Summer days are usually meant for outdoor activities.  You can have picnic, barbecue, swimming and fishing, etc. Fishing, however, becomes a challenge during hot summer days. Some of my fishing buddies mentioned that they were skunked recently at used to be good fishing spots. I told them that God didn’t promise that sky is always blue (神沒有應許天色常藍) 🙂 Apparently the new challenge for us – fishing bums – is either we have to learn how to cope with our recent rejections by fish or we have to find better locations for fishing.

Last time, I shared with you about a successful fishing would need right location, right timing, right tackle, right baits and right skill. Can you count how many things have to be right in order to catch a fish? Ha…ha…ha…. no wonder someone used to say that, “10% of fishermen catch 90% of fish.” Because those 10% of fishermen did everything right. Of course, sometimes all you need is a dumb luck (the other 10% of fish) but it is 可遇不可求.

To catch a fish, first of all is finding a spot which you knew (or learned) would hold fish. Fishing a spot that is not holding any fish, you are doomed unless you don’t mind to spend time in sharpening your casting skill and exercising your arms. Of course under today’s hi-tech environment, you can always use a fish finder to help you finding a good spot that is holding fish. For average people likes me, I have to rely on more traditional way – learn to read water and its environment by trials and errors.

In the Bible, our Lord Jesus had a teaching of good fishermen that is very interesting to me. We learned that He called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew to be fishermen of souls (Matthew 4:18-19). Comparatively, this is a completely different profession from Peter and Andrew used to be – from fishing for fish to fishing for souls, from working on the seas to working on the lands, from casting a fish net to casting a relation net, and from working for themselves to working for the Lord. What a change!

Then you may ask, “How to become a good fisherman of souls?” First of all you will need to find a spot that is having lost souls, of course. You can’t fish for lost souls where they are not holding, correct?  Then, you need to go to the spot and become friends of the lost souls, just as Apostle Paul said,

To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.向 軟 弱 的 人 ， 我 就 作 軟 弱 的 人 ， 為 要 得 軟 弱 的 人 。 向 甚 麼 樣 的 人 ， 我 就 作 甚 麼 樣 的 人 。 無 論 如 何 ， 總 要 救 些 人 。凡 我 所 行 的 ， 都 是 為 福 音 的 緣 故 ， 為 要 與 人 同 得 這 福 音 的 好 處 。(1 Corinthians 9:22-23)

It is very important that the friendship building is the one with genuine love that is flowing from our Lord. Otherwise, there would be no true friendship in between and as a result it would do more harm than good to the Gospel.

My dear brothers and sister, if we merely go to the spot with all Christians, then we are fishing for lost souls where they are not. After finding the lost souls, we need to have a heart filled with genuine love in order to build a true friendship. Below is a prayer that I was touched deeply from recent Daily Bread devotional:

主，當我今日與不信的人同在，願我傾聽憂鬱的聲音，關懷疲憊的面容、下垂的眼神。願我能放下自我，願我渴慕從祢的愛而來的活泉，願我今日能傾聽他人的心聲、展現祢的恩慈、傳揚祢的真理。

“Lord, when I am with nonbelievers today, may I become aware of the cheerless voice, the weary countenance, or the downcast eyes that I, in my natural self-preoccupation, could easily overlook. May I have a love that springs from and is rooted in Your love. May I listen to others, show Your compassion, and speak Your truth today.” DHR