May 30, 2023
Passing Along The Faith
I went fishing recently with a friend from the church and had one of my favorite rod and reels fall over the side of the boat. It was given to me by one of my sons and was about $150. That’s a lot of money to me for fishing equipment plus the fact that it was a gift meant a lot to me. I mentally marked the place where the rod and reel fell in.
The next day I returned to the pond with my wife and two grandchildren. I explained to them what had happened and we all prayed together and asked God to help us find the rod and reel. My 10 year old grandson Aiden was driving the trolling motor on the boat and when we got to the spot where the rod and reel had gone over I told him to stop. I made several attempts at throwing another rod and reel with some treble hooks on it in the hopes of hooking the missing rod and reel.
When I had no luck with the treble hooks, I got out of the boat and into the water. I started walking along the bottom trying to feel the rod and reel. I wasn’t having much luck but Aiden was still encouraging me and reminding me that we had prayed about it so God was going to help us.
We reached deeper water and I had to start diving under the boat and trying to find the missing rod and reel. I dove several times over and over with no luck. I even thought at one point this isn’t going to be much of a faith lesson if I have a heart attack and die out here.
I was about to give up when the Holy Spirit prompted me to dive one more time. So with a “You can do it PePaw. God is going to help you” from Aiden I went down one more time. I felt the handle of the rod and pulled it up out of the water. I pulled it up and asked Aiden, “What have we been praying for?” He replied that for God to show us where the rod and reel was at. He looked around and saw the rod and reel and we both shouted, “PRAISE THE LORD.”
Michelle and Amelia who were fishing from the shore saw the rod and reel in my hand and joined us in praising the Lord. Aiden said that He knew that God was going to come through for us. We got back to the shore and all rejoiced together.
At supper that night we were talking about what had happened and what we had learned. Amelia said that we had learned about perseverance – to never give up. Aiden said that we should have faith that God hears our prayers and answers our prayers. More important than the cost of the rod and reel was the great blessing to be able to teach our grandkids spiritual lessons and see God come through to allow us to pass along a heritage of faith.
–In love with Jesus – Gary (Pepaw) Mimbs