This weekend I went duck hunting in a big pothole on the Little Aucilla River which is situated along 3-1/2 miles of Honey Lake’s eastern border. Long before daylight I paddled upstream, threw out some decoys, hid my boat in some bushes, and waded to a place where I could view the open water. I stood silently in the blackness of the night awaiting the appearance of that glorious fiery red, early morning Florida sun peeking through the Cypress trees.
Before it was even light enough to see, Woodies began screaming in and plopping down in the swamp, ready for a hearty breakfast of duck weed sprinkled with acorns served over black water. Wave after wave kept diving in until I finally had enough shooting light to see well enough to begin blasting away at them. I limited out during the first five minutes.
I gathered my ducks and decoys and headed back to my truck, disappointed that the day should end so quickly. And then I remembered that I always have my fishing rods, reels, and tackle boxes with me in the back of my truck and the newly opened “Hooking Bull” fish pond (which is literally teeming with largemouth bass) was on my way out. So I decided to extend my early morning adventure by going bass fishing. I promptly caught and released 22 fat Florida Largemouth bass in about as many casts. They all ranged between 1½ to 2½ lbs.
The next day I decided to fish an older, more established, pond on the property and see if I could catch something big and gnarly. Sure enough on my third cast I hooked into a ten and a half pound beauty that bent my rod double and put on a styling and profiling – head shaking – tail walking – display that would have made its own mama proud.
Generally I have someone with me, but this weekend I was hunting and fishing solo, and while I had a blast, it just didn’t mean as much to me as it would have if a friend had been along to share in the fun, (and to obnoxiously brag to a little, or more likely a lot).
I wanted to at least take a photo of the big bass, but it was not at all cooperative. I tried to hold the big heavy slimy bass up with one hand as I turned my cell phone around and held it out arm’s length in front of me and fumbled to press the shutter, (which I could not see) with the other.
Meanwhile the big ole bass was not happy at all in being out of the water; it was flipping its big tail and squirming, and digging its raspy teeth into my thumb, and exacting its painful (and hateful) revenge on me by trying its utmost to remove the hide off my thumb and draw blood. Somehow I took the photo and hurried to get the big bass back into the pond in order that it could live to fight someone else on another day, (and to get my thumb out of its lips before it chewed it off). I checked the photo that I took and it had ¼ of the fish’s head and ½ of my head in it.
Great…
I used to travel approximately 250,000 miles a year for business purposes. After my meetings, if I had time I always tried to see whatever local sights might be available. I remember driving up the Columbia River Gorge one time and it was simply beautiful. As the miles rolled by, I became almost melancholy because I didn’t have anyone with me to share in the glory of that scene. I had a similar experience going up the coastline of California traveling through Big Sur and other awe inspiring places of beauty along the Pacific shoreline.
God didn’t create us to be solitary creatures. Most of my early life I was alone. I didn’t have any friends and just stayed to myself. It was a lonely existence and I was miserable most of the time. I was giving my testimony to a group of people at HLP yesterday and was mentioning that being a “lone wolf” was one reason that I think I didn’t get caught for the many crimes that I committed during that period of my life. Most criminals get caught because they get “ratted” out by “friends”. I didn’t have any friends and thus it was harder for the cops to catch me.
And you probably thought there were no advantages to not having any friends…Tsh… Tsh… perish the thought…
My brother committed suicide and not one person came to his funeral aside from family. My sons and cousins served as pallbearers. That was one of the saddest moments that I’ve ever lived through. It broke my heart. Who knows, if he’d only had a Godly friend or two who loved him and would’ve advised and comforted him through his many trials and tribulations, maybe things would have turned out different and he would be alive and well today.
The Bible states that we need friends and then it states that in order to have them, we must be friendly ourselves. I went from having zero friends in the entire world, to having them all over the world. Having experienced being on both sides of the fence I can say it has been my experience that having friends is better. C.S. Lewis once said, “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire?”
Hmmm…I can’t think of many…
The Bible states that we should choose our friends wisely however; because too many people who desperately want to be popular, (youngsters in particular), participate in activity that leads to disaster such as drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, and the like. 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Most all of my really close friends love the Lord like I do. I found that one good place to meet potential friends is in church, especially small groups, or Sunday school. The friendlier the church, the easier it is to make friends. One of my goals is to make Honey Lake Church an exceedingly friendly church, whereby good friendships that last a lifetime can easily be formed.
If you attend services with us this Sunday, think about bringing a friend or two. Meet some new friends and enjoy a wonderful day of faith, with them and your family. I can’t help but think that God will be smiling throughout that fine day of celebration with Him. Maybe one of the singers will belt out that grand old tune, “What a friend we have in Jesus” and really make His day and ours too.
Oh yeah!
Colossians 3:12
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.