Musings at Altitude

When we were up in Alaska last weekend, on the second day of fishing one of our team members and one of our guides caucused together and decided that we wouldn’t pack a lunch, but instead catch a fish and cook it on the river banks.  That seemed like a pretty safe thing to do with our success the day before, but it certainly didn’t find favor with the owner of the lodge and the guy ultimately responsible for showing us a good time in the village and on the river.  He never went out without lunch, just in case the fish weren’t there.  But since the two “lunch planners” were so excited about the feast they would prepare on the river banks, he went along with it, although reluctantly.

So we struck out from the lodge that Saturday morning and went upriver, and fished for a while at the first site we came to.  That site had been fairly successful the day before, giving us 11 sheefish, and giving us quite a few smiles.  Here’s one of them:

But on this particular Saturday, we got skunked by the sheefish.  It was quite a bit warmer than the day before, and all kinds of theories were thrown around.  For one, the fish may have moved out into the middle of the river where it was cooler and we couldn’t reach them from the bank.  Or another, the fish may have now moved further upriver, and we had caught the tail end of the wave the day before.  Or maybe, just maybe, they just weren’t hitting the lures that morning!

So after fishing for a while with no success, we secured our lines and headed upriver, and instead of fishing off the bank this time, we put a few people on each of two boats and got out to the middle of the river to take our chances there.  All of us knew it would take about two hours to cook the fish once we actually caught one.  But we had to worry about catching one first…no need to worry about cooking time if we had nothing to cook!

As it approached noon, and after we had no better luck in the new location, our guide and fishing guru of that river told me to give him my lure.  He swapped mine out to a heavier and greener “crocodile”, and he told me, “Cast it right there.”  He pointed to the exact spot he wanted me to hit.  I looked at him with suspicion, having an entire morning of unsuccessful casts to convince me that the fish just weren’t there on that day.  But because I had seen him do near miraculous things on previous trips up that river, I quickly turned and obeyed his command.  I got pretty close to where he was pointing, and within seconds I felt the hit of a sheefish.  I looked at him and smiled, and then “set that hook” so we’d have lunch to eat!  About a minute later, we had a 15 pound sheefish in the net, and soon thereafter, we headed in to the shore to start the two hour cooking cycle.

My skeptical obedience was rewarded with an awesome lunch two hours later:

Since last weekend, I’ve relived those moments many times to folks all across this country.  I’m still amazed that after fishing for so long with absolutely no reward, the one and only time “the master” took charge and specifically directed our activities, the entire team was fed.

So today at church, our Pastor preached from Luke 5, with a timely focus on verses 4-7:

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.  But because you say so, I will let down my nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Our pastor talked about Simon’s skeptical obedience.  In those waters, at that time of day, fisherman typically rested and ate.  After a long night of hard work, they were tired and probably very hungry, and yet Simon did exactly what the Master commanded.  And because of that obedience, they were rewarded with a great catch.

In both cases, skeptical obedience was rewarded with a great catch.  Mine occurred upriver from the tiny village of Kiana, Alaska.  Simon’s occurred in the Sea of Galilee.  Mine occurred when I listened and obeyed a man who knew the river, knew the fish, and knew our anxiety to turn from just fishing to somehow catching some lunch.  Simon’s occurred when he listened and obeyed a man who knew his heart, who knew this world, and knew the exact miracle that was needed to turn Simon from a fisherman to a catcher of men for the Master.

That section of scripture ends at Luke 5:10-11 —

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”

So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

I shouldn’t be amazed anymore when something that happens in my life is then reinforced with a lesson learned in a very spiritual way.  It’s certainly not coincidence.

In this case, that lesson was obedience.