April 19, 2021 – Click here to listen
I went to a concert at an amphitheater in Key West Saturday night and I was impressed with the demeanor of the people attending. Everyone we encountered was friendly and the atmosphere was relaxed. We went with some friends and ran into some of our other good friends while there. The weather was perfect and the music was great. And yesterday I missed church in order to go fishing with a friend and his six year old son Mikey.
Some will no doubt say that I should have been in church, but my friend has drifted from the Lord and I wanted to talk to him about it. As we fished he was using profanity in front of his young son that would make a sailor blush and I pulled him aside and told him his son was drinking in all of that foul language every time he opened his mouth. He told me, “Oh that’s okay we never allow him to use bad language.” I told him in no uncertain terms that his little boy idolizes him and he was going to do exactly what his daddy does. He stopped for a moment and looked at the little boy and nodded in agreement.
My friend is a young man and excellent businessperson. He reminded me of being back in the early days of my own career because he fought his way into business with no financial backing and made his way through hard work and determination. He has high ambitions and wants to become a multi-millionaire. So he was asking me how I found such huge success in business. Bingo! I had my opportunity to witness to him which I did centering on how I was at rock bottom and found Jesus and He transformed my life and how I owe all my success to Him.
I told him that money is not all it is cracked up to be and my wife and I ended up giving most of it away. What is important is loving God and raising a loving family. We did that with 50 years of marriage, and three wonderful sons and seven wonderful grandkids. That my friends is real peace of mind that cannot be achieved without God – It is impossible to find it even with all of the money in the world.
Then we got back to fishing. I hooked up a trophy Alfonso snapper in addition to many other species. It was a wonderful day that concluded the weekend with joy in my heart and theirs.
As we were putting the gear away my buddy was washing the boat and Mikey was following me like a puppy helping me wash and put up the rods and so forth. He came into my tackle room where photos of prior fishing trips and trophy fish lined the walls. Mikey saw one large fish and said, “Jesus Christ that’s a big fish.” Then he saw another and said the same thing. I just sighed and told him that he shouldn’t say those words like that. “Jesus is God and His name is special and you must respect Him.) He peered up at me and smiled with both his two front teeth missing.
Mikey lying down beside the Alfonso snapper.
Good chow tonight!
Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.