I have never been a good fisherman, although I was a great catcher-man. In order to be a fisherman of any quality one has to be willing to wait out the fish. I mean that one has to be willing to abide in the setting of successful fishing even if the fish are not biting at all. That seemed to me to be “down time” or wasted time. If the fish were biting, though, I could catch them for hours on end without a single concern for wasting my time.

My father and his twin brother knew a great deal about netting smelt—a small silvery fish which were netted—and they were unusually fortunate in their desire to fill some enormous tanks with these fish. There were times, however, when the smelt were expected when they simply did not show up. What frustrating times those were as we returned home without a single smelt for sale or for frying-up and eating.

I am reminded of the account of the fishermen apostles who decided to go on a resurrection day fishing trip. We read of that in John 21.3: ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. I still prefer catching to fishing.

It is wisdom, however, to obey when we hear the Lord say that we should cast our nets on the other side of the boat. Jesus always knows where the fish are that he would have us catch. If we listen for his direction we will not miss a single opportunity to catch the fish for him. Our task is to catch them—he will clean them. I am willing to fish for Jesus!