Folly joy

My youngest son, a friend of mine, and I all fished a dolphin tournament together this past weekend. The weather was brutal for all three days of the tournament. I am told that at times the wind was howling in excess of 32 knots, (or close to forty miles and hour). I was up in the tower high atop the boat and the boat would rise up and then descend down each huge wave and from my perch I would be eye level or sometimes even below the top of the next oncoming wave. Judging from the height of my boat, I estimated that the occasional wave was twelve to fifteen high.

Being forty miles out in the ocean tossed about by strong winds and waves is not for the timid. We approached a strong thunderstorm that was moving parallel to us and we fished right alongside it for quite some time. Thunderstorms create tremendous energy and whenever in close proximity to one, the wind picks up substantially which correspondingly increases the size and speed of the waves. It was exhilarating.

One time the boat went skiing down a huge wave and before the bow had time to get elevated again, the next giant wave slammed down on the bow and came crashing over spilling perhaps a hundred gallons of seawater into the boat. From my perch I thought, “Hmmm That was a nasty one!”

When I looked down below at my crew, they looked like a coach that had just won a football game and been doused with a tank of Gatorade. They were not smiling however; they were looking up and glaring at me as though I had deliberately chosen that wave to slam into in order to douse them.

The wind and the current were not running in the same direction and it created a turbulent effect like a washing machine which rocked the boat side to side. High up in the tower it was slinging me around like a dish rag and if I did not pay attention an unexpected wave would slam me into the steering wheel and/or the side of the tower. I am still bruised and sore from all that banging around. The crew suffered the same effect down below as they staggered around trying to keep the lines straight and reel in fish in the midst of the tempest.

We spent two weeks preparing for this tournament. We caught live bait, rigged up special lures, ordered flying fish in by Fed-Ex from Miami, spent hours rigging fishing rods and testing knots, spent a couple of thousand dollars on fuel, and spent time in meetings strategizing. My son flew in with his family from Atlanta and burned precious vacation time.

OK the question is why? Why expend all that effort and spend all of that money? Why would an otherwise sane person risk life and limb to fish a tournament in uncomfortable and even dangerous weather like that? I confess it was not for the prize money, although we would have gladly accepted it, money was not the primary motivating factor.

We all love to fish, but we could certainly choose to fish in better weather and it was not because we love to fish.

All right I hate to admit it, but I suppose the whole thing boils down to bragging rights. I wanted that $20 trophy to stick somewhere in my house. Hmmm Is that the same thing as pride?

If pride was the motivating factor, we did not get it satisfied. Our pride only got damaged, because we did not win the tournament. We caught several big fish every single day of the tournament, but did not even come close to catching one as large as the winning fish.

Ok I confess, as odd as it may seem, I still enjoyed the tournament immensely I don’t think I like what the Bible has to say about that one I tell you…

Proverbs 15:21
Folly is joy to him who is
destitute of discernment