Getting The Big One Into The Boat

The question could be asked, "What did you do to get that nice sized flat one into your boat?" One could go off about ones fishing skills and time on the water, but it would be nice to deal with the truth and a little bit of reality.  

The truth is that to accomplish what this picture shows is a little bit more than what I did. It involved Tim at Dana Point Jet Ski who help me get into this Hobie Yak which I move about using my legs leaving my hand free to fish.  If you are thinking," I'd like to fish that way", take some time to investigate the Hobie line– they are great boats. 

It also involves the bait barge in the harbor at Dana Point which has scoops for kayaks and considers us as real customers and not just pests who waste their time on $10 worth of bait.  It also involves a great bunch of fellow yakers who fish out of Dana Point and go out of their way to help.  It also involves good friends like Nick whom I often fish alongside with who is extremely patient with me. He has watched me do a whole bunch of lame tactics-like trying to gaff a fish while tossing the gaff into the water– and he still lets me fish with him! It also involves the act of going fishing often.  

This fish wasn't caught on my first trip out.  It is the result of not giving up and going out again and again even when the last paddle out resulted in just getting a bit of exercise.  

Finally it involves GRACE.  This is not a lady, it's a theological term.  Grace speaks of the unmerited favor of the Lord. For example, when I pulled up on this spot Nick told me he was going to move down the line a bit.  I was having some gear issues so it took me some time to get my sardine in the water and moving down towards the bottom. I had not reached the bottom before my line began to jerk strongly– that's the way these fish bite– and I was hooked up.  No skill, no special insight other than what I had learned watching Nick.  I pulled away from the kelp and in a few minutes I gaffed him.  When I slipped the game clip through his gills and mouth he went ballistic and I held on for dear life using the gaff to quiet him down.

That morning speaks to what all of us go through in living our lives. All of us want to finish well, come home with the big one in the boat.  Do life in such a way that it has meaning and purpose.  How do you do that?  There are lots of answers to that question floating around, but sadly many of those answers fall flat in the face of real life.  How did I get the big one in the boat?  GRACE- UNMERITED FAVOR plus a whole bunch of people who went out of their way to put me in a place to experience Grace.

Years ago I stumbled upon a small group of hippies, surfers and some Marines getting ready to go to Vietnam.  They spent a lot of time reading the Bible and telling people how their lives had been changed and blessed by the Jewish Messiah.  I had tried to read the Bible years before,but about the third book of the Hebrew Scriptures I gave up. My new friends suggested I start with the New Testament.  When I followed their advice I began to understand why.  This small group and the New Testament got me kick started in my journey of Grace. 

As I look back I now realize the family,friends and a life that has given me an opportunity to GET THE BIG ON INTO THE BOAT in more ways than pictured above has been grounded in the unmerited favor of the Lord.  For more take a look at cmvchurch.com .