I received these pics from a friend in Texas of her grandchildren who are staying with her for a while. Their mom is getting a chance to visit her husband who is in the military and deployed in the Middle East. Although we have never met I find myself filled with a sense of kinship of Spirit with this family. Something about seeing these kids in Texas playing by a river takes me back a few years......
These pics remind me of a Saturday I spent on base at Ft. Sam Houston Texas. I was in the army and had learned not to stay in the barracks sacked out on a bunk on Saturdays. Much as I loved to lounge around and read on my days off it was dangerous. Any sergeant could walk in and conscript a person for any detail he wanted. I knew this from experience but that is another story.
So I took a walk towards some of the nearby woods and found a section of a river. Some might have called it a stream but it looked a mite too big for that. I thanked the Lord for the chance to experience a bit of His nature and walked along the bank. The Lord and I were having a mighty good heart to Heart talk. Part of the conversation I mentioned to the Lord that it sure was a mighty fine day to dip a line in the water. He and I both knew He had put a few fish in there.
Soon I found a supple long stick and I mentioned to the Lord that it would have made a good pole if I had a line and hook. Going on a piece I found a bit of line that was tangled in a branch by the shore. It untangled pretty easy and became another good reason to praise Him for His providence. Walking further I came across a man fishing on the bank who gladly gave me a hook from his tackle box. While conversing with him a grasshopper that was waiting to become bait hopped on by. I waved goodbye to the fisherman and quickly caught the last ingredient of my endeavors.
Around a bend I found a quiet spot away from the man who might have been a general for all I knew. I figured he wanted to fish alone or he would have been with a friend. I baited up, tossed the hopper into the water and sat on a log to wait. After a bit of kicking the grasshopper finally settled down and sank. Having no weight on the line I could not pull it taut the way I would have liked but that didn't really matter much. I was fishing! Half a country from my home in California and I was fishing. That was all that was important to me. That and the time I could spend in this quiet location away from people, in the woods, away from the army and with my Lord Jesus.
He and I had a good conversation that day. Most of it spent with me talking but there were enough times where the Lord got to put in his 2 cents worth too. Wish I could remember what we were talking about. I am positive that most of it was Him sharing His love. - Suddenly the line went taut. I pulled a bit and the line pulled back. It went first to the right and then doubled back to the left. I pulled a bit harder and the line went slack. From the way it pulled I figured it to be a turtle that stole my bait. Just as well because had I caught a fish I had no way to cook it anyway. They frowned on fires in the barracks.
It was a wonderful day. One of those days the Bible talks about when it said, This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! -
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