It Reminds Me Of A Time That I Went Fishing With ...

It reminds me of a time that I went fishing with a guy I’ll call Jimmy. Now Jimmy is a straight out pre-Christian. (That is the new way of saying non-believer) He smokes, he drinks, he sleeps around, he cusses, and he even does drugs. His wife warned him that he was to do NONE of those things around me when we went fishing out of respect for me. Now, I was not expecting any certain type of behavior, I had no expectations on him at all. I just wanted to make a friendship, looking to win the right to share about Christ. The whole time we were fishing, he was miserable! I finally asked him what was wrong, and he explained the rules his wife had put on him for the fishing trip. I released him from that law- I explained to him that he was free to do what he wants, but there was consequences- not the least of which was the tongue lashing from his wife. But it also gave me the opportunity to share a small part of the Gospel message. I went fishing with Jimmy, not to change his behavior, but to be his friend. There were no conditions on my friendship, nothing he had to be or do. All I wanted to do was to be his friend. When Jesus came into this world, he came to seek and save that which was lost by offering us the free gift of his grace- with no conditions attached. Boy did Jimmy light up with that first cigarette-he was enjoying freedom. The conversation opened up to, not leading to his salvation on that Saturday, but leading at least to an open dialogue.