God works in mysterious ways

I friend of mine planned a trip several weeks ago to come for a visit to the Keys. Of course He wanted to go fishing and we were all set to go on Saturday, but the weatherman missed it a mile and instead of the nice weather being forecast, the wind was howling and it was far too rough to go. My buddy loves the Lord as do I and another friend who was going with us, and all of us were reluctant to plan a trip on Sunday and miss church; however the weatherman was of course predicting great weather for Sunday. My friend was understandably hugely disappointed that we could not go fishing as his heart was set on it. We ended up talking ourselves into going and we laughed and said we would conduct church services on the boat.

The next morning the skies were not clear as predicted, and in fact, it was raining and lightening was popping everywhere. The front was moving through quite rapidly and the forecast was for the rain to end, the seas to calm, and the wind to die down as soon as the front blew through. We put on our rain suits, loaded up the boat, and as soon as it cleared out a little, we headed south for the eighty mile trip across the Gulf Stream. Big mistake!

The weatherman missed it again and the winds did not calm down all day. Crossing the Gulf Stream was wet, uncomfortable, and slow. The Gulf Stream can be quite treacherous when the wind is from the Northeast and that was the direction from which it was coming. Aside from having to navigate through dangerously large pounding waves, we had to endure stinging saltwater to our faces from the crossing breeze. I never have understood how it happens, but in spite of having on rainsuits we were soaked literally from the top of our heads to the soles of our feet UNDERNEATH our rain suits. I had foul tasting saltwater in my mouth and I was spitting it out every minute or so as water streamed down my face burning my eyes as it went.

We of course had faith in the weatherman that the winds would clock around and come from the south to calm the seas and figured that sooner, rather than later, it would let up and at least we would have a nice ride home. Wrong! Although the sky cleared off, if anything the wind and resulting wave height intensified as the day wore on.

The place we fish in the Bahamas is truly a fisherman’s dream come true. Large Wahoo, tuna and the occasional Marlin bite is simply outstanding at this time of the year. Just one week earlier we had one of our best days ever at the exact same location. Sunday we did not get a single bite, much less catch a fish. We experienced one of the biggest tangled up messes that I have ever had to untangle, and every line that was being used to troll got tangled around the other. Further my depth finder stopped working as soon as we got there, and then I started receiving a water pressure error on one of my engines. I sadly shook my head and told the others at least fifteen times that THIS is why I do not skip church and go fishing on Sunday. It is as though the Lord was saying, “Take this, and take that, and take this!” as He rained down punishment after punishment on us.

Finally after several hours of trolling through pounding and punishing waves, without so much as even getting the first strike, or even hooking up a nuisance barracuda, I told the others that we should head back and look for Dolphin, (Mahi Mahi), on the way back because this was hopeless. The ride back was just as long, uncomfortable, and wet as the ride over. To add to our pain we did not see a single bird, (which indicates fish are present), and we did not find the first piece of debris, (the second best way to find fish as they congregate under anything that floats in the ocean). How can you ride fifty or sixty miles without seeing the first sign of a fish? It was miserable.

As we rode hour after hour we began to discuss among ourselves how utterly stupid it was to go fishing on Sunday instead of going to church. One of the guys said it was if the Lord was giving us a good spanking for being bad. We all agreed that it just was not right to skip church and go fishing and we vowed not to ever do it again. No sooner had those words of repentance gone out of our mouths, that we spotted a large Frigate bird swooping down on the water indicating a fish was near the surface. We sprang into action. I turned the boat towards the bird and gave the wheel to one of the others. I put out one trolling rod and grabbed a spinning rod and ran up to the front and cast a Ballyhoo under the bird and after working it a couple of times I felt a fish hit it. I flipped open the bail and let him take it and then flipped the bail back over and set the hook. I had hooked up on a monster bull dolphin which put on an aerial show of jumping before screaming out line towards the ocean floor. I fought the fish for forty minutes before subduing it and finally after flailing away at it and missing securing the fish with the gaff, one of the guys finally got a gaff into it and managed to hoist it up and swing it aboard.

I knew it was a real trophy as soon as I saw it make its first jump, but I tell you when I saw it laying on the deck it looked enormous. It was enormous! It weighed in at 60.9 lbs and is my personal best record dolphin by nearly ten lbs.

We all gave each other high fives and immediately remarked to each other that as soon as we repented and told God we were sorry for our dumb mistake and promised not to do it anymore we scored the biggest dolphin that will likely be caught in those waters this year. Wow! God is good. We discussed how others would chalk it up to coincidence or whatever, but we know that we know that the Lord directly responded to our act of repentance and forgave us.

If that was not enough, yesterday as I prepared to catch my flight at 3:30 AM I quickly flipped opened my Bible and the first verse I read is listed below. It concerns of course obedience to the Lord concerning the Sabbath. Yes the Lord is real and He loves us and is full of grace. By the way, yes this made the hair stand up on the back of my neck and yes, Lord willing, I will be sitting in church next Sunday with a big smile on my face.

Isaiah 56:1
Keep justice and do
righteousness,
For My salvation is about to
come,
And My righteousness to be
revealed.
Blessed is the man who does
this,
And the son of man who lays
hold on it;
Who keeps from defiling the
Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing
any evil.