabin on Craig's Creek and I enjoy not only great fellowship, wading and playing with the kids in the creek, but a chance to wet a line and try for a few trout or bass! This past weekend, Wellspring had its annual Women's retreat at Camp Bethel. Camp Bethel boasts a number of spring-fed ponds always stocked with trout! Big trout! I caught one two years ago during our free time, that was literally the biggest fish I had ever caught! For a trout, it was a monster nearing two feet in length. Unfortunately, I was alone and could not hold both the fish and my camera to get a shot of it with me. This year, however, I came prepared! I had a camera AND a witness (not to mention a cooler!). Free time rolled around, and I headed for the pond. My friend Sara joined me after a while and was witness to my first catch -- a nice sized trout! I held him and asked Sara to get a picture of me and my prize. She obliged, but could not figure out how to turn the camera on. My hands, of course, were busy holding a very wiggly, strong fish, so I attempted to instruct her with words while pointing to various things on the camera with the fish's head! This of course got us giggling, and it's a wonder we didn't drop the camera and the fish in the water! After our amusing photo op, I threw the fish back in the water (dumb!) because I didn't have my cooler with me, and I thought it unlikely that I would catch another. But lo and behold, I caught another even bigger than the first, this time with my friend Suzanne with me who held onto the fish while I ran for the cooler (thanks, Suzanne!). This whopper was followed by two others, smaller but still very respectable! They all got put on ice and taken home. Dinner! David was a good sport when I got home Saturday, and promptly cleaned the fish for me. Let me tell you, the outsides of these beautiful trout are a lot prettier than the insides! But in order to enjoy our delicious catch, the insides needed to be cleaned out! Thanks, sweetie!

So why tell you all of this, except to brag about my superior fishing abilities and creative camera techniques? Well, I was thinking (dangerous). Our retreat this weekend was entitled, "What's going on upstairs? Building a godly thought life." The Bible says that "As a man thinks, so is he." Our outward appearance and works can be really good looking, even God-honoring. But the Bible reminds us that our true self is on the inside, and typically the toughest spiritual battles we face are the ones raging between our ears! It's easy to look really good on the outside, but what's going on upstairs? Are my thoughts being brought captive to Christ? Am I sinning in my thoughts towards others? Am I harboring unforgiveness, resentment, or guilt? Do I need to change the way I think about myself, about others, about my circumstances, about God? How can I clean out my mind, like David cleaned out those fish? Our speaker, Joyce Ames, said that we begin by "thinking about what we're thinking about." I need to go fishing, so to speak, in my own head. And when I "catch" something that's not biblical, I need to correct it -- with prayer, with confession, with right thinking that is in accordance with His Word! A good litmus test is Philippians 4:8. . .

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

When what's going on in our minds is biblical (never perfect, mind you, but striving for godliness), then we truly please the Lord. For outward "good" deeds done with wrong motives, or accompanied by ungodly thoughts, are really a lie. God looks at the heart. God doesn't just settle for the "catch." He wants our "insides" cleaned out! My outward self will pass away, and my insides, my soul, will stand before God in eternity. That's the real me. How I long for my mind to be cleaner than my best day of outward "goodness." So, I'm grabbin' my rod (of correction -- God's Word) and goin' fishin'! Join me?