Fishers of Men

Fishing Boys with prize- an 11 pound Catfish

I watched the little ones arrive at camp yesterday; what joy in their little faces. I love it when kids come to camp with such excitement, such anticipation. Once again we were overwhelmed with the sheer number of campers and parents as they arrived for a picture-perfect day; no rain, mild temperatures and just a little mud.

Three different speakers speaking to three different audiences, with plenty of fun mixed in the middle should make this week memorable. I love this age group of kids; they ask great questions; they look at their counselor as one who has all answers; and they try their best to stay up later than they should. Opening evening around the hot dog roast was best described as a zoo, as the little ones were climbing all over their counselor. I only watched and smiled thinking, “There is no way in the world I could be a counselor at my age; they would wear me out in a minute!”

Tradition has it that the fishing boys come to my house and fish from my pond one of the evenings. DeDe and I cook the boys a BBQ with some wild meat; last night was no exception with plenty of deer steaks and even fresh frog legs from the afternoon of pond plunking. The first two hours of fishing was more chasing tad poles and trying to catch a huge bull frog; there was little real fishing done except by a couple boys who were fishermen before they arrived at camp.

It is easy for me to spot the boys whose dads have fished with them and have trained them how to handle a rod and reel. They have skill and they also have the tools of a very full tackle box. Other boys come to camp with a rod and real, and a few hooks and bobbers, but little skill and for some only a mild interest in fishing. They liked the idea of fishing, but also like just mudding and dinking in the water.

I looked at this scenario and realized it is similar with people and their faith; many are committed, trained, disciplined, believers who are serious about their Walk with Christ; others are like the boys who will plink their week away; they talk fishing, they have a pole, but they never really get any fish caught. Some Christians love the idea of being a Christian, but never develop past their salvation experience; they stay along the shore chasing life without ever growing or going deeper in their walk.

And it brings great joy to my heart when I hear of someone who all of sudden takes off in their walk with Christ. I know, I diddled around shore for my first 20 years of my Christian life. I knew the language, developed a Christian pedigree, but I never caught any fish; I piddled 20 years away.

Occasionally, even in fishing you get surprised. Last night was no exception. I had left the boys at their campsite and walked the 100 yards back to my house to shower and get ready for bed when the doorbell rang. “We just caught the hugest catfish!,” they clamored. I grabbed my camera and headed across the bean field with them in the dark. Sure enough, they had. This little guy who had not caught anything all day long had stuck a dead blue gill on his hook and ended up landing a 11 pound catfish; which became the largest fish ever caught by a fishing camper in 20 years. The campsite was a buzzing with excitement, as everyone got interested in getting their pole in the water looking for another record size catfish.

My prayer for this week for these 11 young men and for the rest of the 400+ campers at Hidden Acres is that each of them will see the excitement and passion of their counselor’s lives and they too will get excited about their faith. Over and over I hear from parents of their child returning home from camp renewed and excited about Bible reading, sharing their faith, and praying. I want each camper to become real fishers of men.

Written by:
Earl Taylor, Director of Vision and Design
Hidden Acres Christian Center, Dayton, Iowa
earldtaylor@yahoo.com
Hidden Acres is the youth camp and adult retreat center located in central Iowa. Hidden Acres is owned by the Evangelical Free Churches of Iowa, South Dakota, and Missouri.